php mail setup in xampp

Question

I'm learning PHP and have installed Xampp on my computer.

But I have a problem with the setup as the email option doesn't seem to be working.

After doing some reading I think it has something to do with the below, found on my server in the php.ini file

[mail function]   
; For Win32 only.   
; *hp://*php.net/smtp   
SMTP = localhost  
; http://php.net/smtp-port   
smtp_port = 25   

; For Win32 only.   
; http://php.net/sendmail-from   
;sendmail_from = postmaster@localhost   

[Please note I have changed above hp:// from http:// because of a restriction on this website to post a hyperlink]

Is there anything I need to change? I have seen software such as swiftmailer mentioned but I don't know if Xampp has this included already? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks James

Answer 1

My favorite smtp server is hMailServer.

It has a nice windows friendly installer and wizard. Hands down the easiest mail server I've ever setup.

It can proxy through your gmail/yahoo/etc account or send email directly.

Once it is installed, email in xampp just works with no config changes.

Answer 2

XAMPP should have come with a "fake" sendmail program. In that case, you can use sendmail as well:

[mail function]
; For Win32 only.
; http://php.net/smtp
;SMTP = localhost
; http://php.net/smtp-port
;smtp_port = 25

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

; For Unix only.  You may supply arguments as well (default: "sendmail -t -i").
; http://php.net/sendmail-path
sendmail_path = "C:/xampp/sendmail/sendmail.exe -t -i"

Sendmail should have a sendmail.ini with it; it should be configured as so:

# Example for a user configuration file

# Set default values for all following accounts.
defaults
logfile "C:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.log"

# Mercury
#account Mercury
#host localhost
#from postmaster@localhost
#auth off

# A freemail service example
account ACCOUNTNAME_HERE
tls on
tls_certcheck off
host smtp.gmail.com
from EMAIL_HERE
auth on
user EMAIL_HERE
password PASSWORD_HERE

# Set a default account
account default : ACCOUNTNAME_HERE

Of course, replace ACCOUNTNAME_HERE with an arbitrary account name, replace EMAIL_HERE with a valid email (such as a Gmail or Hotmail), and replace PASSWORD_HERE with the password to your email. Now, you should be able to send mail. Remember to restart Apache (from the control panel or the batch files) to allow the changes to PHP to work.

Answer 3

Unless you have a mail server set up on your local computer, setting SMTP = localhost won't have any effect.

In days gone by (long ago), it was sufficient to set the value of SMTP to the address of your ISP's SMTP server. This now rarely works because most ISPs insist on authentication with a username and password. However, the PHP mail() function doesn't support SMTP authentication. It's designed to work directly with the mail transport agent of the local server.

You either need to set up a local mail server or to use a PHP classs that supports SMTP authentication, such as Zend_Mail or PHPMailer. The simplest solution, however, is to upload your mail processing script to your remote server.