Title: Activation email sent but account not activated / activation link confusion Hi, I’m running a self-hosted Discourse (Docker). SMTP test emails are sending successfully (verified via Gmail), but newly registered users do not receive or cannot complete account activation properly. What I’ve checked / done: SMTP configured and test email delivered successfully login_required = false must_approve_users = false Manual activation via Admin → Users works Restarted with ./launcher restart app (multiple times) Issue: After registration, users land on /u/account-created Activation email is inconsistent or activation link behavior is unclear Unsure where to control activation link / redirect behavior Questions: Where exactly does Discourse handle the activation link and redirect after clicking it? Is there a recommended way to test activation flow without restarting the container? Any common causes when SMTP test works but user activation emails fail or don’t complete activation? Thanks in advance.

Thanks Nate I’m using local SMTP (Postfix) on the server — not a third-party provider yet. Testing activation emails now. Thanks. The domain is forum.168my.my — feel free to do a test registration to check whether the activation email is received on your side. Thanks

You can activate the initial account via rails too, alternatively you can choose to set up discourse with the new installer and opt for discourse id. That makes email optional unless you need it for email notifications.

[image] itsbhanusharma: You can activate the initial account via rails too, alternatively you can choose to set up discourse with the new installer and opt for discourse id. That makes email optional unless you need it for email notifications. Thanks, let me try again.

I use docker-mailserver https://github.com/docker-mailserver/docker-mailserver It is as simple as a mail server is going to get and runs on the same server as discourse. It doesn’t use a database, keeping the emails in a flat file so not super high volume set up but it works.

Activation email sent but account not activated

Product Support

NateDhaliwal (Nate Dhaliwal) January 21, 2026, 10:54pm 2

Hmm… what SMTP provider are you using?

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Activation email sent but account not activated

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