Outlook is now Microsoft’s official email client. Although the company dropped support for Hotmail a long time ago, some users are still accessing their old Hotmail accounts. Oftentimes, this is because other platforms are sending account recovery information to their Hotmail addresses. Without further ado, let’s jump right in and explore how you can access your old Hotmail account.
How Can I Access My Old Hotmail Account?
Recover Your Old Hotmail Account
Microsoft already migrated Hotmail accounts to Outlook.com. To gain access to your old mailbox and contacts, you need to recover your account. You can use Microsoft’s Account Recovery Form to get the job done. The catch is that you can use this method only if you enabled two-step verification. Unfortunately, if you disabled the option, you won’t be able to use the recovery form.
To use this solution, you need an email address you have access to. It doesn’t have to be your personal email account; any email account will do. Go to account.live.com/acsr, and enter the Hotmail address you want to recover. Then type in the email address that Microsoft can use to contact you.
Confirm your contact email address, check the security code and follow the on-screen steps to complete the process. Microsoft should get back to you within 24 hours.
Keep in mind that Microsoft will automatically deactivate your account if you don’t log in to your email account at least once a year. All the emails sent to the respective account should bounce. But you can always reactivate the account if you know the password, and new emails should land in your inbox without any problems.
However, after 5 years of inactivity, Microsoft will automatically delete your Hotmail account. If you get a message that your account doesn’t exist, this means you haven’t logged in in more than 5 years, and the account got deleted. In other words, you can’t recover it.
Create a New Account Using the Old Hotmail Address
Other users suggested that creating a new Outlook account using the old Hotmail address may actually work. Launch your browser, open a new Incognito mode tab and go to https://outlook.live.com/owa. Click on Create free account and follow the on-screen instructions.
Link the Old Hotmail Account to Your New Email Client
Try linking your old Hotmail account to your new email client and check if you can access your mailbox. Ideally, use a non-Microsoft email client to get the job done. Some users said they managed to link their old Hotmail addresses to Outlook. However, this method may not work for all users.
Here are the steps to follow in case you want to use this method. Go to Outlook Settings, click on Sync email and then select Other email accounts. Enter your Hotmail address and password and link your accounts.
For example, if you use Gmail, go to Settings, select Accounts, and Import, and go to Check mail from other accounts. Add your Hotmail account and check the results.
Conclusion
Outlook is the new Hotmail. The only way to access your old Hotmail account is through the Outlook web app. If you can’t log in to your Hotmail account, use Microsoft’s account recovery form to access your account. If the issue persists, link your old Hotmail account to your new email client. Did these solutions help you fix the problem? Share your feedback in the comments below.
Roy says
I can’t recover my Hotmail account. It’s locked and I have been trying to recover it for a few months by not. No one helps. It’s very frustrating
Emily says
Proving you’re not a robot to A ROBOT is a humiliating and de-humanising request. fkn ridiculous
Jon Anderholm says
Can you please help me to retrieve my hotmail account since it contains all the contact list?!? I have followed Microsoft instruction to get back the account without success. Thank you in advance for your support and help.
Brystol says
NO THIS DID NOT WORK! IT IS TOO CONFUSING AND RIDICULOUS! WE SHOULD ALWAYS BE ABLE TO ACCESS OUR EMAIL ACCOUNTS EVEN IF ANOTHER COMPANY HAS TAKEN OVER! JUST NOT BEABLE TO GET ANY NEW EMAILS ON THAT ACCOUNT! BUT THAT WOULD BE TOO EASY!
syed Kashif Ali says
my email account is not open
nicodimos says
Absolute nightmare talking to a machine.
useless and frustrating procedure to recover email address.
Paul Ballard-Whyte says
You are asking me for details of messages I sent at least 10 years ago – impossible to answer. I have given the email address and I have the password and answered a security question. If that is not enough then you will have failed to do what you are supposed to do.
Paul Ballard-Whyte says
How long will I have to wait for the recovery of my hotmail account?
