77

I have used phpmailer() concept to send mail to users from my shared server using php script, but I'm not able to send even though everything is right in my script according to phpmailer code.

My code like this:

  $message = " This is testing message from my server";

  $mail = new PHPMailer(); // create a new object
  $mail->IsSMTP(); // enable SMTP
  $mail->Host = "smtp.gmail.com";
  $mail->SMTPDebug = 1; // debugging: 1 = errors and messages, 2 = messages only
  $mail->SMTPAuth = true; // authentication enabled
  $mail->SMTPSecure = 'ssl'; // secure transfer enabled REQUIRED for GMail
  $mail->Port = 465; // or 587
  $mail->IsHTML(true);
  $mail->Username = "[email protected]"; // My gmail username
  $mail->Password = "************"; // My Gmail Password
  $mail->SetFrom("[email protected]");
  $mail->Subject = "Test Mail from my Server";
  $mail->Body = $message;
  $mail->AddAddress($email);
   if($mail->Send())
      {
    print json_encode("SUCCESS");
}
else
{
    echo "Mailer Error: " . $mail->ErrorInfo;
    
}

Note: I have used " GMail " as my SMTP server and SMTPSecure is " ssl " and port is "465" and username & passwords are my GMail username & password

I used VPS shared server and I kept my php script on that server.

I think there is no problem in my php script and I don't know why it doesn't work.

I got the ERROR like this.

  2014-02-21 12:30:11   CLIENT -> SERVER: EHLO jkcorporates.com
  2014-02-21 12:30:11   CLIENT -> SERVER: AUTH LOGIN
  2014-02-21 12:30:11   CLIENT -> SERVER: bW9vcnRoaS5tcmsxMEBnbWFpbC5jb20=
  2014-02-21 12:30:11   CLIENT -> SERVER: OTk0MTI0MTE0MA==
  2014-02-21 12:30:11   SMTP ERROR: Password command failed: 534-5.7.14 
  534-5.7.14 i-_eumA> Please log in via your web browser and then try again.
  534 5.7.14 54 k76sm17979938yho.18 - gsmtp
  2014-02-21 12:30:11   CLIENT -> SERVER: QUIT
  " The ERROR is  "  SMTP connect() failed.

Please give some solution for that.

Remember: I use Shared Server Name 'VPS.mydomain.com' and I want to use GMail as my SMTP server to send mail to users.

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13 Answers 13

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232

A bit late, but perhaps someone will find it useful.

Links that fix the problem (you must be logged into google account):

https://security.google.com/settings/security/activity?hl=en&pli=1

https://www.google.com/settings/u/1/security/lesssecureapps

https://accounts.google.com/b/0/DisplayUnlockCaptcha

Some explanation of what happens:

This problem can be caused by either 'less secure' applications trying to use the email account (this is according to google help, not sure how they judge what is secure and what is not) OR if you are trying to login several time in a row OR if you change countries (for example use VPN, move code to different server or actually try to login from different part of the world).

To resolve I had to: (first time)

  • login to my account via web
  • view recent attempts to use the account and accept suspicious access: THIS LINK
  • disable the feature of blocking suspicious apps/technologies: THIS LINK

This worked the first time, but few hours later, probably because I was doing a lot of testing the problem reappeared and was not fixable using the above method. In addition I had to clear the captcha (the funny picture, which asks you to rewrite a word or a sentence when logging into any account nowadays too many times) :

  • after login to my account I went HERE
  • Clicked continue
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11
  • 1
    After search for a while I found this page and worked for me. Can you tell please how did you find this link : accounts.google.com/b/0/DisplayUnlockCaptcha ???
    – Yoones Mehdian
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 20:02
  • 1
    @YunessMehdian it was a long time ago, so I don't remember exactly how I got there. I was doing a lot of research to resolve this issue and must have stumbled across the captcha page.
    – callmebob
    Commented Jul 29, 2016 at 8:28
  • 1
    Less secure apps and Display Unlock Captcha worked for me on 000webhost
    – Yash
    Commented Feb 6, 2019 at 3:31
  • 1
    this worked for me, I have been struggling with outlook, Outlook doesn't tell you to log in, just shows you the SMTP failed message. thanks a lot.
    – Kingston Fortune
    Commented Mar 9, 2019 at 23:16
  • 1
    It's 4/19/2020 and I can confirm the DisplayUnlockCaptcha worked like a charm. It's the last LINK in the post
    – yosimba2000
    Commented Apr 19, 2020 at 22:27
30

Use this:

https://www.google.com/settings/u/1/security/lesssecureapps
https://accounts.google.com/b/0/DisplayUnlockCaptcha
https://security.google.com/settings/security/activity?hl=en&pli=1

this link allow acces to google account

UPDATE 19-05-2017:

These url you must to visit from the IP address that will be send email

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1
  • I am using Amazon EC2 can you tell me how can i do this process?
    – Jay Acharya
    Commented Jul 4, 2019 at 9:31
7

Solved the problem - PHPMailer - SMTP ERROR: Password command failed when send mail from my server

    require_once('class.phpmailer.php');
    include("class.smtp.php"); 
    $nameField = $_POST['name'];
    $emailField = $_POST['email'];
    $messageField = $_POST['message'];
    $phoneField = $_POST['contactno'];
    $cityField = $_POST['city'];

$mail = new PHPMailer(true); // the true param means it will throw exceptions on errors, which we need to catch

