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How to reset password with email verification in PHP

  • Tech Area
  • Last updated on: January 8, 2026



In this tutorial, we have discuss how to reset password with the help of email verification in PHP. If you are working on a login module then you need to add Forgot Password functionality. Here, we will show you how to send reset password link in email using PHP and MySQLi. After validating user email, password reset link send to user email id with secret key.

Below are the step by step process on how to generate reset password link in PHP and send it on email using PHPMailer.

Step 1: Download PHPMailer

First, you have to download PHPMailer and copy into your php project. here I am using PHPMailer-5.2-stable. you can download it from below given link.

https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/tree/5.2-stable

Step 2: Create a Database connection

In this step, create a new file connection.php to create database connection.

connection.php

<?php
$server = "localhost";
$username = "root";
$password = "";
$database = "college_db";
$connection = mysqli_connect("$server","$username","$password");
$select_db = mysqli_select_db($connection, $database);
if(!$select_db)
{
	echo("connection terminated");
}
?>

Step 3: Create Login form

In this step, create a new file index.php to create login form with Forgot Password link.

index.php

<html>  
<head>  
    <title>Login Form</title>  
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.6/css/bootstrap.min.css" />  
</head>
<style>
 .box
 {
  width:100%;
  max-width:600px;
  background-color:#f9f9f9;
  border:1px solid #ccc;
  border-radius:5px;
  padding:16px;
  margin:0 auto;
 }
 input.parsley-success,
 select.parsley-success,
 textarea.parsley-success {
   color: #468847;
   background-color: #DFF0D8;
   border: 1px solid #D6E9C6;
 }

 input.parsley-error,
 select.parsley-error,
 textarea.parsley-error {
   color: #B94A48;
   background-color: #F2DEDE;
   border: 1px solid #EED3D7;
 }

 .parsley-errors-list {
   margin: 2px 0 3px;
   padding: 0;
   list-style-type: none;
   font-size: 0.9em;
   line-height: 0.9em;
   opacity: 0;

   transition: all .3s ease-in;
   -o-transition: all .3s ease-in;
   -moz-transition: all .3s ease-in;
   -webkit-transition: all .3s ease-in;
 }

 .parsley-errors-list.filled {
   opacity: 1;
 }
 
 .parsley-type, .parsley-required, .parsley-equalto{
  color:#ff0000;
 }
.error
{
  color: red;
  font-weight: 700;
} 
</style>
<?php
include_once('connection.php');
session_start();
if(isset($_REQUEST['login']))
{
  $email = $_REQUEST['email'];
  $pwd = md5($_REQUEST['pwd']);
  $select_query = mysqli_query($connection,"select * from tbl_student where email='$email' and password='$pwd'");
  $res = mysqli_num_rows($select_query);
  if($res>0)
  {
    $data = mysqli_fetch_array($select_query);
    $name = $data['name'];
    $_SESSION['name'] = $name;
    header('location:dashboard.php');
  }
  else
  {
    $msg = "Invalid Credentials";
  }
}

?>
<body>  
    <div class="container">  
    <div class="table-responsive">  
    <h3 align="center">Login Form</h3><br/>
    <div class="box">
     <form id="validate_form" method="post" >  
       <div class="form-group">
       <label for="email">Email</label>
       <input type="text" name="email" id="email" placeholder="Enter Email" required 
       data-parsley-type="email" data-parsley-trigg
       er="keyup" class="form-control"/>
      </div>
      <div class="form-group">
       <label for="password">Password</label>
       <input type="password" name="pwd" id="pwd" placeholder="Enter Password" required  data-parsley-trigger="keyup" class="form-control"/>
      </div>
      <label for="forgotpassword"><a href="forgot.php">Forgot password?</a></label>
      <div class="form-group">
       <input type="submit" id="login" name="login" value="LogIn" class="btn btn-success" />
       </div>
       
       <p class="error"><?php if(!empty($msg)){ echo $msg; } ?></p>
     </form>
     </div>
   </div>  
  </div>
 </body>  
</html>

Step 4: Create a Forgot Password form

In this step, create a new file forgot.php to send password reset link in Email.

forgot.php

<html>  
<head>  
    <title>Forgot Password</title>  
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.6/css/bootstrap.min.css" />  
</head>
<style>
 .box
 {
  width:100%;
  max-width:600px;
  background-color:#f9f9f9;
  border:1px solid #ccc;
  border-radius:5px;
  padding:16px;
  margin:0 auto;
 }
 input.parsley-success,
 select.parsley-success,
 textarea.parsley-success {
   color: #468847;
   background-color: #DFF0D8;
   border: 1px solid #D6E9C6;
 }

 input.parsley-error,
 select.parsley-error,
 textarea.parsley-error {
   color: #B94A48;
   background-color: #F2DEDE;
   border: 1px solid #EED3D7;
 }

 .parsley-errors-list {
   margin: 2px 0 3px;
   padding: 0;
   list-style-type: none;
   font-size: 0.9em;
   line-height: 0.9em;
   opacity: 0;

   transition: all .3s ease-in;
   -o-transition: all .3s ease-in;
   -moz-transition: all .3s ease-in;
   -webkit-transition: all .3s ease-in;
 }