Alan gerstel says
I’ve been trying to access an email account that I lost due to unknown reason one day I tried to use it and it said wrong password and it would not let me get into it whatsoever since then I had to make a new email but my old email is where I stored all sorts of documents and pictures that I can never get back of family membersThat are no longer with me all I wish is I could get my email opened filled out the recovery form many times to no avail please get a hold of me
Drea says
THANK YOU! I was almost in tears trying to get access to my old hotmail account. Your instructions were the only that helped. I needed to get to my hotmail account to login to my yahoo account since it was my recovery email. I haven’t used my hotmail in maybe a decade. I was going in circles with yahoo because they wouldn’t let me log in to my account with my password! UGH! Anyway, thank you! This helped tremendously.
Zhanyi says
I lost my access to my old email all of a sudden during the pandemic.
And my phone also has been changed after the pandemic.
The agent just said there is no way to recover my account, the recovery form is the only way they provide, human < machine, what a joke.
Silvia D Johnson says
A big NO!
It’s totally impossible to recover a password. My hotmail account and phone is no longer in service. I cannot login to my computer or reset password because my hotmail email account no longer exist nor does my old phone number exist. I have sent in countless forms to reset my password, only to be denied each time. It’s impossible to contact microsoft for assistance, I will lose everything if I reinstall windows for which I’m trying to salvage my personal data and photos. Help. Unfortunately, Microsoft is in total control!
Linda says
I have lost legal emails that since 2018 I have been unable to recover. I literally turned away from my computer for 30 seconds one afternoon and when I went back to my screen, I HAD to use Outlook. While I don’t mind Outlook, you would not believe the trouble it has caused me to be unable to access old emails.
ikram says
I can not open my email
desperate diane says
Help me!
Please! I cant find my keys!!! I know I put them down somewhere but I just can’t find them. If anyone can help me please… i am desperate….
no but really how do i login to my very old hotmail account? I need answers
Laureen Czemerda says
No I’ve already sent the recovery form in 3 times last week. First of all I type in my old email where it’s required and my new email in it’s required space. When I scroll down to submit the form it changes both emails to my new email. I can usually redo it and it doesn’t change it but as above I’ve submitted the form 3 times with no response. I lost my iPhone with my hotmail account over a month ago and was active in my hotmail account daily until then.. A friend had talked me into getting an Android phone several months ago which I hated from the get go and I experienced defects that occurred from the beginning until I traded it in for another iPhone. 2 weeks ago. As I have the same problem as users stated above, I won’t repeat everything but I have tried contacting Hotmail and Microsoft to recover my hotmail account. I’ve also been suspended from Facebook and Messenger with no reason given. I don’t even post on FB and rarely open it. But Messenger is the main way I communicate with friends and family. It’s the only way I can communicate with my son as he doesn’t have Internet service and his iPhone through ATT was disabled 3 years ago when a cell tower his phone uses was destroyed. He lives in a rural area and the service providers are extremely limited. The only way I can talk to him is if he calls me after driving over 5 miles from his home. We have used Messenger to communicate for the last 3 years. Now I have no way to reach him when my Messenger could not be set up without my old hotmail account and phone number. Microsoft has a message when you call that they’ve discontinued phone support and you need to use their online app. Again, I’m unable to get in without my old email account and/or phone number. I regret that I’m part of this problem because I kept all my passwords only on the iPhone I lost. When you have to enter a password to recover your account I don’t have it. Then they require you to enter a code they send to your phone but since I lost mine, they won’t let me use my new phone number. I desperately need to get into my hotmail account for important contact information and documents only saved in that email account. I am also 70 years old with several serious health problems and my son is my emergency contact. I wish I had never bought that Samsung Android phone since it’s a big part of my problem. They have my new I iPhone in their system as still an Android which further complicates recovering my account since it seems that there are different instructions for Android users and I’m trying to use my iPhone.
