How To Send Email From Localhost Using PHP

In this post about “How to send mail from localhost in php using wamp/xampp”, sometimes we need to test the mail sending function from our development environment. We can send mail from our localhost using some mail configuration by XAMPP/LAMP/WAMP server.

First, we need to enable php_openssl php extensions from php.ini file. I am using GMAIL SMTP server to send mail from localhost and sendmail package.

It is a mail transport agent which can be found in php.ini file. The sendmail package is inbuilt in XAMPP. So if you are using XAMPP then you can easily send mail from localhost.

I have added one more article: Send Email From Using Gmail API and PHP.

Video Tutorial:

If you are more comfortable in watching a video that explains about How To Send Mail From Localhost Using XAMPP, then you should watch this video tutorial.

The Configuration Parameters in PHP Mail

• smtp_sever: The SMTP Host server name like, smtp.gmail.com
• smtp_port: The port number(Ex: 465)
• auth_username: Your SMTP username
• auth_password: Your SMTP password

You can also check other tutorials of php mail,

• How To Send Email From Localhost Using PHP
• How to Send Mail in PHP
• Send Feedback Form Through Mail Using PHP

Step 1: we need to enable php_openssl php extensions from php.ini file. For XAMPP, it is located in C:\XAMPP\php\php.ini. You can download from php_openssl.dll.

Step 2: Find the mail function in php.ini file. You can find the code like 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
;sendmail_path = "\"D:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.exe\" -t"

replace with your SMTP configuration parameters like the below,

[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 = phpflow@gmail.com
sendmail_path = "\"D:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.exe\" -t"

Step 3: Open sendmail.ini which is located on "c:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.ini" and change SMTP configuration parameters.

[mail function]
smtp_server=smtp.gmail.com
smtp_port=25
auth_username=phpflow@gmail.com
auth_password=XXXXXXX
force_sender=phpflow@gmail.com

Step 4: Restart your Apache server.

Step 5: Send mail using php mail() function.

mail("parvez1487@gmail.com","Success","Send mail from localhost using PHP");

Sometimes port 25 is not open, so you need to change to 587 OR 465.

Now you have configured mail from localhost and use it.I hope this php tutorial helps to understand the working functionality of mail and sending mail from localhost using PHP SMTP.