Details

Written by: Stanko Milosev

Category: Ubuntu

Published: 30 July 2026

Last Updated: 08 August 2026

Hits: 30

cd /var/www
sudo wget https://github.com/roundcube/roundcubemail/releases/download/1.7.2/roundcubemail-1.7.2-complete.tar.gz
sudo tar -xzf roundcubemail-1.7.2-complete.tar.gz
sudo mv roundcubemail-1.7.2 roundcube
cd roundcube
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/roundcube
sudo find /var/www/roundcube -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/roundcube -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/roundcube/temp
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/roundcube/logs
sudo mariadb

CREATE DATABASE roundcubemail
CHARACTER SET utf8mb4
COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

CREATE USER 'roundcube'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED BY 'YOUR_ROUNDCUBE_PASSWORD';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES
ON roundcubemail.*
TO 'roundcube'@'localhost';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

sudo mariadb roundcubemail < /var/www/roundcube/SQL/mysql.initial.sql
sudo cp config/config.inc.php.sample config/config.inc.php
sudo nano config/config.inc.php

$config['enable_installer'] = true;
$config['db_dsnw'] = 'mysql://roundcube:YOUR_ROUNDCUBE_PASSWORD@localhost/roundcubemail';
$config['imap_host'] = 'localhost:143';
$config['smtp_host'] = 'localhost:587';
$config['smtp_user'] = '%u';
$config['smtp_pass'] = '%p';
$config['support_url'] = '';
$config['product_name'] = 'Roundcube Webmail';
$config['des_key'] = 'GENERATE_A_RANDOM_24+_CHARACTER_SECRET_KEY';
$config['plugins'] = [ 
	'archive', 
	'zipdownload', 
]; 
$config['skin'] = 'elastic'

openssl rand -base64 32
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    listen [::]:80 default_server;

    server_name _;
    root /var/www/html;
    index index.php index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }

    location = /roundcube {
        return 301 /roundcube/;
    }

    location /roundcube/ {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /roundcube/index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ ^/roundcube/(?(?:index|static|installer)\.php)(?/.*)?$ {
        include fastcgi_params;

        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /var/www/roundcube/public_html/$rc_script;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME /roundcube/$rc_script;
        fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $rc_path_info;

        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.5-fpm.sock;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.5-fpm.sock;
    }
}

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Open:

sudo rm -rf /var/www/roundcube/public_html/installer

$config['enable_installer'] = true;

Details

Written by: Stanko Milosev

Category: Ubuntu

Published: 25 July 2026

Last Updated: 30 July 2026

Hits: 42

This guide explains how to install Roundcube manually on Ubuntu 26.04 with Nginx, PHP 8.5, MariaDB, Postfix, Dovecot, and PostfixAdmin.

Because the packaged Roundcube version may not work correctly with PHP 8.5, this guide installs Roundcube manually from the official release archive.

1. Download and Extract Roundcube

Change to the web directory:

cd /var/www

Download Roundcube 1.6.12:

sudo wget https://github.com/roundcube/roundcubemail/releases/download/1.6.12/roundcubemail-1.6.12-complete.tar.gz

Extract the archive:

sudo tar -xzf roundcubemail-1.6.12-complete.tar.gz

Rename the extracted directory:

sudo mv roundcubemail-1.6.12 roundcube

2. Install Composer

Check whether Composer is already installed:

composer --version

If Composer is not installed, install it:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y composer

3. Install Roundcube Dependencies

Change to the Roundcube directory:

cd /var/www/roundcube

Install the required Composer dependencies:

composer install --no-dev

4. Set File Permissions

Set the Roundcube files to be owned by the Nginx and PHP user:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/roundcube

Set directory permissions:

sudo find /var/www/roundcube -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

Set file permissions:

sudo find /var/www/roundcube -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

5. Create the Roundcube Web Link

First, check whether the Roundcube installation contains a public_html directory:

ls -l /var/www/roundcube

If the public_html directory exists, create this symbolic link:

sudo ln -s /var/www/roundcube/public_html /var/www/html/roundcube

If public_html does not exist, link the complete Roundcube directory instead:

sudo rm -f /var/www/html/roundcube
sudo ln -s /var/www/roundcube /var/www/html/roundcube

Restart Nginx and PHP-FPM:

sudo systemctl restart nginx
sudo systemctl restart php8.5-fpm

6. Create the Roundcube Configuration File

Check whether the configuration file already exists:

ls -l /var/www/roundcube/config/config.inc.php

If the file does not exist, create it from the sample configuration:

sudo cp /var/www/roundcube/config/config.inc.php.sample \
  /var/www/roundcube/config/config.inc.php

If an older Roundcube configuration still exists under /etc/roundcube, you can copy it:

sudo cp /etc/roundcube/config.inc.php /var/www/roundcube/config/

After copying an older configuration, review it carefully because some settings may not match the manually installed Roundcube version.

