If you’ve lost access to your account, this is where to start.
As longtime readers know, I get a lot of reports of Hotmail account theft and compromise. As Hotmail has transitioned to Outlook.com, so, too, have the questions. Every day there are reports of everything from simple password loss to email being sent “From” your email address to attempts to scam your contacts.
Depending on exactly what’s happened, the available remedies may be simple, difficult, or completely impossible; your account and everything in it may be lost forever.
I’ll review the various scenarios and direct you to related articles on Ask Leo! that cover the options for each.
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Email addresses from Hotmail, Outlook.com, Live.com, and more are all now “Microsoft accounts”. If you can’t sign in there are recovery options available from Microsoft. If you can sign in but suspect a hack, then changing your password is the first step. Some opt to close their problematic accounts. Microsoft offers no free phone or email support but does have an account recovery page with all available options listed.
The Microsoft account
All email accounts issued by Microsoft to the general public are now considered Microsoft accounts, and there is a single website at which to access all of them.
Microsoft-issued email accounts include email addresses @hotmail.com, @outlook.com, @live.com, @msn.com, @webtv.com, and many more.
When used as Microsoft accounts, they’re your primary identification to a variety of online services, including email, OneDrive, and more, as well as (optionally) the login ID for your Windows installation.
To access any of those email accounts, you log in to the outlook.com website with your email address and password.
Unless, of course, you can’t.
Microsoft, Outlook.com, and travel
In recent years, the biggest problem accessing Microsoft account by far has been travel-related. The scenario looks like this:
- You have a Microsoft email account you access via outlook.com.
- You have a telephone number associated with that account for recovery purposes.
- You travel overseas.
- When you try to sign in to outlook.com, you’re asked to confirm your identity by entering a code that will be texted to you via SMS on your phone.
- You don’t have your phone, or it’s incapable of receiving texts, because you’re traveling.
- You can’t sign in.
It’s a catch-22 situation. You’re asked to jump through additional security hoops because your account is being accessed from an unfamiliar place, but you can’t complete those steps because you’re in an unfamiliar place.
Honestly, unless you have alternate authentication methods, there’s almost nothing you can do when this happens other than wait to access your account when you return home.1
You can prepare for this before your trip, however, by setting up additional authentication methods, including app-based two-factor authentication, recovery codes, or an alternate email address you know you can access while traveling.
I can’t log in!
The next most common scenario is that one day, you simply can’t log in to your account. Be it having forgotten your password or having your account stolen, you just can’t get in.
If you’ve simply forgotten your password but have an alternate email address or other account recovery information configured, then the best approach is outlined in this article: How Do I Change My Hotmail or Outlook.com Password If I Forgot It? That article also includes what to do when you have no recovery information or the recovery information you’ve configured doesn’t work.
You can also visit the Microsoft Account Recovery Page to walk through a process to confirm you are the rightful account holder.
It’s important to realize, however, that if you cannot prove you are the account owner, you will not be given access, and it’s likely you’ve lost the account forever. How Do I Get Into My Hotmail/Outlook.com Account If I Don’t Have the Recovery Phone or Email any More? discusses this in more detail.
Other signs of a hack
Not being able to log in is one clue that your email account might have been hacked, but it’s not definitive. Occasionally, hackers do their work in the background in accounts that are still accessible by their owners.
Spam from you: no
This is not necessarily a sign of a hack. I list it here because so many people believe it is.
It is very common for someone to get email that looks like it’s from you that you didn’t send. Spammers can spoof the “From:” address. It’s not your fault, your account isn’t actually involved, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Someone’s Sending from My Email Address! How Do I Stop Them?! discusses it in more depth.
Spamming your contacts
Occasionally, the first sign of trouble is that your contacts start getting emails from you that you didn’t send that look very much like spam. Someone’s Sending Email that Looks Like It’s From Me to My Contacts, What Can I Do? covers this annoying scenario.
Sometimes they don’t even bother sending email, but simply change (or add) the “signature” that’s appended to the bottom of every message you send. Each email you send then includes their spammy message.
The overseas trip scam
Another common hijack has someone hacking into your account and then sending email to all your contacts with a story about how you’ve taken an impulsive trip overseas and are now stranded and in need of money. Someone’s Stolen My Email Account and Is Scamming My Contacts for Money, What Do I Do? discusses this scam and what you need to do.
Changing your password
A common solution to many account-related problems, and an important step along the road to recovery, is to change your password.
How Do I Change My Hotmail or Outlook.com Password? covers a simple “how to” for Microsoft accounts.
Choosing a good password is critical to maintaining the security of your account. What’s a Good Password? talks about what that means and some of the better approaches to take.
What many people don’t realize is that after an account compromise, changing your password is important, but it’s not enough. Is Changing My Password Enough? shows you why, and what additional steps are needed.
