DJANGO EMAIL CONFIRMATION: [WinError 10061] No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it

Question

I'm trying to send an email verification code for account confirmation.

Now, the thing is that I am trying to send an email to myself first, and my other email. I have turned off my antivirus, so that shouldn't be a problem. Other than this I can't figure our what I did wrong that it is not sending emails on the gmail account. Please point out what I'm doing wrong. I even applied all the fixes mentioned by this thread.

views.py

from django.core.mail import send_mail
from django.shortcuts import render,redirect
from django.contrib import messages,auth
from django.contrib.auth.models import User # this table already exists in django we import it 
from django.contrib.auth import authenticate, login
from django.conf import settings
from django.core.mail import EmailMessage

def register(request):
    if request.method=='POST':
        fname = request.POST['fname']
        lname=request.POST['lname'] #request.post[id of the input field]
        email = request.POST['email']
        password = request.POST['pass']
        password2 = request.POST['confirmpass']
        agree=request.POST.get('agree')
        if fname == '':
             messages.warning(request, 'Please enter First name!')
             return redirect('register')

        if lname == '':
             messages.warning(request, 'Please enter Last name!')
             return redirect('register')

        if email == '':
             messages.warning(request, 'Please enter Email!')
             return redirect('register')

        if password == '':
             messages.warning(request, 'Please enter Password!')
             return redirect('register')

        if password2 == '':
             messages.warning(request, 'Please enter Confirm Password!')
             return redirect('register')
        if ('agree' not in request.POST):
             messages.warning(request, 'Please agree to our terms and conditions!')
             return redirect('register')

        if password==password2:

            if User.objects.filter(username=email):
                messages.error(request,"Email Already Exists")
                return redirect('register')
            else:
                user=User.objects.create_user(username=email,first_name=fname,last_name=lname,password=password) #these are postgres first_name,last_name
                user.save()
                messages.success(request,"Successfully Registered")
                subject = 'Site Contact Form'
                contact_message = "%s : %s via %s "%(fname, lname, email)
                from_email = settings.EMAIL_HOST_USER
                to_email = [from_email, 'myotheremail@gmail.com']
                send_mail(subject, contact_message, from_email, to_email, fail_silently=False)
    
                return redirect('login')
        
        

        else:
            messages.error(request,"Passwords don't match")
            return redirect('register')
    else:
        return render(request, 'signupdiv.html')

settings.py

EMAIL_HOSTS = 'smtp.gmail.com'
EMAIL_HOST_USER = 'myemail@gmail.com'
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = '*****'
EMAIL_PORT = 587
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = EMAIL_HOST_USER

urls.py

from django.urls import path
from . import views

urlpatterns = [
    path('login', views.login, name='login'), 
    path('register', views.register, name='register'), 
    path('logout', views.logout, name='logout'),
]

When I register, the data successfuly stores into the database (as expected). But it gives error on send_email(params) from view.py of the code. Following is the error:

ConnectionRefusedError at /account/register
[WinError 10061] No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it
Request Method: POST
Request URL:    http://127.0.0.1:8000/account/register
Django Version: 3.1.2
Exception Type: ConnectionRefusedError
Exception Value:    
[WinError 10061] No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it
Exception Location: C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\socket.py, line 716, in create_connection
Python Executable:  C:\Users\User\Desktop\pfa\venv\Scripts\python.exe
Python Version: 3.7.5
Python Path:    
['C:\\Users\\User\\Desktop\\pfa',
 'C:\\Users\\User\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python37\\python37.zip',
 'C:\\Users\\User\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python37\\DLLs',
 'C:\\Users\\User\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python37\\lib',
 'C:\\Users\\User\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python37',
 'C:\\Users\\User\\Desktop\\pfa\\venv',
 'C:\\Users\\User\\Desktop\\pfa\\venv\\lib\\site-packages']
Server time:    Sun, 25 Oct 2020 23:17:08 +0000

Answer 1

You missed a little bit trivial thing. in settings.py

It should be EMAIL_HOST = 'smtp.gmail.com'

Not EMAIL_HOSTS = 'smtp.gmail.com'

Answer 2

Two things:

One, like Mohab said, it should be EMAIL_HOST = 'smtp.gmail.com', not EMAIL_HOSTS = 'smtp.gmail.com'. Fix that and it may work.

But if that doesn't work that means that Google is blocking your email address from being used to send automated mails. You have to enable less secure apps in Gmail settings. Not the most safe option, but that's okay. Note: if you don't send automated emails for a long time, Google will automatically turn this setting OFF.

If this was the problem, then Google would have most likely sent you a Critical Security Alert with the same instructions as in this answer. Check this Stack Overflow post for more.