How are any of us going to be able to even teach a live person to explain our problems? Why are our email addresses used by many sites as our ID. I just went through trying twice to get back into my Amazon account. I order almost weekly but I was unable to remember my last 3 purchases out of literally thousands of purchases over the last 15 or more years. And I’ve had problems getting into other sites such as Home Depot, Kohls, Best Buy where I purchased the Android and now the iPhone. I need to login to my Social Security and my retirement account at PSERS but as I said I regret only having my ID information and passwords on the lost phone. When did your email address become your ID in all these sites? I asked that of a supervisor at Amazon and why not your unique birth date or SS number. Most of them ask that when you sign up. If you change your email address that should not be used as your ID especially when you have no way to explain your dilemma when it’s not one of the options they province.
I hope someone can come up with an answer for all of us with this same problem or post a phone number or email address where we can contact Microsoft or Hotmail. I’d really like to know who we can contact in our nation to express our concerns. I learned from my salesperson at Best Buy that Microsoft had taken over Outlook and Hotmail. I thought that Microsoft just had hearings with Congress on their monopolies.
Marwa says
Hi
I need to retrieve my old Hotmail account, I lost the password. I tried to use the same email to create a new one and it says that the account does exist. I have tried account recovery many times and it does not work (it says I haven’t provided enough information to prove my identity). Please help. I need this account ASAP since it has many important contacts.
Thank You.
David Reimers says
Cannot access my old Hotmail account.. I have drivers license and birth certificate but non of the customer service operators are no help all. It asks to Recover to send code only to an old phone I had 4yrs ago? No email option to recover? When I go thru the Recover option online it asks me for “Recent” email information that I recently used? I haven’t accessed my account in over 4yrs ? A lot has changed and I don’t recall the subject line I emailed 4yrs ago? Does anyone know how to access your old Hotmail account? I have all forms of Id? My old onedrive is also attached to my Hotmail account? So I’m double screwed
If anyone know or can help I would be greatly thankful
Thanks
D Reimers
ali ibrahim says
Hi
I need to retrieve my 10 years old Hotmail account, I don’t remember the passwords and I tried to used the same name to create a new one and it says that the account is taken. but when I try to log in it says that the account doesn’t exist. please help. I need this account since it FaceBook has it set up as its e-mail account. Thank You
Sabah says
no this did not help, I need to get into my old email account ASAP as I have information on there I URGENTLY need to access. I have tried account recovery thousands of times and this has not worked.
Bernie Walden says
My club’s Hotmail account is blocked and, as usual, none of the MS instructions gives me access.
Please help
Dwaine jones says
Im still unable to get in
Kevin salla says
I blocked my account sign in please help me with it
I didn’t use the account to email someone also it’s fresh account
Pratima Bhusal says
I can’t get back to my old Hotmail account. I tried but nothing works.
Revatthy says
Suddenly could lnot log into my hotmail account. Always have problem with this hotmail. so frustrating. I opened a new account now. But i still need to access my mails. please help
Ronie says
I block my hot mail because I cannot log in anymore
Ettiene Theart says
Forget password of my hotmail account
Don Moore says
Suddenly, I have been locked out of my Email account. What is going on?
JaNelle says
No, this did not help at all. I never set up Outlook – don’t know how to use it. What other accounts???? People have more than one?
Wish you wouldn’t cut us off at such an important time to stay in contact with people.
Sue maybury says
My phone frozen on code .? Emergency call which my grandson has playing with so I don’t know what happen I don’t have code so I had to go back to factory so I loss everything
Daniel Sanderson-brown says
My email account was hacked on the 1/1/2021, I’ve not been able to access it at all. At the time i went though all the steps of recovering it but the hacker had changed these details. I had no help at from hotmail. I’m still desperate to get this account back as there is important stuff in there.