Closing your account
Many people react to account problems by wanting to close their accounts immediately. Quite often that isn’t possible; if you can’t prove you’re the account holder by being able to log in, you can’t close the account.
The rest of the time, it’s not necessarily important or even desirable.
How Do I Close My Hotmail or Outlook.com Account? shows how to close your account and addresses the other important question: why bother?
Contacting Microsoft
Microsoft offers no phone or email support for its free email accounts. Period. There is no phone number for you to call.
Keeping their support costs low is one way they keep the service free. As a result, your direct support options are limited. I discuss them in this article: How Do I Contact Outlook.com Customer Service?
The Microsoft Account Recovery Page mentioned above is one approach to potentially recovering a lost account.
Summary
Many people get frustrated at the lack of support, options, and resources when they suffer an account compromise or other problem. That’s understandable, but it’s often not until the worst happens that people realize how unprotected they are.
Are Free Email Services Worth It? discusses some of the pros and cons of free email accounts and talks about some of the ways it’s possible to use one safely.
Given my stance on free email accounts, What For-pay Email Providers Do You Recommend? answers the resulting question.
Finally, by far the most important way to deal with trouble is to avoid it in the first place. What I consider to be the most important article on Ask Leo! — Internet Safety: 7 Steps to Keeping Your Computer Safe on the Internet — is a great place to start.
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Podcast audio
Footnotes & References
1: In an extreme case, you could contact someone back home to log in to your account for you, but this isn’t advised unless you trust that person completely.
You have an article named “I’ve forgotten the answer to my MSN Hotmail secret question, and my password, what do I do?”. I have a question, what if i know my password, but from unknown reasons it didn’t work when i input it and my account was blocked, and i don’t have alternate e-mail and i forgot the answer to secret question….but i know the password, i was using it everyday.
I have followed the steps for recovery and submitted the form with information, but were not enough, so it was rejected, because i don’t remember most of the data i input when i created my account years ago.
All i need is my account to be unblocked, i repeat, i know the password, i just don;t know the other details, and i know is my fault i never paid attention to all those, but is too late now to change that
08-Dec-2010
Hotmail keeps telling me to update my acc. but I think it cd. be a hacker trying to get my password, What sd I do? tyvm Marvin
15-Dec-2010
Have done all the hoops possible. Our company has 6 years of information stored on this account. (HOTMAIL) I filled our all the recovery information until it got to asking for a 25 digit number and my credit card information. ??? Maybe they want me to pay to unlock my hotmail, at this point I would gladly pay, however who do I pay, I cannot go forward unless I provide a 25 digit number??? I called windows live, real bad experience, rude and not at all helpful. Can’t believe no phone support for hotmail or at least live help on line. I’v gotten 6 codes none of which helped. My business depends on this account totally. I’m lost need help.
RE: Have done all the hoops possible. Our company has 6 years of information stored on this account. (HOTMAIL) …
This is such a pity. I’ve never used Hotmail, but in gmail this is easily avoided by using a pop3 connection and Outlook. This will download all your data locally, and you can set Outlook to archive it regularly. I use gmail, but I’ve got years of history in my local archives. Of course, you need to then make sure that you backup your archive. I keep my email data and archives in a My Documents folder. Then its just a matter of backing up My Documents…
LB
I used my computer last night no problems now i have been trying for 3 hrs. can not sign in windows live is blocking me the e-mail they have hasn’t been used since 2008 when I was compromised badly now because of it not working how is it possible to fix my problem
O.k., I’ll try to make myself clear. I DO have access to my main Hotmail account but a while back, I was hacked and lost the ability to log in. So, I had to reset the password and here is where the problem is!
My backup email address is another Hotmail email address, which I had at one time but I never use, so Hotmail canceled it. So when Hotmail sends me confirmations of any kind, they go to to the old, now defunct email address, so I can not get to the notices/emails.
I ended up emailing Hotmail and begged for help and regained access to my account but now that I want to delete the old backup address and add a different one, Hotmail is sending the notice to the old address for confirmation! BRILLIANT!!!! Now what do I do???
is there any way that I can retrieve my old contacts
under my old hotmail account before they
switch to hotmail live tks.
02-Dec-2011
Leo,
When trying to reset my password, I tell it to send me an email. The site informs me that it has sent an email to the following addresses, and gives me something like… “hot****@hotmail.com”. Where is it sending these emails?
08-Dec-2011
Hi! How do I change my phone number in Hotmail? When I try, it wants to send a verification text to my old number. I don’t have that number anymore so I can’t get the text.
