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Can't send email with php using gmail - Authorising error

I'm new to PHP and trying to build a website with registration form. Users should receive an email with a confirmation link (since I have a free hosting server I am trying to use gmail server). The thing is I'm struggling with the email php code. I am trying to use PHPMailer functions as follows:

<?php
/**
 * This example shows settings to use when sending via Google's Gmail servers.
 */

//SMTP needs accurate times, and the PHP time zone MUST be set
//This should be done in your php.ini, but this is how to do it if you don't have access to that
date_default_timezone_set('Etc/UTC');
require 'PHPMailer/PHPMailerAutoload.php';

//Create a new PHPMailer instance
$mail = new PHPMailer;

//Tell PHPMailer to use SMTP
$mail->isSMTP();

//Enable SMTP debugging
// 0 = off (for production use)
// 1 = client messages
// 2 = client and server messages
$mail->SMTPDebug = 2;

//Ask for HTML-friendly debug output
$mail->Debugoutput = 'html';

//Set the hostname of the mail server
$mail->Host = 'smtp.gmail.com';
// use
// $mail->Host = gethostbyname('smtp.gmail.com');
// if your network does not support SMTP over IPv6

//Set the SMTP port number - 587 for authenticated TLS, a.k.a. RFC4409 SMTP submission
$mail->Port = 587;
//Set the encryption system to use - ssl (deprecated) or tls
$mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls';

//Whether to use SMTP authentication
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;

//Username to use for SMTP authentication - use full email address for gmail
$mail->Username = "[email protected]";

//Password to use for SMTP authentication
$mail->Password = "MYPASSWORD";

//Set who the message is to be sent from
$mail->setFrom('[email protected]', 'Name S');

//Set an alternative reply-to address
$mail->addReplyTo('[email protected]', 'Name S');

//Set who the message is to be sent to
$mail->addAddress('[email protected]', 'John Doe');

//Set the subject line
$mail->Subject = 'PHPMailer GMail SMTP test';

//Read an HTML message body from an external file, convert referenced images to embedded,
//convert HTML into a basic plain-text alternative body
$mail->msgHTML("HELLo");

//Replace the plain text body with one created manually
//$mail->AltBody = 'This is a plain-text message body';

//send the message, check for errors
if (!$mail->send()) {
    echo "Mailer Error: " . $mail->ErrorInfo;
} else {
    echo "Message sent!";
}
?>

I tried both ports 587 and 465. Also tried both ssl and tls. Every time I try to run the code I get the following error:

SERVER -> CLIENT: 220 smtp.gmail.com ESMTP gw4sm17090153wjc.45 - gsmtp CLIENT -> SERVER: EHLO spec.dr-manny.co.uk SERVER -> CLIENT: 250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [185.27.134.36]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN XOAUTH2 PLAIN-CLIENTTOKEN OAUTHBEARER XOAUTH250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES250-PIPELINING250-CHUNKING250 SMTPUTF8 CLIENT -> SERVER: AUTH LOGIN SERVER -> CLIENT: 334 VXNlcm5hbWU6 CLIENT -> SERVER: bWFubnlzYWVkaUBnbWFpbC5jb20= SERVER -> CLIENT: 334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6 CLIENT -> SERVER: a2luZ29uZW1vaDk5 SERVER -> CLIENT: 534-5.7.14 Please log in via your web browser and534-5.7.14 then try again.534-5.7.14 Learn more at534 5.7.14 https://support.google.com/mail/answer/78754 gw4sm17090153wjc.45 - gsmtp SMTP ERROR: Password command failed: 534-5.7.14 Please log in via your web browser and534-5.7.14 then try again.534-5.7.14 Learn more at534 5.7.14 https://support.google.com/mail/answer/78754 gw4sm17090153wjc.45 - gsmtp SMTP Error: Could not authenticate. CLIENT -> SERVER: QUIT SERVER -> CLIENT: 221 2.0.0 closing connection gw4sm17090153wjc.45 - gsmtp SMTP connect() failed. Error: SMTP connect() failed.

Also, I got an email from Gmail with the subject "Someone has your password". I opened the email and found this "
Hi Manny, Someone just used your password to try to sign in to your Google Account [email protected], using an application such as an email client or mobile device." I received this email about 15 mins after I ran the php page.

I turned off "2-step verification" and turned off "allow less secure apps". Nothing seems to help. Anyone please could help me?

Solution

  • I had the same issue last year: the code (VB.Net) was OK, so where the credentials. The problem was that gmail didn't like that some app in a web server far away (my hosting) where trying o use your same username.

    I fixed it (in two different occasions) by:

    After that test your code again.