Does a portable SMTP server exist?

You'll be blocked. On the go, you'll usually be using a connection with a dynamic IP address. As such, a TON of mail servers will block any email you send from there. Spammers used to send all of their spam from hacked windows boxes on home DLS and Cable connections... still do. So, lots of mail servers block ALL email from anywhere inside this IP space.

In short... having an SMTP server with you just wouldn't work.

Though I'm not using it much anymore, Hotmail Popper (v2.1.0) can operate as a portable SMTP server. It requires that you have a Hotmail account, of course. But once set up it can be used to send e-mail from any account as though it were being sent from said account instead of the Hotmail one.

I have no clue about the legality or advisability of this sort of thing. I'm phasing it out largely due to unrelated problems with my Hotmail account. It's also not really needed anymore what with gMail and all.

- me -

I use a program called FreePOPs.

Rob Loach [Website] [Projects]

There is another possible solution. Xuebrothers.net has a program called eGo SMTP server. eGo will allow you to configure what the SMTP server identifies itself as (at the HELO command -- i.e., you can, if so you want, have it ident as HELO yourdomain.com instead of HELO 192.168.x.x -- so it doesn't get blocked. It seems to have occasional confusion (occasionally idents as my PC name instead of a domain name) but I've sent mail to gmail and hotmail with it, and it's gone through.

Works fine from my flash drive. Portable Thunderbird was perfectly happy with it.

It's not freeware nor open source, but they're only asking $10 for it -- not exactly a bank-breaker.