Thanks!
dear leo finding this tab again i thought was deleted problems with hot and live mail unfortunately after reset password i comment a sin by trying further passwords as i though no mention on computer about my reset password confusion on my part now apparently banned no more reset password on hotmail live g mail get in not out as it is livemail worked ok then refused error my fault received ok for first one not seen for a few days by then confused hotmail placed ban understand there annoyance and what is done slow in arriving caused panic by me now were do i stand livemail same problem no more filling application form until ban lifted malcolm clark not not asking to clear comment your view constructive criticism
Leo, is there any way possible to change the alternate email address if it is not existent right now. I have deleted my current alternate address (yahoo). Is there any way to setup a new alternate address?
@Ramesh,
It’s easy to change the alternate email address if you can access your account. And if so, do it right away. If you can’t access your account, unfortunately, you are going to have to follow the different options outlined in “Losing and Regaining Account Access” above.
Dear Leo, Is there any way possible to change the alternate email address if it is not existent now I have deleted my current alternate email(Yahoo) Is there any way to set up a new alternate email?—–Rajendra Patel
23-May-2012
I entered into the recovery screen of Microsoft but when I try to process the request I get the message that the account that was last used on 2011 no longer exists.
I have important data to retrieve, how should I proceed?
——
Sign in
Recover your Microsoft account
Please fix the errors below.
What Microsoft account are you trying to get back into?
******** The Microsoft account you’ve entered does not exist. *******************
Email address Where should we contact you? Enter an email address that’s different from the one you’re trying to recover.
computer vs cell phone !!!!! I had to change password on computer Microsoft did that My cell phone flashing can not sign in login failure username or password incorrect. I removed the account then clicked to add account (same Hotmail address entered ) did not work still says incorrect username or password, I want to recover Hotmail password or change it and please I have tried Microsoft support online /phone/forum/ NOT helpful MSN not helpful ( hours then days I have researched Results headache stiff neck and ready to throw any tech product I have into the lake ; not working can’t not use it why continue to pay for product that no one can resolve and useless
Hi! i am trying to get back an important email from a hotmail account i no longer use and dont remember. is there a way i can find my old email address? btw i know my password and security question.
You could try contacting people you know who might have your email address in their contacts lists or old sent or received emails.
I have my e-mail deleted, but want to open it again. Is that possible?
You deleted your Hotmail account? Depends on how long ago, but the short answer is typically: no. You’ll need to create a new account.
my wife had an hotmail account that she may have used sometimes ago that begin with the letter C…..@hotmail.com. She used as her Apple ID and now she needs it in order to trade the phone at the Apple store she cannot remember what it was. Please help.
If you can’t recall your own email address then I know of no way to recover it. Sorry.
You might be able to find out your email address by contacting someone you’ve sent an email to from that email account.
I have this statement when I try to log in ” someone has tried to reach your account with a wrong password many times”.
Now, as I submit the account recovery information, its not accepted. After how many times of submission with wrong account recovery information, my account status will be PERMANENTLY CLOSED from being BLOCKED ?
Hi Leo,
I just wanted to ask that if I know the password for the email that I wrote on my hotmail account that can help me reset my password, but suddenly I don’t have any idea how but when I wanted to reset my password with that I erased the email from my account and now I can’t reset my password because of that, I was wonder if I can undo and do something to put back that email on my outlook account
Thank you
Are you referring to a password reset email that was sent from your Hotmail account to your recovery email address? If you have lost that you can look in your deleted folder (perhaps spam) and may find it there. If it’s not there then just go to the Hotmail recovery page and have a new one sent.
I had a reoccurring “unable to send or receive” error with Hotmail. So I decided to uninstall then reinstall Windows Essentials. However, email won’t install with the rest of Windows Essentials 2012. An error message comes up saying that “evidently another program is preventing it”. And now Hotmail is completely gone from my laptop. Not even a restore point. However, I can still access Hotmail on my tablet. But not all of the folders are visible on my Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 tablet. I will be taking your advice and getting a paid for service. But until I decide which one…is there an easy way for me to transfer all folders from the tablet to Outlook? Or must I do it manually?
Thank you.
Scott
If you access your email account via IMAP, which I believe most tablet and phone apps do, all of your emails and folders which are on the Hotmail server, should be automatically restored to your new email program. Thunderbird, which is one of Leo´s recommendations, is also a good email program.
https://askleo.com/what_is_imap_and_how_can_it_help_me_manage_my_email/
Hotmail.com settings are the same as outlook.com settings, as it´s all under the outlook.com umbrella,so this article may also be of help.
https://askleo.com/what_are_outlookcom_imap_pop3_and_smtp_settings/
Hi Leo
I am having a problem accessing my hotmail account and onedrive at work – it says the password is wrong. However, when I access it at home, it is fine. It happens on different work computers, not just mine. It doesn’t fill in automatically, I fully type it in. What could be the problem? The IT guy isn’t sure what to investigate.
Thanks
Ask your IT person to check whether there have been any recent changes or adjustments to your company’s firewall, or to its white- or blacklists. In a company setting, those would be the likeliest culprits in the situation you describe.