 .parsley-errors-list.filled {
   opacity: 1;
 }
 
 .parsley-type, .parsley-required, .parsley-equalto{
  color:#ff0000;
 }
.error
{
  color: red;
  font-weight: 700;
} 
</style>
<?php
include_once('connection.php');
if(isset($_REQUEST['pwdrst']))
{
  $email = $_REQUEST['email'];
  $check_email = mysqli_query($connection,"select email from tbl_student where email='$email'");
  $res = mysqli_num_rows($check_email);
  if($res>0)
  {
    $message = '<div>
     <p><b>Hello!</b></p>
     <p>You are recieving this email because we recieved a password reset request for your account.</p>
     <br>
     <p><button class="btn btn-primary"><a href="http://localhost/user-login/passwordreset.php?secret='.base64_encode($email).'">Reset Password</a></button></p>
     <br>
     <p>If you did not request a password reset, no further action is required.</p>
    </div>';

include_once("SMTP/class.phpmailer.php");
include_once("SMTP/class.smtp.php");
$email = $email; 
$mail = new PHPMailer;
$mail->IsSMTP();
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;                 
$mail->SMTPSecure = "tls";      
$mail->Host = 'smtp.gmail.com';
$mail->Port = 587; 
$mail->Username = "";   //Enter your username/emailid
$mail->Password = "";   //Enter your password
$mail->FromName = "Tech Area";
$mail->AddAddress($email);
$mail->Subject = "Reset Password";
$mail->isHTML( TRUE );
$mail->Body =$message;
if($mail->send())
{
  $msg = "We have e-mailed your password reset link!";
}
}
else
{
  $msg = "We can't find a user with that email address";
}
}

?>
<body>
<div class="container">  
    <div class="table-responsive">  
    <h3 align="center">Forgot Password</h3><br/>
    <div class="box">
     <form id="validate_form" method="post" >  
       <div class="form-group">
       <label for="email">Email Address</label>
       <input type="text" name="email" id="email" placeholder="Enter Email" required 
       data-parsley-type="email" data-parsley-trigg
       er="keyup" class="form-control" />
      </div>
      <div class="form-group">
       <input type="submit" id="login" name="pwdrst" value="Send Password Reset Link" class="btn btn-success" />
       </div>
       
       <p class="error"><?php if(!empty($msg)){ echo $msg; } ?></p>
     </form>
     </div>
   </div>  
  </div>
</body>
</html>

Step 5: Create a Reset password form

In this step, create a new file passwordreset.php to update new password.

passwordreset.php

<html>  
<head>  
    <title>Password Reset</title>  
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.6/css/bootstrap.min.css" />  
</head>
<style>
 .box
 {
  width:100%;
  max-width:600px;
  background-color:#f9f9f9;
  border:1px solid #ccc;
  border-radius:5px;
  padding:16px;
  margin:0 auto;
 }
 input.parsley-success,
 select.parsley-success,
 textarea.parsley-success {
   color: #468847;
   background-color: #DFF0D8;
   border: 1px solid #D6E9C6;
 }

 input.parsley-error,
 select.parsley-error,
 textarea.parsley-error {
   color: #B94A48;
   background-color: #F2DEDE;
   border: 1px solid #EED3D7;
 }

 .parsley-errors-list {
   margin: 2px 0 3px;
   padding: 0;
   list-style-type: none;
   font-size: 0.9em;
   line-height: 0.9em;
   opacity: 0;

   transition: all .3s ease-in;
   -o-transition: all .3s ease-in;
   -moz-transition: all .3s ease-in;
   -webkit-transition: all .3s ease-in;
 }

 .parsley-errors-list.filled {
   opacity: 1;
 }
 
 .parsley-type, .parsley-required, .parsley-equalto{
  color:#ff0000;
 }
.error
{
  color: red;
  font-weight: 700;
} 
</style>
<?php
include_once('connection.php');
if(isset($_REQUEST['pwdrst']))
{
  $email = $_REQUEST['email'];
  $pwd = md5($_REQUEST['pwd']);
  $cpwd = md5($_REQUEST['cpwd']);
  if($pwd == $cpwd)
  {
    $reset_pwd = mysqli_query($connection,"update tbl_student set password='$pwd' where email='$email'");
    if($reset_pwd>0)
    {
      $msg = 'Your password updated successfully <a href="index.php">Click here</a> to login';
    }
    else
    {
      $msg = "Error while updating password.";
    }
  }
  else
  {
    $msg = "Password and Confirm Password do not match";
  }
}

if($_GET['secret'])
{
  $email = base64_decode($_GET['secret']);
  $check_details = mysqli_query($connection,"select email from tbl_student where email='$email'");
  $res = mysqli_num_rows($check_details);
  if($res>0)
    { ?>
<body>
<div class="container">  
    <div class="table-responsive">  
    <h3 align="center">Reset Password</h3><br/>
    <div class="box">
     <form id="validate_form" method="post" >  
      <input type="hidden" name="email" value="<?php echo $email; ?>"/>
      <div class="form-group">
       <label for="pwd">Password</label>
       <input type="password" name="pwd" id="pwd" placeholder="Enter Password" required 
       data-parsley-type="pwd" data-parsley-trigg
       er="keyup" class="form-control"/>
      </div>
      <div class="form-group">
       <label for="cpwd">Confirm Password</label>
       <input type="password" name="cpwd" id="cpwd" placeholder="Enter Confirm Password" required data-parsley-type="cpwd" data-parsley-trigg
       er="keyup" class="form-control"/>
      </div>
      <div class="form-group">
       <input type="submit" id="login" name="pwdrst" value="Reset Password" class="btn btn-success" />
       </div>
       
       <p class="error"><?php if(!empty($msg)){ echo $msg; } ?></p>
     </form>
     </div>
   </div>  
  </div>
<?php } } ?>
</body>
</html>

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