Azarel says
Hi
I’m azarel Neri
I try sing up in to my Hotmail account but it took me to Outlooks app then I tried again to sing it but doesn’t do anything and still Can’t access to my Hotmail account
Att
Azarel neri ramirez
Lorne Ryan sr says
I recently fixed my iPad and it’s signed under my husbands old email which iss hotmail and haven’t used for yrs as something happened couldn’t get back into account so I switched to gmail. I’d like to get hotmail of ipad as it keeps asking me for pw and I don’t remember or use hotmail. Plz help me w this as I have my serial numbers for iPads also I went through the whole set up of trying get that account back just to switch it to GMAIL but the part where it asking who I sent emails to which I don’t remember as it’s so long ago. Thank u
sonny pham says
please help i cant access to my hotmail years ago ( I forgot my password)
Patricia Pack says
I have used Hotmail for several years, and I have tried to change to Outlook with no success. Why can’t this be made so users can understand how to do this? Today’s date is Thursday, Nov 4. 2021.. My name is Pat If anybody is reading this, and knows how to make this work, please let me know! Thanks!..
Holly says
Need to get an old hotmail email back desperately to retrieve accounts that have been stolen can’t remember password
charlie siringo says
I have a friend with hotmail for 17 years, but recently purchased new pc. Does not remember password, and tried the reset form, but didn’t work as he couldn’t provide answers to some of questions asked. Had to set up new account and would like to recover his old contacts and messages.
He is 83 and blind, so difficult to use system, Is there a way for him to recover his old mail?
Tabitha says
I need to get into two different emails. I’ve tried both and don’t remember the old passwords. So it says I haven’t provided enough information to prove identity I can give you emails/contacts people in my contacts list. Please Microsoft help me
Ken says
My e-mail account was blocked or locked this past Monday because of a “suspicious sign-in attempt”.
I have followed all the prompts and still have not been able to restore – – unlock or unblock..
Sharon says
I can’t get into my old email I’m almost sure I’m putting right email in and I need it to get onto my Facebook. Many thanks
Stephen griffin says
I really need my old hotmail back tried your site to get it non of the family can.Us old ones do not need all this hassle.
Alex says
Hi
I need to retrieve my 10 years old Hotmail account, I don’t remember the passwords and I tried to used the same name to create a new one and it says that the account is taken. but when I try to log in it says that the account doesn’t exist. please help. I need this account since it FaceBook has it set up as its e-mail account. Thank You.
Jean Harrison McCormic says
Trying to access my hotmail account. Now I have outlook, but it doesn’t have any of my old hotmail info or emails.
Tim Mewis says
I’ve tried to log in to my old Hotmail account but it’s an impossible task, please help
JACOB JOHN says
Hi
URGENT PLEASE
I need to retrieve my 15 years old Hotmail account, I don’t remember the passwords and but when I try to log in it says that the account goes to outlook but I don’t get my old previous important information. I thought Microsoft would have converted my Hotmail account to Outlook and notified me of the changes via email on my alternative email account for recovery. Now I have tried to get back my past email details please assist me with this.please help. I need this account since it holds many important documents. Thank You.
Ilda Bourgeois says
Yes sort of well you see am 70 years old and have add but ex husband who was into computers tried to help me and was complicated for him. but he died of covic and my son tried to help but no results so why is microsoft being prejudiced of an senior citizen
Muhammad Abbas says
I am unable to open my email page of Live.com Please help
marian says
I need my old email
Wendy MacCulloch says
No, I want into my old hotmail account, I can’t remember my password
Becky Hawks says
I need to get into my hotmail account. I believe it was compromised but it is linked to a lot of stuff. I have submitted help and recovery with no response.
mark Wayson says
This maze is totally useless. Please make Hotmail available to users.
Aisha Ainab says
Hi
I need to retrieve my 10 years old Hotmail account, I don’t remember the passwords and I tried to used the same name to create a new one and it says that the account is taken. but when I try to log in it says that the account doesn’t exist. please help. I need this account since it holds many important documents. Thank You.
Neeta Keshary says
I need to find my old email of hotmails before 2005.
Rose says
I could not find my old email. It disappeared today.
Javy says
I can’t get back my old Hotmail account, and I am really trying to regenerate it, but nothing works. I thought Microsoft would have converted my Hotmail account to Outlook and notified me of the changes via email on my alternative email account for recovery. Now I have tried to get back my past email, and I am at a wall; please assist me with this.