$mail->IsSMTP(); // telling the class to use SMTP

$body .= $nameField;

try {
     //$mail->Host       = "mail.gmail.com"; // SMTP server
      $mail->SMTPDebug  = 2;                     // enables SMTP debug information (for testing)
      $mail->SMTPAuth   = true;                  // enable SMTP authentication
      $mail->SMTPSecure = "ssl";                 // sets the prefix to the servier
      $mail->Host       = "smtp.gmail.com";      // sets GMAIL as the SMTP server
      $mail->Port       = 465;   // set the SMTP port for the GMAIL server
      $mail->SMTPKeepAlive = true;
      $mail->Mailer = "smtp";
      $mail->Username   = "[email protected]";  // GMAIL username
      $mail->Password   = "********";            // GMAIL password
      $mail->AddAddress('[email protected]', 'abc');
      $mail->SetFrom('[email protected]', 'def');
      $mail->Subject = 'PHPMailer Test Subject via mail(), advanced';
      $mail->AltBody = 'To view the message, please use an HTML compatible email viewer!'; // optional - MsgHTML will create an alternate automatically
      $mail->MsgHTML($body);
      $mail->Send();
      echo "Message Sent OK</p>\n";
      header("location: ../test.html");
} catch (phpmailerException $e) {
      echo $e->errorMessage(); //Pretty error messages from PHPMailer
} catch (Exception $e) {
      echo $e->getMessage(); //Boring error messages from anything else!
}

Important:

Go to google Setting and do 'less secure' applications enables. It will work. It Worked for Me.

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7

As others already suggested, you can enable the "less secure" applications or you can simply switch from ssl to tls:

$mailer->Host = 'tls://smtp.gmail.com';
$mailer->SMTPAuth = true;
$mailer->Username = "[email protected]";
$mailer->Password = "***";
$mailer->SMTPSecure = 'tls';
$mailer->Port = 587;

When using tls there's no need to grant access for less secure applications, just make sure, IMAP is enabled.

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0
4

  1. Login to your Gmail account using the web browser.

  2. Click on this link to enable applications to access your account: https://accounts.google.com/b/0/DisplayUnlockCaptcha

  3. Click on Continue button to complete the step.

  4. Now try again to send the email from your PHP script. It should work.

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2

I face the same problem, and think that I do know why this happens.

The gmail account that I use is normally used from India, and the webserver that I use is located in The Netherlands.

Google notifies that there was a login attempt from am unusualy location and requires to login from that location via a web browser.

Furthermore I had to accept suspicious access to the gmail account via https://security.google.com/settings/security/activity

But in the end my problem is not yet solved, because I have to login to gmail from a location in The Netherlands.

I hope this will help you a little! (sorry, I do not read email replies on this email address)

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Just in caser anyone ends here like me. In may case despite having enabled unsecure access to my google account, it refused to send the email throwing an SMTP ERROR: Password command failed: 534-5.7.14.

(Solution found at https://know.mailsbestfriend.com/smtp_error_password_command_failed_5345714-1194946499.shtml)

Steps:

  1. log into your google account

  2. Go to https://accounts.google.com/b/0/DisplayUnlockCaptcha and click continue to enable.

  3. Setup your phpmailer as smtp with ssl:

    $mail = new PHPMailer(true);

$mail->CharSet  ="utf-8";
$mail->SMTPDebug = SMTP::DEBUG_SERVER; // or 0 for no debuggin at all        
$mail->isSMTP();
$mail->Host = 'smtp.gmail.com';
$mail->Port = 465; 
$mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_SMTPS; 
$mail->SMTPAuth   = true;
$mail->Username = 'yourgmailaccount';
$mail->Password = 'yourpassword';

And the other $mail object properties as needed.

Hope it helps someone!!

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2

You need to use an APP password.

Visit this link to view how to create one.

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  • While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes.
    – kadamb
    Commented Dec 28, 2020 at 19:40
1

For those who are still unable to get it working, try the following in addition to the method provided by @CallMeBob.

PHP.ini

  1. Go to C:\xampp\php , edit php.ini file with notepad.
  2. Press CTRL+F on your keyboard, input sendmail_path on the search bar and click Find Next twice.
  3. Right now, you should be at the [mail munction] section.

Remove the semicolon for this line: sendmail_path = "\"C:\xampp\sendmail\sendmail.exe\" -t"
Add a semicolon for this line: sendmail_path="C:\xampp\mailtodisk\mailtodisk.exe"

SendMail.ini

  • Go to C:\xampp\sendmail, edit sendmail.ini file with notepad
  • Change the following:


Note:
** smtp_port must tally with your those written in your php code.
** Remember to change your-gmail-username and your-gmail-password to whichever account you are using.
**


Hope this helps! :)

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1

If you are G Suit user it can be solved by Administrator

  1. Go to your Admin panel
  2. Type in top search bar «Security» (Select Security with Shield icon)
  3. Open Basic settings
  4. Goto Less secure apps section
  5. Press: Go to settings for less secure apps ››

And now select one of Radio Button a) Disable access to less secure apps for all users (Recommended) b) Allow users to manage their access to less secure apps c) Enforce access to less secure apps for all users (Not Recommended)

Usually It does not working because of a)! And will start working immediately with c) option. b) – option will need more configuration for each user in GSuit

Hope it helps

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0

This error is due to more security features of gmail..

Once this error is generated...Please login to your gmail account..there you can find security alert from GOOGLE..follow the mail...check on click for less secure option..Then try again phpmailer..

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0

Your mail won't be sent online unless you complete the two-step verification for your g-mail account and use that password.

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after publishing the code to the server, I am using gmail account to send a mail.

I followed the following steps to solve the issue

https://www.google.com/settings/u/1/security/lesssecureapps


https://security.google.com/settings/security/activity?hl=en&pli=1
if you added the 2 step verification then you need to remove to make it work
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