If it DOES turn out to be one of these, you can be fairly confident that your IT person isn’t particularly competent — in your situation, the above three items should be looked at immediately, and a competent IT person would know that!
Good luck!
Hi, I know the steps to recover your account is for security purposes, but does it really have to be that extensive? Just get a code and log back on, do you really need, billing information, recent contacts, subject lines recently used, etc, do you really need all that? It’s just more of a hassle that people have to go through and don’t have time to go through. It’s an email! Come on. Most people who use hotmail are older and not tech savvy, seriously come up with an easy way, those questions really have no use to recover an account. It’s just a waste of time.
All those are designed to keep hackers out who are often very tech savvy. It’s the eternal tradeoff between convenience and security.
I was logged on my ipad with my hotmail account. But I tried to logon with my laptop using the same username and password it recogizned unusual activity and wanted to verify if I was the person by asking me my recovery information. I entered the recovery info which was the yahoo.com address I had put some time ago and Microsoft was always sending an automated code there but now its not sending to yahoo.com or maybe yahoo.com does not want to accept anything from there. Anyways now my hotmail.com account on my ipad is also blocked. Why this security mess is being created and why these tech companies are suddenly doing that to each other and customers are being targeted like this. There seems to be no one able to explain this. I need my account back
Can you log in on another device, like your computer, for example? If so, you should be able to update the recovery information there and possible get in on your iPad. If you can get in, ger a recovery code which you could use anywhere and on every device.
Hi Leo! I’m going round in circles, so please can you let me know if you think there’s anything else I could try about the following? Hotmail/Outlook has always worked well for me; I still have the same email address I set up back in the 90’s. I’m currently on vacation in the USA, so me trying to log in from here rather than the UK looks a bit dodgy to Microsoft. So, they sent an activation code to my other registered email address… which is also a Hotmail address! To get into that one they sent a code to the first address…. which I can’t log in to. I’ve filled in some security questionnaires, but I clearly didn’t give the right answers and they didn’t re-activate my accounts, asking over and over again to submit more of those forms. I also asked for a code to be sent to me by SMS, but that didn’t work either; I presume they don’t even have my telephone number. I can’t ask questions to the Outlook community either, because for that you need to log in as well! They whole system is just mad and not thought through whatsoever. Is there any hope for me…? Thanks!!
I have a current active Hotmail/Outlook account, but I want to retrieve files archived in 2013 and 2014 and find the folders are empty in Outlook. Is there some way to recover files which were archived under hotmail but not showing in outlook?
Hi Leo where is a good place to put passwords that I can access easily when I forget them? Loll its a problem I do have online. Paper is not good. Thanks for all your help
Password managers like LastPass and KeePass are great for that.
https://askleo.com/lastpass_securely_keep_track_of_multiple_passwords_on_multiple_devices/
http://ask-leo.com/managing_lots_of_passwords.html
I recommend a password manager. I use LastPass myself.
I need to get into my Hotmail account, but I couldn’t remember my exact password and my cellphone wasn’t available at that moment, so I had to go through the account recovery process. I kept getting the email on my other account that it had failed, although I put in accurate info. The last time I did the process, they sent me a final account recovery email suggesting that I create a new account, but I REALLY need to get into this account, as I must use it to find my iPhone. Is there any way I can get into my old Hotmail account?
Thanks,
Kashi
Because of so much email hacking, Microsoft is very strict in their account recovery methods. If you don’t have a valid recovery cell phone number or email address, your account may be unrecoverable. One suggestion my colleague came up with is to phone your old phone number associated with your email account and ask them if they would help you out by receiving the SMS text for you.
When I go to outlook to sign in from my computer, I get the following message: [object ReadableByteStream] How do I get the sign in screen back? I am not computer savvy at all and will appreciate your help!
I’m going to assume you mean outlook.com, the web site.
Try clearing your browser’s cache: What’s a Browser Cache? How Do I Clear It? Why Would I Want To?
I visited your ‘site’ because I have no longer got access to my ‘old – unused for 5 years, Hotmail account and I need to find just one email. the one that contains my windows 10 security key. I was among the group of people that received a free update from Windows 7 to 10. At the time this happened I was very busy, I also had no idea that Microsoft would simply scrap Hotmail and dump all of my carefully preserved emails, evidencing my communication connected to my work as a foster parent/carer. (I kept this ‘evidence’ to protect myself should an allegation of impropriety occurred.) I have lost nearly 10 years of recordings. I am struggling- I am unable to find by ‘SECURITY KEY’ – No Product Key was given. The Hotmail containing this record was deleted by Microsoft. I can’t access it. my current email is included below –
Microsoft closes outlook.com accounts, including Hotmail, after two years of inactivity, and all emails are irrecoverably deleted.
Will Microsoft Close My Hotmail Account If I Don’t Sign In? You could lose everything, forever