BookStackApp/BookStack · error · UserRegistrationException

auth.email_confirm_send_error

Error message

auth.email_confirm_send_error

What it means

This is a UserRegistrationException thrown by BookStack's RegistrationService (registerUser) when the email-confirmation mail cannot be sent to a newly registered user. After creating the account, if email confirmation is required, the service calls EmailConfirmationService::sendConfirmation; any Exception from that call is caught, translated via the 'auth.email_confirm_send_error' language key, and re-thrown as a UserRegistrationException with redirect '/register/confirm'. The user account itself has already been created; only the confirmation email dispatch failed.

Source

Thrown at app/Access/RegistrationService.php:118

        // Assign a social account if given
        if ($socialAccount) {
            $newUser->socialAccounts()->save($socialAccount);
        }

        Activity::add(ActivityType::AUTH_REGISTER, $socialAccount ?? $newUser);
        Theme::dispatch(ThemeEvents::AUTH_REGISTER, $authSystem, $newUser);

        // Start the email confirmation flow if required
        if ($this->emailConfirmationService->confirmationRequired() && !$emailConfirmed) {
            $newUser->save();

            try {
                $this->emailConfirmationService->sendConfirmation($newUser);
                session()->flash('sent-email-confirmation', true);
            } catch (Exception $e) {
                $message = trans('auth.email_confirm_send_error');

                throw new UserRegistrationException($message, '/register/confirm');
            }
        }

        return $newUser;
    }

    /**
     * Ensure that the given email meets any active email domain registration restrictions.
     * Throws if restrictions are active and the email does not match an allowed domain.
     *
     * @throws UserRegistrationException
     */
    protected function ensureEmailDomainAllowed(string $userEmail): void
    {
        $registrationRestrict = setting('registration-restrict');

        if (!$registrationRestrict) {
            return;

View on GitHub (pinned to 18f8469a1c)

Solutions

1. Test the mail configuration: run 'php artisan bookstack:send-test-email' (or check the mail settings in .env: MAIL_HOST, MAIL_PORT, MAIL_USERNAME, MAIL_PASSWORD, MAIL_ENCRYPTION) and fix credentials/host so sendConfirmation succeeds.
2. Verify the account was still created (users table) — if so, the user can log in and you can resend confirmation from the user-profile page instead of re-registering.
3. If email confirmation is not needed, disable it ('Require email confirmation' toggle under Settings > Registration) so the sendConfirmation path is skipped.
4. In dev, switch MAIL_DRIVER to 'log' so confirmation 'emails' are written to the log and the flow completes without a real mail server.
5. Check mail server logs / firewall for rejected connections (port 25 often blocked on cloud hosts); use port 587 with STARTTLS via a relay.

Example fix

// before (.env, broken SMTP)
MAIL_HOST=mail.example.com
MAIL_USERNAME=
MAIL_PASSWORD=

// after (.env, working SMTP)
MAIL_HOST=smtp.example.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=no-reply@example.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=secret
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls

// Before triggering registration (or before resend), verify mail config is usable:
$transportOk = config('mail.mailers.smtp.host') !== null;
// Better: actually probe the transport
catchable_check: try {
    Mail::raw('probe', function ($m) { $m->to('probe@example.com')->subject('probe'); });
} catch (\Throwable $e) {
    // mail transport misconfigured — fix MAIL_* settings before registering users
}

use BookStack\Exceptions\UserRegistrationException;

try {
    $user = $registrationService->registerUser($userData, $socialAccount, false);
} catch (UserRegistrationException $e) {
    // message is the translated 'auth.email_confirm_send_error'; account may already exist
    logger()->warning('Registration confirmation email failed: ' . $e->getMessage());
    return redirect($e->getRedirect()); // '/register/confirm'
}

When it happens

Trigger: A user completes the registration form while email confirmation is enabled (confirmationRequired() returns true and the account is not pre-confirmed), the user record is created, and sendConfirmation() throws — typically because the configured mailer (SMTP/mailgun/SES/log driver) fails: SMTP connection refused/auth failure, missing mail env vars (MAIL_HOST, MAIL_USERNAME, etc.), or a mail-driver API error.

Common situations: Self-hosted BookStack instances where SMTP credentials were changed or the mail server is down; Docker deployments missing MAIL_* environment variables; using a mail service whose API key expired; local dev environments with no working mail transport configured (e.g. 'mail' driver on a host without sendmail); firewall blocking outbound port 25/587.

Related errors

• auth.registration_email_domain_invalid
• errors.email_already_confirmed
• errors.path_not_writable
• errors.image_upload_replace_type
• errors.cannot_create_thumbs

AI-assisted analysis of BookStackApp/BookStack@18f8469a1c (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e4fc2a97e9b3eff7. Report an issue: GitHub.