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I'm trying to use Windows 10 mail to send email through my own personal SMTP server. I don't use pop3 or imap, I just deliver my mail to a local maildir.

However, the Mail client won't let me do anything without "signing in" which is stupid. I tried using "example.com" as the account, but it wouldn't actually send my emails at all, and I couldn't find a setting to "send email now".

I was able to scroll down to "Advanced Setup" and use "Internet email account". If I use these settings:

Email Address:
my.real.address@example.com

Username:
this.does.not.matter

Password:
this is the imap/pop password that I don't need

Account name:
Me! Or whatever

Send your messages using this name:
Wayne Werner

Account type:
pop. Imap. Neither matters.

Outgoing (SMTP) email server:
my.real.smtpserver:port

Outgoing server requires auth: checked!
Use the same user name and password for sending email: Not checked

Outgoing server user name:
my.real.smtp.server.username

Outgoing server password:
my real smtp server password

Require SSL for Incoming email: checked
Require SSL for outgoing email: checked

Do I have to create a fake POP/IMAP server to get this app to believe me that I don't actually want to receive email here? Or is there some kind of hidden setting I can use?

When I configured these settings and tried to send a message, nothing happened. It stuck the files in my outbox and that was it. No error message no nothing. As far as I can tell, it was waiting to connect to the IMAP/POP server before it would try to send my email.

Wayne Werner
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  • I just checked on my Win 10 VM and wonder: Did you scroll down the list in the "Add an account" screen to the very bottom? The scroll bar is subtle unless you mouse over it, but at the bottom is an Advanced button that allows for manually configuring an "Internet mail account". – music2myear Jun 20 '19 at 22:14
  • Did U modify IIUS user group privileges? – Tony Stewart EE75 Jun 20 '19 at 23:09
  • @music2myear I've updated my question to include that. Yeah, I was able to find that which is why I *thought* it should be able to send email if I put a dummy value in the incoming thing, like `example.com`. – Wayne Werner Jun 20 '19 at 23:19
  • @SunnyskyguyEE75 I doubt it, as it's a fresh factory reset of the machine – Wayne Werner Jun 20 '19 at 23:20
  • Then you may need to create these permissions to yourself et al – Tony Stewart EE75 Jun 20 '19 at 23:22
  • Not sure about IIS , but the mailboxes must have some privileges that don’t require login again – Tony Stewart EE75 Jun 20 '19 at 23:28
  • Why do you need to use Windows Mail to just send the/an email? You can send an email without any mail server to an email address without any mail client that contains protocols for email storage of mailbox data and such. It sounds like you just need to send emails so do that via PowerShell and .Net assembly logic, or an open source CLI you can interface with a batch script, etc. I have a few posts with this sort of functionality on SU that I can find and send you a link. Otherwise you want to look for an email sending software with a GUI interface with just SMTP outgoing functionality I think. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jun 21 '19 at 00:29
  • You may have to setup relay access for the IP the email client sends from to your server if you are then in turn sending it out to others from the email server. I can think of a few ways and using Exchange Server, hMailServer, and another one or two where I've setup such tasks but it all depends on your environment, server systems, etc. – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style Jun 21 '19 at 00:30
  • @PimpJuiceIT it's not even connecting. I know I can send emails alternatively, say using python. Mail just happened to be integrated into Windows, so it had that going for it. – Wayne Werner Jun 21 '19 at 10:46

1 Answers1

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The Windows Mail client is not a mail server, and you need a mail server in order to send email, even if only to a local destination.

So yes and no. You'd need a real mail server, not a fake one, that the client can connect to using one of the protocols it supports in order to use the Windows Mail client application.

This also isn't the Windows Mail app being "stupid". Mail servers are logged in to using accounts created on them. No mail client can send email on its own, they all connect to a server to do the sending and receiving. If your mail application can send on its own, that's because it's a mail server that happens to function as a client in some ways.

music2myear
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  • Right - that's what I'm trying to do - send mail through my mail server. My mailserver is an SMTP server, not a POP/IMAP server, and I can't figure out how to get Mail to act like a *client* and send email through my server. Without requiring POP or IMAP, as well, which seems pretty stupid to me. I mean, maybe it's trying to protect against people misconfiguring things accidentally... but it doesn't give any indication of that that I can find. – Wayne Werner Jun 20 '19 at 21:53
  • That is not clear from how your question is worded. Could you perhaps use the EDIT button on your question to clarify the problem? – music2myear Jun 20 '19 at 22:01