Wordpress contact emails being sent from username@box199.bluehost.com

[davidp]

Hi there,

I've set up Contact Form 7 (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/contact-form-7/) successfully on wordpress, but email is being delivered from username@box199.bluehost.com instead of the email that the user fills out.

I tried creating an email account called wordpress@mydomain.com and setting my email address on wordpress as wordpress@mydomain.com. I've done this, but it still doesn't help.

Any ideas?

With many thanks,
David

[hedgehogblu]

I have experienced the same thing on all my own mail forms that are sent from my Bluehost account.

I think it's to do with the way that the mail server looks up and resolves it's own domain name (i.e. - the domain of your website) - it doesn't do this if you put an address on a different server as the sender's address (hotmail for example).

When you say you created an email account for the address you want to use, was it a full email account, or just a forwarder?

___________________________
Okio Studios UK Website Design (http://www.okiostudios.com/)

[davidp]

hedgehog, you're right! I just tested this out with an email address that is not part of my domain and it worked! So I don't actually have to worry about it. Many thanks.

[felgall]

When you say you created an email account for the address you want to use, was it a full email account, or just a forwarder?

That wouldn't matter - either a real account or a forwarder will work as long as there is something to process replies.

[steve2166]

Ive been trying to work this one out for some weeks now changing class.phpmailer.php, Contacting BH Support, visiting many forums and getting nowhere.

I have just found a solution that works for me and that was to install the Mail From Plugin (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/mail-from/). I now get a custom From: field in my emails sent from Contact From 7

PROBLEM SOLVED! :D

I hope this helps anyone else with this problem

- Steve

[EricJ]

Or.. you could fix it the easy way, and add this to your sendmail path line in your PHP.INI.


-f''emailaddress@whatever.net''

So at the end, your sendmail path line would somewhat resemble this:

sendmail_path = "/usr/sbin/sendmail -t -i -f''admin@mydomain.com''"

***NOTE. The the quotes around the email address are two single quotes ('), not one double quote.

[Brent2]

That wouldn't matter - either a real account or a forwarder will work as long as there is something to process replies.

Not quite. Bluehost uses exim and it's configured to require a valid From address, tied to a Bluehost account. They do this to prevent someone from using their servers to spoof another account, or another service.

If it doesn't have a valid From address it fills in the cPanel username@box###.bluehost.com. Creating the address your script is sending "From" (as a real address) should solve that problem. WordPress should be WordPress@domain.com. Almost always.

[felgall]

WordPress should be WordPress@domain.com. Almost always.

I have NEVER seen anywhere use that address. I'd suggest that it should almost never be that address and setting it to that is likely to be the cause of the problem.

[EricJ]

it's configured to require a valid From address, tied to a Bluehost account.

Hmm.. I just made a php script and sent out an email from
whatever@google.com
and
whatever@nbc.com
using this script:


<?php
$to = 'my_email@mydomain.com';
$subject = 'the subject';
$message = 'hello';
$headers = 'From: whatever@nbc.com' . "\r\n" .
'Reply-To: webmaster@example.com' . "\r\n" .
'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion();

mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers);
?>


I'm fairly sure that nbc.com and google.com are not tied to my bluehost account ;)

[felgall]

I'm fairly sure that nbc.com and google.com are not tied to my bluehost account ;)

From what I have seen the test for an existing email account or forwarder is only done if the domain is hosted at BlueHost.

Send from an email address not on a BlueHost hosted domain and it sends from that address.

Send from an email address that exists on BlueHost and it sends from that address.

Send from an email address that you have defined to forward to another address and it will send from that address.

Send from an email address where the domain is hosted on BlueHost and the email address doesn't have an actual account or a forwarder and it uses the box number as the from address instead.

That's where your don't have your MX record poiting elsewhere. I don't know what happens in that situation.

[EricJ]

Send from an email address where the domain is hosted on BlueHost and the email address doesn't have an actual account or a forwarder and it uses the box number as the from address instead.

That's where your don't have your MX record poiting elsewhere. I don't know what happens in that situation.

Hmm.. that is interesting. My quest has begun, I'll report back when I have some decent results, I have domains where mx's are pointed to google apps others that are pointed to bh, so i'll be able to test it from both angles.

[EricJ]

Here is what I did.. I made a php script with a defined 'from header' and then tested it about as many ways as I could think of. It doesn't seem like the mx records make any difference on how it goes out. I tested everything to three addresses:
google apps address
third party address
local (bluehost) address

There was no difference on any of the recipients.

