SMTP connect() failed Error – reply to OP

this is a reply to: https://wordpress.org/support/topic/smtp-connect-failed-error-read-before-posting/

“You get the “SMTP connect() failed” error when the SMTP details you entered in the settings of this plugin is incorrect.”

This is not 100% true. You can get the “SMTP connect() failed” even if SMTP details entered ARE correct (you get the error if the server cert is untrusted or invalid). Typical scenario is self signed cert which was not imported to operating system/OpenSSL as trusted.