7. Configure the Roundcube Database

First, check whether the Roundcube database already exists:

sudo mariadb -e "SHOW DATABASES LIKE 'roundcubemail';"

If the command returns roundcubemail, the database already exists.

Set a New Database Password

Open MariaDB:

sudo mariadb

Set a new password for the Roundcube database user:

ALTER USER 'roundcube'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED BY 'YOUR_STRONG_ROUNDCUBE_DB_PASSWORD';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

EXIT;

Replace YOUR_STRONG_ROUNDCUBE_DB_PASSWORD with a strong password.

Update the Roundcube Database Connection

Use the same password that you assigned to the MariaDB user.

9. Create the Roundcube Database if It Does Not Exist

If this command returns nothing:

sudo mariadb -e "SHOW DATABASES LIKE 'roundcubemail';"

create the database manually.

Open MariaDB:

sudo mariadb

Create the database and database user:

CREATE DATABASE roundcubemail
CHARACTER SET utf8mb4
COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci;

CREATE USER IF NOT EXISTS 'roundcube'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED BY 'YOUR_STRONG_ROUNDCUBE_DB_PASSWORD';

ALTER USER 'roundcube'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED BY 'YOUR_STRONG_ROUNDCUBE_DB_PASSWORD';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON roundcubemail.*
TO 'roundcube'@'localhost';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

EXIT;

Import the Roundcube Database Schema

sudo mariadb roundcubemail \
  < /var/www/roundcube/SQL/mysql.initial.sql

Restart PHP-FPM:

sudo systemctl restart php8.5-fpm

8. Enable the Roundcube Installer Temporarily

Edit the Roundcube configuration:

sudo nano /var/www/roundcube/config/config.inc.php

Find:

$config['enable_installer'] = false;

Change it to:

$config['enable_installer'] = true;

If the setting does not exist, add this line at the end of the file:

$config['enable_installer'] = true;

You can check whether the setting exists with:

grep enable_installer /var/www/roundcube/config/config.inc.php

Find a line similar to:

$config['db_dsnw'] = 'mysql://roundcube:pass@localhost/roundcubemail';

Change it to:

$config['db_dsnw'] = 'mysql://roundcube:YOUR_STRONG_ROUNDCUBE_DB_PASSWORD@localhost/roundcubemail';

Configure Roundcube IMAP and SMTP

For SSL add or update the following settings, be carefull, they could already exist:

$config['imap_host'] = 'ssl://mail.myDomain.com';
$config['default_port'] = 993;

$config['smtp_host'] = 'tls://mail.myDomain.com';
$config['smtp_port'] = 587;

$config['smtp_user'] = '%u';
$config['smtp_pass'] = '%p';

$config['product_name'] = 'My Webmail';

Without SSL first check if returns nothing:

sudo doveconf -n | grep disable_plaintext_auth

$config['imap_host'] = 'localhost:143';

$config['smtp_host'] = 'localhost:587';

$config['smtp_user'] = '%u';
$config['smtp_pass'] = '%p';

$config['product_name'] = 'My Webmail';

To disable certificate add:

$config['imap_conn_options'] = [
    'ssl' => [
        'verify_peer'       => false,
        'verify_peer_name'  => false,
        'allow_self_signed' => true,
    ],
];

Replace mail.myDomain.com with your mail server hostname.

Save the file in Nano:

Ctrl+O
Enter
Ctrl+X

Restart PHP-FPM and Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart php8.5-fpm
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Temporarily point the symlink to the complete Roundcube directory:

