How to configure xampp to send email

Question

I know this is elsewhere on the site but for some reason the answers I've found on here still haven't helped I still can't get it to work after trying different things all day. My goal was to have a confirmation code sent to the email that the user enters. I only know a small amount of PHP and followed a tutorial for the login/registration system but I'm fairly sure the php is working fine and the problem lies in my sendmail.ini and php.ini. Here is my sendmail.ini

; configuration for fake sendmail

; if this file doesn't exist, sendmail.exe will look for the settings in
; the registry, under HKLM\Software\Sendmail

[sendmail]

; you must change mail.mydomain.com to your smtp server,
; or to IIS's "pickup" directory.  (generally C:\Inetpub\mailroot\Pickup)
; emails delivered via IIS's pickup directory cause sendmail to
; run quicker, but you won't get error messages back to the calling
; application.

smtp_server=smtp.gmail.com

; smtp port (normally 25)

smtp_port=587

; SMTPS (SSL) support
;   auto = use SSL for port 465, otherwise try to use TLS
;   ssl  = alway use SSL
;   tls  = always use TLS
;   none = never try to use SSL

smtp_ssl=auto

; the default domain for this server will be read from the registry
; this will be appended to email addresses when one isn't provided
; if you want to override the value in the registry, uncomment and modify

;default_domain=mydomain.com

; log smtp errors to error.log (defaults to same directory as sendmail.exe)
; uncomment to enable logging

error_logfile=error.log

; create debug log as debug.log (defaults to same directory as sendmail.exe)
; uncomment to enable debugging

debug_logfile=debug.log

; if your smtp server requires authentication, modify the following two lines

auth_username= myemail@gmail.com
auth_password= mygmailpass

; if your smtp server uses pop3 before smtp authentication, modify the 
; following three lines.  do not enable unless it is required.

pop3_server=
pop3_username=
pop3_password=

; force the sender to always be the following email address
; this will only affect the "MAIL FROM" command, it won't modify 
; the "From: " header of the message content

force_sender=myemail@gmail.com

; force the sender to always be the following email address
; this will only affect the "RCTP TO" command, it won't modify 
; the "To: " header of the message content

force_recipient=

; sendmail will use your hostname and your default_domain in the ehlo/helo
; smtp greeting.  you can manually set the ehlo/helo name if required

hostname=

And my the parts I've edited in my php.ini

extension=php_openssl.dll 

[mail function]
; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with an SMTP Server like Mercury
SMTP =smtp.gmail.com
smtp_port =587

; For Win32 only.
; http://php.net/sendmail-from
sendmail_from = myemail@gmail.com


sendmail_path = "\"C:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.exe\" -t"

;sendmail_path="C:\xampp\mailtodisk\mailtodisk.exe"

; Force the addition of the specified parameters to be passed as extra parameters
; to the sendmail binary. These parameters will always replace the value of
; the 5th parameter to mail(), even in safe mode.
;mail.force_extra_parameters =

and my PHP code in case it's needed

<?php
session_start();
include('configdb.php');
if(isset($_POST['submit']))
{
 //whether the username is blank
 if($_POST['username'] == '')
 {
  $_SESSION['error']['username'] = "User Name is required.";
 }
 //whether the email is blank
 if($_POST['email'] == '')
 {
  $_SESSION['error']['email'] = "E-mail is required.";
 }
 else
 {
  //whether the email format is correct
  if(preg_match("/^([a-zA-Z0-9])+([a-zA-Z0-9._-])*@([a-zA-Z0-9_-])+([a-zA-Z0-9._-]+)+$/", $_POST['email']))
  {
   //if it has the correct format whether the email has already exist
   $email= $_POST['email'];
   $sql1 = "SELECT * FROM user WHERE email = '$email'";
   $result1 = mysqli_query($mysqli,$sql1) or die(mysqli_error());
   if (mysqli_num_rows($result1) > 0)
            {
    $_SESSION['error']['email'] = "This Email is already used.";
   }
  }
  else
  {
   //this error will set if the email format is not correct
   $_SESSION['error']['email'] = "Your email is not valid.";
  }
 }
 //whether the password is blank
 if($_POST['password'] == '')
 {
  $_SESSION['error']['password'] = "Password is required.";
 }
 //if the error exist, we will go to registration form
 if(isset($_SESSION['error']))
 {
  header("Location: index.php");
  exit;
 }
 else
 {
  $username = $_POST['username'];
  $email = $_POST['email'];
  $password = $_POST['password'];
  $com_code = md5(uniqid(rand()));

  $sql2 = "INSERT INTO user (username, email, password, com_code) VALUES ('$username', '$email', '$password', '$com_code')";
  $result2 = mysqli_query($mysqli,$sql2) or die(mysqli_error());

  if($result2)
  {
   $to = $email;
   $subject = "Confirmation for $username";
   $header = "Confirmation from";
   $message = "Please click the link below to verify and activate your account. rn";
   $message .= "http://www.yourname.com/confirm.php?passkey=$com_code";

   $sentmail = mail($to,$subject,$message,$header);

   if($sentmail)
            {
   echo "Your confirmation link has been sent to your e-mail address.";
   }
   else
         {
    echo "Error while sending confirmation link to your e-mail address";
   }
  }
 }
}
?>

Like I said I've been working on this for a while and I can't seem to figure it out, I assume it's something really simple but since I'm still learning I didn't see it. Thanks for all the help!

Answer 1

You can just configure C:\xampp\php\php.ini and c:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.ini for Gmail to send mail.

In php.ini file find [mail function] and change following

SMTP=smtp.gmail.com
smtp_port=587
sendmail_from = your-gmail-id@gmail.com
sendmail_path = "\"C:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.exe\" -t"

Now Open C:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.ini. Replace all the existing code in sendmail.ini with following code

[sendmail]
    
smtp_server=smtp.gmail.com
smtp_port=587
error_logfile=error.log
debug_logfile=debug.log
auth_username=your-gmail-id@gmail.com
auth_password=your-gmail-id-password
force_sender=your-gmail-id@gmail.com

Now you have done!! create a PHP file with mail function and send mail from the localhost.

Note:- Replace your email id with "your-gmail-id@gmail.com"

Answer 2

if you are sending mail through local server you need to configure

c:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.ini(send by Gmail) and C:\xampp\php\php.ini.

in php.ini

find extension=php_openssl.dll and remove the semicolon from the beginning of that line. So this allow you to send mail from localhost.

and then find mail function and change below settings

SMTP=smtp.gmail.com
smtp_port=587
sendmail_from = my-gmail-id@gmail.com
sendmail_path = "\"C:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.exe\" -t"

in sendmail.ini(path - C:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.ini)

Change this

[sendmail]    
smtp_server=smtp.gmail.com
smtp_port=587
error_logfile=error.log
debug_logfile=debug.log
auth_username=GMail ID@gmail.com//your gmail ID
auth_password=GMail PASSWORD // Your gmail password
force_sender=GMail ID@gmail.com //your gmail ID

Change GMail ID@gmail.com, GMail PASSWORD, GMail ID@gmail.com in above code.

Finally

comment following line if there is another sendmail_path : sendmail_path="C:\xampp\mailtodisk\mailtodisk.exe" in the php.ini file.