PHP Fatal error: 'Swift_TransportException' with message 'Failed to authenticate on SMTP server

Question

I know this question's been asked before and I've read all the posts out there, but I still can't find a solution to this.

I have a windows machine with wamp installed on it. When I try to send a simple email via google's SMTP server everything works fine. Though, when I copy that same script to an Ubuntu 12 machine, it gives me that error:

PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught exception 'Swift_TransportException' with message 'Failed to authenticate on SMTP server with username "[email protected]" using 2 possible authenticators' in /home/TestMail/SwiftMail/lib/classes/Swift/Transport/Esmtp/AuthHandler.php:171
Stack trace:
/home/TestMail/SwiftMail/lib/classes/Swift/Transport/EsmtpTransport.php(289): Swift_Transport_Esmtp_AuthHandler->afterEhlo(Object(Swift_SmtpTransport))
/home/TestMail/SwiftMail/lib/classes/Swift/Transport/AbstractSmtpTransport.php(114): Swift_Transport_EsmtpTransport->_doHeloCommand()
/home/TestMail/SwiftMail/lib/classes/Swift/Mailer.php(76): Swift_Transport_AbstractSmtpTransport->start()
/home/TestMail/testmail.php(73): Swift_Mailer->send(Object(Swift_Message))
thrown in /home/TestMail/SwiftMail/lib/classes/Swift/Transport/Esmtp/AuthHandler.php on line 171

That's how I initialize the transport:

$transport = Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance('smtp.gmail.com', 465, 'ssl')

I've tried to telnet to smtp.gmail.com on port 465 and it worked fine, so it must not be a firewall issue.

I have SSL enabled with PHP. I tried to send two separate mails with and without SSL with a different mail server and everything worked like charm. It is only google's mail that gets me mad.

Any ideas would be welcome here.

My entire php code:

<?php
require_once 'SwiftMail/lib/swift_required.php';
// Create the Transport
$transport = Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance('smtp.gmail.com', 465, 'ssl')
  ->setUsername('[email protected]')
  ->setPassword('xxx');

// Create the Mailer using your created Transport
$mailer = Swift_Mailer::newInstance($transport);

$htmlbody = 'some html here';

// Create a message
$message = Swift_Message::newInstance('without head')
    ->setFrom(array('<from email>' => '<some sender>'))
    ->setTo(array('<to email>' => '<some recepient>'))
    ->setBody($htmlbody, 'text/html');

// Send the message
$result = $mailer->send($message);

var_dump($result);
?>

Thanks!

Answer 1

This is an old thread, but my resolution was a bit different for the same error. Turns out my Swift configuration is fine. The IP from my server was blocked by Google as suspicious. I was able to clear it by visiting this link, then executing my mailer code from the server.

http://www.google.com/accounts/DisplayUnlockCaptcha

Answer 2

You can also check that the 2 steps validation authentication is not enabled. This was the case for me.