php function mail() isn't working

Question

I used mail() function in php coding but I failed to send any mail. Before proceeding ahead I want to elaborate the context of using the mail() function.

I didnt host my site so it is on localhost. I did set smtp, port sendmail_path etc.

After searching a lot I it seems that I need to download a mail server. I downloaded a sendmail server that is free and configured it as the site suggested. However, all in vain moreover, someone told me that I can't use mail function until I host my site not only on localhost. Please guide me.

<?php
   $from = "[e-mail]"; // sender
   $subject = " My cron is working";
   $message = "My first Cron  :)";

   // message lines should not exceed 70 characters (PHP rule), so wrap it

   $message = wordwrap($message, 70);

   // send mail

   ini_set("SMTP","localhost");
   ini_set("smtp_port","25");
   ini_set("sendmail_from","[e-mail]");
   ini_set("sendmail_path", "C:\wamp\bin\sendmail.exe -t");

   mail("[e-mail]",$subject,$message,"From: $from\n");

   echo "Thank you for sending us feedback";

?>

this my sendmail configuration file:

smtp_server=smtp.gmail.com
smtp_port=587
smtp_ssl=auto

;default_domain=domain.com
auth_username=[e-mail]
auth_password=8888

force_sender=j*****@gmail.com

( ! ) SCREAM: Error suppression ignored for
( ! ) Warning: mail() [<a href='function.mail'>function.mail</a>]: Failed to connect to      mailserver at &quot;localhost&quot; port 25, verify your &quot;SMTP&quot; and &quot;smtp_port&quot;    setting in php.ini or use ini_set() in C:\wamp\www\test.php on line 20

Answer 1

I think you are not configured properly,

if you are using XAMPP then you can easily send mail from localhost.

for example you can configure C:\xampp\php\php.ini and c:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.ini for gmail to send mail.

in C:\xampp\php\php.ini find extension=php_openssl.dll and remove the semicolon from the beginning of that line to make SSL working for gmail for localhost.

in php.ini file find [mail function] and change

SMTP=smtp.gmail.com
smtp_port=587
sendmail_from = [e-mail]
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=[e-mail]
auth_password=my-gmail-password
force_sender=[e-mail]

Now you have done!! create php file with mail function and send mail from localhost.

Update

First, make sure you PHP installation has SSL support (look for an "openssl" section in the output from phpinfo()).

You can set the following settings in your PHP.ini:

ini_set("SMTP","ssl://smtp.gmail.com");
ini_set("smtp_port","465");