If you don’t know how to recover an old Hotmail account, we are going to help you out. Decades ago, Hotmail accounts were as popular as Gmail accounts.
If you’re over 30 and have been using the Internet for a long time, you’ve had a Hotmail account for sure. Two decades ago everyone had one.
The problem is that you probably don’t remember the password, and the email or cell phone you associated with the account is no longer there. Let’s take a look at all the options for recovering a Hotmail account in 2021.
Hotmail technically no longer exists, because now Microsoft’s email service is called Outlook, and if you go to the old Hotmail.com website, you will be redirected to Outlook.
But Hotmail accounts still work perfectly and Microsoft still lets you create Hotmail accounts from Outlook itself, so the service is fully operational.
If you have an old Hotmail account but don’t remember the password, let’s see how you can access it.
Why was Hotmail so popular?
Few people still use Hotmail now, but a couple of decades ago it was the most widely used mail service.
It was created by two Apple employees named Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith in 1995. Back then mail services were offered by carriers and Internet providers, and you had to use an application on your computer or cell phone to read your mail.
Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith created Hotmail which worked directly in the Internet browser, without using any software.
They presented it on July 4, 1996, America’s Independence Day, as a symbol of freedom, because it freed you from the use of applications.
The original name was HoTMaiL, and it was referring to the HTML language used to create web pages.
As you can easily imagine, the idea was a success. Being able to see your email on a web page without using an application was revolutionary.
As Google made it mandatory to use Gmail to access its services, and Android mobile phones, Hotmail lost popularity. In 2013 Microsoft replaced it with Outlook, but as we mentioned you can still create a Hotmail account.
When you go to create an Outlook account, clicking on the arrow lets you choose Hotmail instead.
How many years it has been since you last used your account?
Hotmail accounts have been active for 25 years. Microsoft, and most Internet services, delete inactive accounts after a few years, for privacy reasons.
So if you have an account that you have not used for a long time, you might not be able to recover it.
How to recover that old Hotmail account you once had?
Let’s start with the easiest method. First of all, go to this Microsoft email recovery page, it works the same on smartphones and computers.
You will be asked to enter your email address, or the phone number where you used to use the email, or your Skype name. We enter the mail address and click on Next.
Then it will show us the email or the recovery mobile number that was associated with our Hotmail account if we entered one.
Microsoft will ask us some questions to be able to prove that we know that email address or that mobile. Then it will send us a code through a mobile SMS, or an email, depending on the recovery method we choose.
We enter this code and it will let us enter a new password for our Hotmail account.
What if you haven’t associated a phone number?
In that case, Microsoft will ask you for a new recovery email address, to send you a code. Then a form will appear, where you will have to fill in some personal data that you used in your old Hotmail account.
Microsoft is trying to find out if you are the real owner of the account.
Then Microsoft will either allow you to enter a new password and continue using Hotmail, or it will tell you that they cannot know if you are the owner, and you will not be able to access the account.
If the two previous steps have not been enough, you still have a third option. Contact Microsoft Technical Support.
To do so, go to this Microsoft Technical Support website and contact them via chat, app, mail, or phone.
