How to configure XAMPP to send mail from localhost using PHP ?

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How to configure XAMPP to send mail from localhost using PHP ?

To configure XAMPP server to send mail from localhost we have to make changes to two files sendmail.ini and php.ini. Open the xampp folder. By the name of “sendmail.ini” is present in sendmail file and “php.ini” is present in php file in the xampp folder.

Step 1:

• Go to C:\xampp\sendmail: open sendmail.ini file in notepad or any text editor and make the changes as follows.

  change smtp_server=mail.yourdomain.com to smtp_server=smtp.gmail.com
  change smtp_port to smtp_port=587
  change smtp_ssl=auto to smtp_ssl=tls

  

  uncomment ;error_logfile=error.log to error_logfile=error.log
  uncomment ;debug_logfile=debug.log to debug_logfile=debug.log
  write your gmail id in auth_username: auth_username=*****@gmail.com
  write your gmail assword in auth_password: auth_password=*****

  

  write your gmail id in force_sender: *****@gmail.com
  change hostname to hostname=localhost

  

Step:2

• Go to C:\xampp\php: open php.ini file in notepad or any text editor goto [mail function] part and make the changes as follows.

  comment SMTP=localhost by putting semicolon infront=>;SMTP=localhost
  comment smtp_port=25 by putting semicolon infront=>;smtp_port=25
  comment sendmail_from= by putting semicolon infront=>;sendmail_from=specify path of
   file in sendmail_path to sendmail_path=C:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.exe
  
  check if extension=php_openssl.dll is enabled=>If there is semicolon in front then
   un-comment it by removing that semicolon

  After following the given steps if the mail is not sent by calling the mail function, then goto C:\xampp\sendmail open error.log to see thee error occurred.

Note: Here the procedure is shown for gmail, but it can be extended to other mails by changing the smtp server, port number. When using gmail take care to enable the option to allow access to less secure webapp.