I Cannot Receive or Send Emails — Troubleshooting Guide

I Cannot Receive or Send Emails — Troubleshooting Guide

If you cannot receive or send emails, work through the checks below in order. Most email problems have a simple cause, such as a client setting, a full mailbox or a DNS record, and can be fixed without contacting support.

Start by Testing in Webmail

Before changing any settings, log into webmail at yourdomain.com/webmail (or webmail.yourdomain.com) and try to send and receive a test message from there.

• If webmail sends and receives normally, the mail server is working. The problem is with your email app (Outlook, Apple Mail, phone, etc.) — go to Check client settings below.
• If webmail can send but not receive, the cause is usually DNS or mailbox-related — go to If you cannot receive emails below.
• If webmail can receive but not send, or neither works, this may need help from support once you've worked through the checks below.

If You Cannot Receive Emails

Check your MX records

MX records tell the internet where to deliver email for your domain. If they point to the wrong place, for example a previous host, mail sent to you will never reach your mailbox.

1. Check your MX record at mxtoolbox.com by entering your domain name
2. Confirm it points to your hosting account's mail server, as shown in your welcome email or the client area at my.hostking.host
3. If it points elsewhere, update the MX record in your control panel's DNS management section (cPanel: Zone Editor; DirectAdmin: DNS Management)

Check mail routing is set to local (cPanel)

On cPanel accounts, if mail routing for your domain is set to "Remote" instead of "Local," the server will refuse incoming mail for that domain.

1. Log into cPanel and open Email Routing
2. Select your domain from the list
3. Make sure it is set to Local Mail Exchanger, not Remote Mail Exchanger

Check your mailbox quota

If your mailbox is full, new emails will bounce back to the sender instead of arriving.

• cPanel: go to Email Accounts, find your address and check the storage used; click Change Quota to increase it
• DirectAdmin: go to Email Accounts and check the quota column next to your address; delete old emails or increase the quota if needed

Check forwarders and filters

A forwarder or filter can silently redirect or delete incoming mail without you noticing. In cPanel, check Forwarders and Email Filters. In DirectAdmin, check Forwarders and Email Filters under the Email section.

Check your spam or junk folder

Check both your email client's spam folder and your webmail spam folder, as they are separate. If emails are landing there, mark them as "Not Spam" and add the sender to your contacts.

Check for recent DNS or domain changes

If you recently moved your domain to Hostking or changed nameservers, DNS propagation can take up to 24–48 hours. During this time some email may still be delivered to your old host, and this resolves itself once propagation finishes.

If You Cannot Send Emails

Check your email client settings

Incorrect settings in your email app are the most common reason sending fails. Confirm your client matches the settings below, which you can also find in your welcome email or the client area.

• Incoming server: mail.yourdomain.com, IMAP (recommended) on port 993 or POP3 on port 995, both with SSL/TLS
• Outgoing (SMTP) server: mail.yourdomain.com on port 465 or 587, with SSL/TLS and authentication enabled
• Username: your full email address
• Password: your mailbox password, which is not the same as your control panel password

If the settings look correct but sending still fails, remove the account from your email app and add it again from scratch, rather than editing the existing entry.

Use Track Delivery to see the exact cause (cPanel)

cPanel's Track Delivery tool shows whether a message reached its destination and why it didn't, if it failed.

1. Log into cPanel and go to Email > Track Delivery
2. Enter the recipient's email address and click Run Report
3. Review the result for that message, such as Success, Deferred, Failure or Filtered

Common results and what they mean:

• Filtered — the server accepted the message but it didn't reach the inbox, often due to the recipient's spam filter or a rule on their end
• Invalid Recipient / No Such User Here — the address doesn't exist; check for typos, or confirm the address under Email Accounts if it's on your own domain
• Rejected — can include being listed on a real-time blacklist (RBL); see below

On DirectAdmin, check the Mail Queue Administration page under Email for messages that are stuck or queued, which can indicate a delivery problem.

Check for blacklisting or SPF/DKIM problems

If your messages are rejected by recipients' mail servers, your sending IP address may be listed on a spam blacklist, or your domain's SPF, DKIM or DMARC records may be missing or incorrect. These DNS records help other mail servers trust that your email is genuine.

If you suspect this, contact support with the bounce message so the team can check your sending reputation and DNS records.

Check if the Sender Got a Bounce

If someone else's email to you didn't arrive, ask them to check whether they received a bounce message, also called a Non-Delivery Report (NDR). The bounce message contains an error code that explains why the email wasn't delivered. Common reasons include:

• Mailbox full — your quota needs increasing
• User unknown — the email address doesn't exist, or there's a typo in it
• Rejected by spam filter — the spam filter is too aggressive
• Domain not found — your domain's DNS is not set up correctly

Still Not Working? Contact Support

Some causes, such as blocked mail ports, incorrect reverse DNS (PTR) records, or server-level blacklisting, can only be fixed by Hostking's support team. Open a support ticket from the client area at my.hostking.host, or use live chat, with the following details:

• Your email address
• The sender's or recipient's email address
• Approximate date and time the email was sent
• Any bounce message or error code received
• Whether the problem happens in webmail, in an email app, or both

Live chat is available 7 days a week, roughly 05:00–20:00 UTC, and support tickets can be submitted at any time from the client area.