Remove the existing symlink:

sudo rm /var/www/html/roundcube

Create a temporary installation symlink:

sudo ln -s /var/www/roundcube /var/www/html/roundcube

Open the Roundcube installer in your browser:

http://mail.myDomain.com/roundcube/installer/

If you cant Test IMAP config then execute

sudo journalctl -u dovecot -f

Check, password should be without hash and user "user" should have access to database mailserver

sudo nano /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext

For dovecot --version: 2.4.2 (0962ed2104) looks like:

sql_driver = mysql

mysql localhost {
  user = postfixadmin
  password = YOUR_POSTFIXADMIN_PASSWORD
  dbname = mailserver
}

passdb sql {
  default_password_scheme = ARGON2ID

  query = \
    SELECT password \
    FROM mailbox \
    WHERE username = '%{user}' AND active = 1
}

userdb static {
  fields {
    uid = vmail
    gid = vmail
    home = /var/mail/vhosts/%{user|domain}/%{user|username}
    mail_driver = maildir
    mail_path = ~/Maildir
  }
}

mariadb -u user -p mailserver
sudo mariadb -e "SHOW GRANTS FOR 'user'@'localhost';"
sudo doveadm auth test email@myDomain.com YOUR_MAILBOX_PASSWORD
php -m | grep -i imap
php -r '$fp = stream_socket_client("ssl://mail.testmail.milosev.com:993", $errno, $errstr, 10); var_dump($fp, $errno, $errstr);'

Replace myDomain.com with your own domain name.

11. Restore Dovecot SQL Authentication if Required

This section is only required if Dovecot SQL authentication was lost during a reinstall or package replacement.

Ubuntu 26.04 ships Dovecot 2.4. Dovecot 2.4 configuration syntax differs from Dovecot 2.3, so old Dovecot 2.3 examples should not be copied directly.

Configure Dovecot 2.4 SQL Authentication

Edit the SQL authentication configuration:

sudo nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext

Replace its contents with:

sql_driver = mysql

mysql 127.0.0.1 {
  user = postfixadmin
  password = YOUR_POSTFIXADMIN_DATABASE_PASSWORD
  dbname = mailserver
}

passdb sql {
  default_password_scheme = ARGON2ID

  query = SELECT username AS "user", password \
          FROM mailbox \
          WHERE username='%{user}' AND active='1'
}

userdb sql {
  query = SELECT CONCAT('/var/mail/vhosts/', SUBSTRING_INDEX(username,'@',-1), '/', SUBSTRING_INDEX(username,'@',1)) AS home, 5000 AS uid, 5000 AS gid FROM mailbox WHERE username='%{user}' AND active='1'
  
  iterate_query = SELECT username AS "user" FROM mailbox WHERE active='1'
}

Replace YOUR_POSTFIXADMIN_DATABASE_PASSWORD with the MariaDB password used by the postfixadmin database user.

Validate the Dovecot Configuration

sudo doveconf -n

If no errors are displayed, restart Dovecot:

sudo systemctl restart dovecot

Check its status:

sudo systemctl status dovecot --no-pager

Test Mailbox Authentication

sudo doveadm auth test username@myDomain.com

Dovecot will prompt you for the mailbox password.

12. Reset a Mailbox Password for Testing

If authentication fails, reset the mailbox password to a password you know.

Change to the PostfixAdmin installation directory:

cd /var/www/postfixadmin

Reset the mailbox password:

php scripts/postfixadmin-cli.php mailbox update username@myDomain.com \
  --password "Test123456!" \
  --password2 "Test123456!"

Test authentication again:

sudo doveadm auth test username@myDomain.com

Enter:

Test123456!

13. Configure Postfix MariaDB Maps

Postfix needs MariaDB map files to look up virtual domains, mailboxes, and aliases stored by PostfixAdmin.

Create the Virtual Domain Map

sudo nano /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual-mailbox-domains.cf

Paste:

user = postfixadmin
password = YOUR_POSTFIXADMIN_DATABASE_PASSWORD
hosts = 127.0.0.1
dbname = mailserver
query = SELECT domain FROM domain WHERE domain='%s' AND active='1'

To be sure that password is correct execute:

mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u postfixadmin -p mailserver

And enter YOUR_POSTFIXADMIN_DATABASE_PASSWORD

If you forgot password:

ALTER USER 'postfixadmin'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED BY 'YOUR_POSTFIXADMIN_DATABASE_PASSWORD';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Create the Virtual Mailbox Map

sudo nano /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual-mailbox-maps.cf

Paste:

user = postfixadmin
password = YOUR_POSTFIXADMIN_DATABASE_PASSWORD
hosts = 127.0.0.1
dbname = mailserver
query = SELECT CONCAT(maildir,'Maildir/') FROM mailbox WHERE username='%s' AND active='1'

Create the Virtual Alias Map

sudo nano /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual-alias-maps.cf

Paste:

user = postfixadmin
password = YOUR_POSTFIXADMIN_DATABASE_PASSWORD
hosts = 127.0.0.1
dbname = mailserver
query = SELECT goto FROM alias WHERE address='%s' AND active='1'

Replace YOUR_POSTFIXADMIN_DATABASE_PASSWORD in all three files with the actual database password.

