gabrielheiser

How I got WordPress email to work!

I have a Windows dedicated server, running Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition. I just installed WordPress on that box, version 2.0.4. After installing WP, I could “register” but no email with the password was sent out. I have spent the better part of five days fiddling around with this and finally got it to work! Here’s what I did:

1. Use the wpPHPMailer plugin for WordPress instead of fooling around with sendmail. You can download it from here:
https://www.coffee2code.com/archives/2004/06/28/plugin-wpphpmailer/
Follow the installation instructions carefully. I did not need to change “mail()” call to “phpmailer()” in wp-login.php for password retrieval. I tried it both ways and it made no difference.

2. Key ingredient: Go to Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Internet Information Services. Expand your local computer. There should be an icon there for Default SMTP Virtual Server. Right-click that and select Properties. Click Access at the top menu. Click Relay. Check “Only the list below” and “Allow all computers which successfully authenticate to relay, regardless of the list above.” Click Add. Enter the i.p. address of your site. Click OK, OK, and OK. Close the IIS Manager, now. This part is done!

To set up SMTP on the box, I had to go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs. Click “Add/Remove Windows Components.” Check “E-mail services”. This will install the SMTP and the POP3 services; you’ll need both. Click Next, wait while it installs, then Finish. Close the window, etc. This part is now done.

Finally, set up Outlook Express (the so-called “email client”): Go to Start, Programs, Outlook Express. Click Tools, Accounts, Mail, then Add, then Mail. Your name: irrelevant, since wpPHPMailer overrides this, so enter whatever you want and click Next. Enter an email address here; this is what WordPress will use to send notice of a new registration, via Outlook Express, but not the rest of the world.
At this point, you may want to review this excellent tutorial: https://www.ilopia.com/Articles/WindowsServer2003/EmailServer.aspx

Anyway, I finally got WP to talk to Outlook and Outlook to send emails to the rest of the world, but I could not get WP to send emails to the rest of the world (which of course is required to send out passwords to new registrants), until I installed the wpPHPMailer plugin and also added my i.p. address to the relay list, as described above.

I’m sure others will have slightly different setups, but at least you may find some comfort in knowing that indeed WordPress and a Windows box running IIS can work together to allow comments and registration.

I am using a Windows server with WordPress and like the fellow above, if you sign up as a user to post comments, you are told your password will be e-mailed to you. That e-mail never arrives. Where do I set the mail server and account to use for this?
Does it have something to do with wp-mail? What is that file for? Must I install a mailserver on my server computer? Thanks!

OK, I found the solution, and it solved the problem! I have the site hosted on a Windows platform, using IIS. So I did this:

1. Open IIS Manager (start/programs/administrative tools/IIS manager)
2. Right click on the folder containing the blog files (I called it “blog”) and click Properties.
3. Go to the Documents Tab.
4. Make sure ‘Enable default content page’ is checked/enabled and “index.php” is the top default document (I had to add “index.php” and move it to the top.)
5. Click OK.

That’s it!