I lost my Hotmail account. How can I recover it?

Have you lost access to your old Hotmail account? Need help recovering it? While Microsoft is friendly to those who have forgotten their email password, the process of resetting it can be a bit frustrating. That's why, in this article, we'll look at the Step by step to recover a Hotmail account and what to do if you encounter difficulties along the way.

Can I recover my old Hotmail account?

With more than 28 years of experience, the email address Hotmail is one of the oldest still in operation. While Microsoft changed this nomenclature for Outlook, it is still possible to use and create a Hotmail email account. Do you still have yours?

If you're an old hand, you probably have your Hotmail account active and associated with your Windows user or other Microsoft services. However, due to the age of these accounts and the widespread use of the gmail.com formula, you may you have lost access to your precious Hotmail account.

How long does a Hotmail account remain inactive before it is deleted? According to official Microsoft sources, Hotmail changes the status of an account to Inactive after 270 days without logging in. And It is completely eliminated if more than 365 days pass without reporting any activity.In the latter case, the account is deleted entirely and the username becomes available for someone else to use.

Does the above mean that it is impossible to recover a deleted Hotmail account? No. Microsoft provides advanced recovery options for these types of situations. Of course, there's no guarantee that the account and its information will be recovered, but it's always possible to try. We'll detail the steps below.

Steps to reset your Hotmail account password

Whether you've forgotten your Hotmail account password or Microsoft has disabled it due to inactivity, there is hope for recovering it. The first thing you need to do is go to the official Microsoft account recovery pageYou can access it through the following link: https://account.live.com/ResetPassword.aspx

From that page, follow these steps to reset your password:

1. Enter your Hotmail email address and click Next.
2. In the next window, you'll need to verify your identity. To do so, select a verification method: a code sent to your email or phone number.
3. Enter the verification code you received.
4. Finally, change your password and log back into your account.

I don't have access to the alternate email or phone number.

If you don't have access to an alternate email or phone number, things get a little more complicated. In these cases, Microsoft offers the option to recover your account by answering a series of security questionsLet's run the procedure with an old Hotmail account and see how it all turns out.

1. Go to the official Microsoft account recovery page by clicking this link: https://account.live.com/acsr.
2. In the first text field, enter the email address you are trying to recover.
3. In the second field, enter a different email address than the one you want to recover so Microsoft can contact you. This can be gmail.com, live.com, outlook.com, or any other email address. Click Next.
4. You'll receive a numeric code to the alternate email you entered. Write it down in the next window and click Verify.

Enter the personal information associated with the Hotmail account

After clicking on Verify, a new window will open where you will have to provide information related to the Hotmail account that you want to recover. Microsoft advises that, if possible, you answer the questions on a device and location you've previously used with that account.

In addition, it is very important that answer as many questions as you canIn fact, the page insists that if you don't know the answer to a question, you should try to guess it. In the first section, you must enter your first and last name, date of birth, country, province, and postal code.

Write down previous passwords and uses you gave to the Hotmail account

You click on Next and you will see another window where you are asked write down other passwords you remember and have used with the Hotmail account you want to recover. You must also indicate whether you used that email to open your Skype or Xbox account, or if you made any purchases using that email address.

Again, it is important that make an effort and try to remember as much information as possibleAlthough it's not mandatory to fill out every section, doing so increases your chances of recovering your old Hotmail account.

Contacts and subject lines

In the next section of the Account Recovery section you will have to write down email addresses to which you have sent messages using the Hotmail account in questionThere are at least four text fields for this, and you must enter an email address in each one.

Further down, you have to write down the exact subject lines of the emails you've sent to your contacts. Of course, remembering this type of information can be difficult for most people. Therefore, Microsoft suggests asking family, friends, or business contacts for help confirming email addresses and subject lines.

Wait for Microsoft to contact you

Finally, you click Next and a message appears telling you that Microsoft will contact you to let you know if it's possible to recover the account. They give a maximum time period of 24 hours, although they usually respond much faster. What can you do if Microsoft responds negatively to your request? One option is to fill out the Account Recovery section again and try to provide more details.

Alternatively contact Microsoft online technical support and explore the available tools to find a solution. Keep in mind, however, that no Microsoft support agent is authorized to send password reset links or access and change any account details. As we mentioned earlier, there's no guarantee that you'll recover your account, but you can at least give it your all.