Secure the Postfix Database Files

sudo chmod 640 /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual-*.cf
sudo chown root:postfix /etc/postfix/mysql-virtual-*.cf

14. Update the Postfix Main Configuration

Edit the Postfix configuration:

sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf

Add or update these settings:

virtual_mailbox_domains = mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual-mailbox-domains.cf
virtual_mailbox_maps = mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual-mailbox-maps.cf
virtual_alias_maps = mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual-alias-maps.cf

virtual_transport = virtual
virtual_mailbox_base = /var/mail/vhosts
virtual_minimum_uid = 5000
virtual_uid_maps = static:5000
virtual_gid_maps = static:5000

Restart Postfix:

sudo systemctl restart postfix

Verify the virtual mailbox configuration:

postconf -n | grep virtual

15. Verify the Postfix Database Queries

Test whether Postfix can find a virtual domain:

postmap -q myDomain.com \
  mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual-mailbox-domains.cf

Test whether Postfix can find a mailbox:

postmap -q username@myDomain.com \
  mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual-mailbox-maps.cf

Test whether Postfix can find an alias:

postmap -q username@myDomain.com \
  mysql:/etc/postfix/mysql-virtual-alias-maps.cf

16. Complete the Roundcube Installer

Return to the Roundcube installer:

http://mail.myDomain.com/roundcube/installer/

Check that all required PHP extensions and database connections are working, then complete the installation.

17. Disable and Remove the Installer

For security reasons, disable the installer after completing the installation.

Edit the Roundcube configuration:

sudo nano /var/www/roundcube/config/config.inc.php

Change:

$config['enable_installer'] = true;

to:

$config['enable_installer'] = false;

Remove the installer directory:

sudo rm -rf /var/www/roundcube/installer

Restart PHP-FPM and Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart php8.5-fpm
sudo systemctl restart nginx

18. Log In to Roundcube

You can now open Roundcube at:

http://mail.myDomain.com/roundcube/

Log in with the complete mailbox address and mailbox password, for example:

username@myDomain.com

19. Check Services and Logs

Check the status of Nginx, PHP-FPM, MariaDB, Dovecot, and Postfix:

sudo systemctl status nginx --no-pager
sudo systemctl status php8.5-fpm --no-pager
sudo systemctl status mariadb --no-pager
sudo systemctl status dovecot --no-pager
sudo systemctl status postfix --no-pager

Check the Nginx error log:

sudo tail -n 100 /var/log/nginx/error.log

Check the mail log:

sudo tail -n 100 /var/log/mail.log

Follow the mail log in real time:

sudo tail -f /var/log/mail.log

Check recent Dovecot messages:

sudo journalctl -u dovecot -n 100 --no-pager

Check recent PHP-FPM messages:

sudo journalctl -u php8.5-fpm -n 100 --no-pager

Details

Written by: Stanko Milosev

Category: Ubuntu

Published: 24 July 2026

Last Updated: 08 August 2026

Hits: 58

This guide explains how to install PostfixAdmin 4.0.5 on Ubuntu with Nginx, PHP 8.5, and MariaDB.

Install Required Packages

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y wget unzip composer git
cd /tmp
wget https://github.com/postfixadmin/postfixadmin/archive/refs/tags/v4.0.5.tar.gz
tar -xzf v4.0.5.tar.gz
sudo mv /tmp/postfixadmin-4.0.5 /var/www/postfixadmin
cd /var/www/postfixadmin
composer install --no-dev
sudo rm -f /var/www/html/postfixadmin
sudo ln -s /var/www/postfixadmin/public /var/www/html/postfixadmin
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/postfixadmin
sudo find /var/www/postfixadmin -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/postfixadmin -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

dbconfig-common

During the installation you will be asked:

Configure database for postfixadmin with dbconfig-common?

Select No. The database will be configured manually.