Here is mx information about my domains (so things make sense below):
MX: domainA.net -> Google Apps
MX: domainB.org -> Bluehost

Here are the raw results:

undefined@domainA.net SENT FROM definition in php.ini
CHANGED php.ini -> php.ini.test
undefined@domainA.net SENT FROM username@box###.bluehost.com

defined@domainB.net SENT FROM defined@domainB.net
CHANGED php.ini -> php.ini.test
defined@domainB.net SENT FROM defined@domainB.net
***//IN the above test the address was defined in my BH cPanel\\***

defined@domainA.net SENT FROM definition in php.ini
CHANGED php.ini -> php.ini.test
defined@domainA.net SENT FROM username@box###.bluehost.com
***//IN the above test the address was defined on google's side, NOT bluehost's side\\***


There were more raw notes that I took, but I felt they were redundant. Here is what I gleaned from this exercise:
1. If you define a from address in the php script itself it MUST be defined in your cPanel to work.
2. If you define a 'from address' in your php.ini file (with the -f switch that I mentioned earlier). It will ALWAYS trump the username@box### address.
3. The address you define in your php.ini does NOT have to be defined anywhere. (The one I was using doesn't exist).
4. The address you define in the php script will trump the one in the php.ini (IF it's defined in the cPanel).

What does all of this mean?:
Using the -f switch in your php.ini seems to be the most effective way to get away from username@box### because it still allows you to overload it elsewhere with another address.

[felgall]

1. If you define a from address in the php script itself it MUST be defined in your cPanel to work.

Only if the domain is hosted on BlueHost. If the domain is hosted elsewhere then the email address may or may not exist as the mail program can't check for legitimate addresses from elsewhere.

I have had people send me emails from the contact form on my own site where they make a typo in their email address and the reply I send them bounces as undeliverable.

[EricJ]

Only if the domain is hosted on BlueHost. If the domain is hosted elsewhere then the email address may or may not exist as the mail program can't check for legitimate addresses from elsewhere.

Ah yes, I forgot that condition. :)

[OcalaDesigns]

Ive been trying to work this one out for some weeks now changing class.phpmailer.php, Contacting BH Support, visiting many forums and getting nowhere.

I have just found a solution that works for me and that was to install the Mail From Plugin (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/mail-from/). I now get a custom From: field in my emails sent from Contact From 7

PROBLEM SOLVED! :D

I hope this helps anyone else with this problem

- Steve

Thank-you Steve, this worked just fine for me and couldn't have been an easier fix! To Everyone else, use this as the solution. It's free and easy and works.

[chrisboggs]

I am having the same problem as a couple of the posters above; I cannot send email from Wordpress. I am using a From: address of wordpress@mydomainname.com and the WP-Mail-SMTP plugin to access the SMTP server. I have verified correct settings with Bluehost tech support. When I send a test email from this plugin the SMTP Debugging output is as follows:


SMTP -> FROM SERVER:
220-box446.bluehost.com ESMTP Exim 4.69 #1 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 07:42:52 -0600
220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited,
220 and/or bulk e-mail.
SMTP -> FROM SERVER:
250-box446.bluehost.com Hello mydomainname.com [69.89.31.246]
250-SIZE 52428800
250-PIPELINING
250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN
250-STARTTLS
250 HELP
SMTP -> FROM SERVER:
250 OK
SMTP -> FROM SERVER:
250 Accepted
SMTP -> FROM SERVER:
354 Enter message, ending with "." on a line by itself
SMTP -> FROM SERVER:
451 Temporary local problem - please try later
SMTP -> ERROR: DATA not accepted from server: 451 Temporary local problem - please try later

SMTP -> FROM SERVER:
250 Reset OK

This problem is preventing the Simple Press Forum for this client from allowing new users to register and for ContactForm7 to send mail and I must solve it. Does anyone have suggestions about how I might further troubleshoot this problem? What could lead to my mail functions not operating normally? Should I reinstall any files? Is there some way to test further where the problem may lie? I am running out of options. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[farcaster]

Have you actually created the email account that is sending the email? Do that in the cPanel.

[lila]

What does all of this mean?:
Using the -f switch in your php.ini seems to be the most effective way to get away from username@box### because it still allows you to overload it elsewhere with another address.
Thanks. I had some problems because I left some space between the -f and email.
Now I fixed it and made it even better with -F
so it is

-F'Complete Name' -femail@domain.ext
the double singles quotes works too, of course!

[Uriel Correa]

The conflict will be due to something called "proxy bypass" on your web server. if you have a website domain.com, you can access it without having to go out onto the internet and then back in to the web server again.

Anyway... Other than copying the stylesheet to the other domain, I'm not sure that this can be done to work internally and externally