No mail received in inbox with XAMPP 1.8.0, MercuryMail and mail()

Question

I upgraded my local server using XAMPP 1.8.0 which contains Apache 2.4.2, PHP 5.4.5 and MySQL 5.5. I send mails with PHP mail() function by running MercuryMail, but no email received in my inbox.
Sending mails are working when I tested with Mozilla Thunderbird. And the mail() function seems to be working with no error issued.

I checked php.ini in my XAMPP installation path D:\xampp\php. I saw this below

[mail function]  
; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with an SMTP Server like Mercury  
; SMTP = localhost  
; smtp_port = 25  

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

; XAMPP IMPORTANT NOTE (1): If XAMPP is installed in a base directory with spaces (e.g. c:\program filesD:\xampp) fakemail and mailtodisk do not work correctly.  
; XAMPP IMPORTANT NOTE (2): In this case please copy the sendmail or mailtodisk folder in your root folder (e.g. C:\sendmail) and use this for sendmail_path.    

; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with fakemail for forwarding to your mailbox (sendmail.exe in the sendmail folder)  
; sendmail_path = "\"D:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.exe\" -t"  

; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with mailToDisk, It writes all mails in the D:\xampp\mailoutput folder  
; sendmail_path = "D:\xampp\mailtodisk\mailtodisk.exe"  

I tweaked some combination of SMTP settings.
I commented out host and port

; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with an SMTP Server like Mercury  
SMTP = localhost  
smtp_port = 25

I commented out sendmail_path, but it did not work. Mail could not be sent.

; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with fakemail for forwarding to your mailbox (sendmail.exe in the sendmail folder)  
sendmail_path = "\"D:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.exe\" -t"  

Again, I commented out anothor sendmail_path to work with mailToDisk

; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with mailToDisk, It writes all mails in the D:\xampp\mailoutput folder  
sendmail_path = "D:\xampp\mailtodisk\mailtodisk.exe"  

It seems working, but no mail received in inbox. Nothing found in D:\xampp\mailoutput

In php mail log (D:\xampp\php\logs\php_mail.log), I found several log lines which likely saying mails were sending.

mail() on [D:\xampp\htdocs\....:127]: To: sithu@localhost.com -- Headers: MIME-Version: 1.0  Content-type: text/html; charset=text/html  Return-Path:Sithu <stk@localhost.com>  From: Sithu <stk@localhost.com>  Reply-To: Sithu <stk@localhost.com>  
mail() on [D:\xampp\htdocs\....:127]: To: test@localhost.com -- Headers: MIME-Version: 1.0  Content-type: text/html; charset=text/html  Return-Path:admin@localhost.com  From: admin@localhost.com  Reply-To: admin@localhost.com  
mail() on [D:\xampp\htdocs\....:127]: To: test@localhost.com -- Headers: MIME-Version: 1.0  Content-type: text/html; charset=text/html  Return-Path:Members <admin@localhost.com>  From: Members <admin@localhost.com>  Reply-To: Members <admin@localhost.com> 

I also tried to comment out sendmail_from, but no luck.

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

Any configuration I'm still missing?

[Edit]
Mercury mail server is running.
Whenever I updated php.ini, I restarted Apache server.

Answer 1

I just need to configure D:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.ini By default, it contains the line

smtp_server=mail.mydomain.com

I had to change it to

smtp_server=localhost

No need to configure this in the older versions of XAMPP.
The correct configuration for [mail function] in D:\xampp\php\php.ini is

; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with an SMTP Server like Mercury
SMTP = 127.0.0.1
smtp_port = 25

; XAMPP IMPORTANT NOTE (1): If XAMPP is installed in a base directory with spaces (e.g. c:\program filesD:\xampp) fakemail and mailtodisk do not work correctly.
; XAMPP IMPORTANT NOTE (2): In this case please copy the sendmail or mailtodisk folder in your root folder (e.g. C:\sendmail) and use this for sendmail_path.  

; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with fakemail for forwarding to your mailbox (sendmail.exe in the sendmail folder)
sendmail_path = "\"D:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.exe\" -t"

; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with mailToDisk, It writes all mails in the D:\xampp\mailoutput folder
; sendmail_path = "D:\xampp\mailtodisk\mailtodisk.exe"

Now, I'm receiving mails in my inbox. Please note that "D:\xampp\" is my XAMPP installation path.

Answer 2

Make sure that mercury mail server is running, it does not run by default.

Answer 3

#GMAIL mit XAMPP 1.8.1 und sendmail
[CODE]
[sendmail]
; HOTMAIL
smtp_server=smtp.gmail.com
smtp_port=25
smtp_ssl=tls
tls_certcheck off
error_logfile=error.log
debug_logfile=debug.log
auth_username= xxxx.xxxx@gmail.com
auth_password=xxxxxxx


 this settings in php.ini   
 [mail function]
    ; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with an SMTP Server like Mercury
    ; SMTP = smtp.gmail.com
    ; smtp_port = 25

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

    ; XAMPP IMPORTANT NOTE (1): If XAMPP is installed in a base directory with spaces (e.g. c:\program filesC:\xampp) fakemail and mailtodisk do not work correctly.
    ; XAMPP IMPORTANT NOTE (2): In this case please copy the sendmail or mailtodisk folder in your root folder (e.g. C:\sendmail) and use this for sendmail_path.  

    ; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with fakemail for forwarding to your mailbox (sendmail.exe in the sendmail folder)
    sendmail_path = "\"C:\sendmail\sendmail.exe\" -t"

    ; XAMPP: Comment out this if you want to work with mailToDisk, It writes all mails in the C:\xampp\mailoutput folder
    ;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 =

    ; Add X-PHP-Originating-Script: that will include uid of the script followed by the filename
    mail.add_x_header = Off

    ; Log all mail() calls including the full path of the script, line #, to address and headers
    mail.log = "C:\xampp\php\logs\php_mail.log"