Create the Database User

Log in to MariaDB:

sudo mysql

Create a dedicated database user for PostfixAdmin:

CREATE USER 'postfixadmin'@'localhost'
IDENTIFIED BY 'YOUR_STRONG_PASSWORD';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mailserver.*
TO 'postfixadmin'@'localhost';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Configure Nginx

Edit the default Nginx site:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Uncomment the PHP block and use your PHP 8.5 socket:

location ~ \.php$ {
    include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
    fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.5-fpm.sock;
}

Make sure the index directive contains index.php. For example:

index index.php index.html index.htm;

Test the configuration and reload Nginx:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Configure PostfixAdmin

As described here

Create the configuration file:

sudo nano /var/www/postfixadmin/config.local.php

Paste the following configuration:

<?php

$CONF['configured'] = true;

$CONF['database_type'] = 'mysqli';
$CONF['database_host'] = 'localhost';
$CONF['database_user'] = 'postfixadmin';
$CONF['database_password'] = 'YOUR_POSTFIXADMIN_PASSWORD';
$CONF['database_name'] = 'mailserver';

$CONF['encrypt'] = 'dovecot:ARGON2ID';

$CONF['domain_path'] = 'YES';
$CONF['domain_in_mailbox'] = 'NO';

Open the PostfixAdmin setup page (http://mail.myDomain.com/postfixadmin/setup.php) and enter your initial setup password. After submitting it, PostfixAdmin will generate a hashed setup password and display a configuration line similar to this:

$CONF['setup_password'] = 'YOUR_GENERATED_SETUP_PASSWORD';

Copy the generated line and add it to:

sudo nano /var/www/postfixadmin/config.local.php

Create the Web Symlink

Create the symbolic link for the PostfixAdmin web interface:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/postfixadmin/public /var/www/html/postfixadmin

Note: If you already created a symbolic link to /var/www/postfixadmin/public during the installation, you do not need to execute this command again.

Verify the Configuration

If it is not already present, ensure that index.php is included in the Nginx configuration:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Finally, verify that the PostfixAdmin configuration file exists and contains the correct database credentials:

sudo nano /var/www/postfixadmin/config.local.php

Now first start setup: http://mail.myDomain.com/postfixadmin/setup.php

Here I received the error:

⛔Database connection string : mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mailserver
⛔Problem connecting to database, check database configuration ($CONF['database_*'] entries in config.local.php)
⛔SQLSTATE[HY000] [1045] Access denied for user 'postfixadmin'@'localhost' (using password: YES)

So, I executed:

grep -E "database_(host|user|password|name)" /var/www/postfixadmin/config.local.php

And saw that password was wrong, thats why I change it again:

sudo nano /var/www/postfixadmin/config.local.php

The I had the error:

⛔Password Hashing - attempted to use configured encrypt backend (dovecot:ARGON2ID) triggered an error: /usr/bin/doveadm pw failed, see error log for details
⛔You will have problems logging into PostfixAdmin.
⛔Check out our Dovecot documentation at

So, I executed:

sudo -u www-data /usr/bin/doveadm pw -s ARGON2ID

Since I received permission denied I executed:

sudo usermod -aG dovecot www-data
sudo usermod -aG dovecot www-data
sudo systemctl restart php8.5-fpm
sudo systemctl restart nginx

And again, I executed:

sudo -u www-data /usr/bin/doveadm pw -s ARGON2ID

This time without permission denied

You can now log in to PostfixAdmin as an administrator at http://mail.myDomain.com/postfixadmin/login.php, or as a mailbox user at http://mail.myDomain.com/postfixadmin/users/login.php. Replace myDomain.com with your own domain name.

If you receive an error then run these commands immediately after opening

sudo tail -50 /var/log/nginx/error.log
sudo journalctl -u php8.5-fpm -n 50 --no-pager

Reset the Administrator Password

Check whether the mailserver database exists:

sudo mariadb -e "SHOW DATABASES LIKE 'mailserver';"

Check whether a user has access to mailserver:

sudo mariadb -e "SHOW GRANTS FOR 'postfixadmin'@'localhost';"

If you forgot the PostfixAdmin administrator password, first list the existing administrator accounts:

sudo mariadb mailserver -e "SELECT username FROM admin;"

If the previous command returns an administrator account such as adminmail@myDomain.com, reset its password with:

cd /var/www/postfixadmin

php scripts/postfixadmin-cli.php admin update adminmail@myDomain.com \
  --password "MyNewAdminPassword123!" \
  --password2 "MyNewAdminPassword123!"

Reset a Mailbox Password

If you forgot a mailbox password, first list the existing mailbox accounts:

sudo mariadb mailserver -e "SELECT username FROM mailbox;"

If the previous command returns a mailbox account such as myUser@myDomain.com, reset its password with:

cd /var/www/postfixadmin

php scripts/postfixadmin-cli.php mailbox update myUser@myDomain.com \
  --password "MyNewMailboxPassword123!" \
  --password2 "MyNewMailboxPassword123!"