If you’ve had a Hotmail account for years, your digital life will likely become deeply intertwined. Unfortunately, some people will find themselves in situations where they need to access old messages or can’t access their current account for some reason. Fortunately, there are still ways to read old emails and get around these problems. This article includes a detailed guide on:
Can I Access My Old Hotmail Account?
Different Ways to Access Old Hotmail Accounts
If it’s less than five years old, it’s possible.
If you’re trying to recover an old Hotmail account, it should be less than five years old since you last accessed it. You can do this by logging into your new Hotmail account and going through your inbox. If there are any emails from the old account or any other sign that someone else is using it (like new messages), it’s still active.
Suppose you haven’t used your old Hotmail account for more than five years. It will be impossible for Microsoft to give you access based on their terms and conditions.
Using Outlook
- Step 1: Open your desktop browser
Open your desktop browser and go to the Outlook Mail login screen.
- Step 2: Log in to your account using your previous Hotmail login information.
Type in your email address and password.
If you’ve tried to log into your old Hotmail account and it’s not working, this is probably why. Microsoft requires that you use the same email address and password that you used before. If those details are no longer available to you, we’ll need to try other methods of getting into your account.
Connect Your New Email Client to Your Old Hotmail Account
- Step 1: Visit Outlook’s settings.
In your desktop browser, go to the Outlook Mail login screen.
Log in to your account using your previous Hotmail login information. Click on the Settings wheel at the top right of the page and select Settings from the dropdown menu.
Under the Mail tab, you should see an option called “Accounts,” which lists all your email accounts signed into Outlook Mail.
- Step 2: Choose Sync Email.
Choose sync mail and input the old Hotmail account details.
- Step 3: then Other email accounts option
In Step 2, you should have selected Hotmail. Now, in Step 3, click the Other email accounts option. If you don’t see this option on your screen, you’re using Outlook.com or Office 365 and cannot retrieve emails from a different provider.
- Step 4: Type in your Hotmail login information.
It’s essential to type in the correct username, but it’s also case-sensitive, so make sure you enter the same letters as initially entered by the user who created their account.
- Step 5: Connect the accounts.
- Once you’ve transferred your messages, it’s time to connect the accounts.
Use the Account Recovery Form for Microsoft
- Step 1: Go to the Recover Your Account page on your smartphone or desktop.
You’ll need to use the Account Recovery Form for Microsoft accounts to access your account. On your smartphone, go to the Recover Your Account page.
- Step 2: Use your previous Hotmail login information to access your account.
Please enter the email address for your Hotmail account in the Email box, then select Get code and type it into an app on your mobile device (such as SMS or Facebook Messenger).
- Step 3: Go ahead and click Forgot password?
Click the forgot password option. Fill out all required fields with accurate information as prompted by Microsoft.
- Step 4: Select the Email option
After entering the contact email, select Get code. Microsoft will send you a verification email to the contact address. If you can’t find it in your inbox, try searching for it in your ‘Junk’ folder.
- Step 5: Enter the received code, then select the Next button.
Once you’ve entered the code, select the Next button.
- Step 6: Input the New password.
In this step, you’ll be asked to enter a new password for your account. You can use the same password you’ve always used or change it if you’d like.
Please note: If you have connected your phone number to the account, you can also be given the option to text the code to your mobile device.
FAQs On Old Hotmail Accounts
When you create a new Hotmail account, your email address is also used for your old Hotmail account. You can still access that account, but it might be listed as an alternate email address under your new account’s main one in the Settings section of your Outlook web portal. If you did not set up any alternate addresses when creating your new Microsoft email address, then there will be no way to access this old account.
Hotmail accounts are valid for five years.
Even if you haven’t used your Hotmail account in years, it’s still active and can be accessed by anyone who knows the email address.
Yes, it does. Old Hotmail accounts remain active for the first five years after they are created. After that period, your account may be deleted if you haven’t added any new data. If you do add new content to your account after this point, it will remain active until another five years have passed without any addition of new content by you or someone else with access to that account (such as an authorized user).
If you’re like most people, your Hotmail account has been a part of your life for a long time. The first thing to do is visit hotmail.com and log into their login page with your email address and password (which should be the same as the ones you used to create your account). If everything works out, then congratulations.
If you have a Hotmail account over five years old, it may have been disabled for inactivity. In this case, you’ll need to use the account recovery form to get access back to your old Hotmail messages. If it’s been more than three years since your last login (or when you first created the account), your account may have been marked as permanently deleted and not recoverable.
Conclusion
Whichever method you choose, you will eventually be able to access your Hotmail account. The only thing that should limit you is the length of time since your last log-in. If you haven’t accessed the account in a while, Microsoft may require more information from you. However, once you’ve regained access to the email, you should be able to use it just as before.
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