Founded in the mid-90’s, Hotmail is one of the oldest email addresses that continues to be used by many. However, it no longer exists as a separate webmail service, as Microsoft’s Outlook now handles all Hotmail accounts. This is causing confusion to users who are wondering whether Hotmail is still around and if it will remain operational in the future. You might also be wondering how to retrieve any inactive Hotmail usernames or change a Hotmail email address to an Outlook one. To know these answers, refer to the guide below.
Where Is My Hotmail Account?
As many active Hotmail users know, the famous email address hasn’t disappeared. On the contrary, it’s very much operational and enjoys the same excellent reputation as Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo. A Hotmail email account can easily be used with the Outlook email client, Microsoft Teams, Skype, OneDrive, Office 365, and even the Windows Insider Program.
However, in some of its blog posts and videos, Microsoft insists on a transition from the Hotmail.com domain to Outlook.com. While you can do that easily, there is nothing stopping users from accessing Hotmail on a browser or Outlook’s Android/iOS app.
How to Access My Hotmail Account in Outlook
In any web browser, if you enter “hotmail.com” in the address bar, it will automatically redirect you to “outlook.com.” From there you can sign in to the Hotmail domain if you remember your password. Currently, there are no webmail or other exclusive services for Hotmail.
Similarly, all the other Microsoft email addresses, such as Live.com, MSN.com, and Passport.com, as well as their country-specific subdomains, are directly accessed from Outlook.com and can only be opened from the Outlook webmail or desktop/mobile clients.
If you’re using Hotmail with your Outlook.com account, you can verify this through “Microsoft Account Profile -> Account Info -> Sign-in preferences.” It will have been saved as a primary or secondary alias. If you’ve never used an Outlook.com email account, Hotmail will show as the only available alias.
How to Retrieve Your Old Hotmail Account
Do you have an old Hotmail account that you no longer have access to? If you had logged in once during a calendar year (slightly less than 365 days) and still remember the password, then it is easy to regain access. You may need a phone number or alternate email address to receive a verification code.
However, if you did not use your Hotmail account in a very long time (around two years or more), Microsoft will have deleted the email address for inactivity. This means all your emails, contacts, and other stored data have been removed permanently. Any of these deleted email accounts have a 60-day waiting period before the email address is again available.
If you don’t want someone else to use your inactive Hotmail username, first find out whether you can still recover it through an alternate email address associated with the Hotmail account. If you don’t remember it and have forgotten the password, then the only option is to create another Hotmail account with the same username. While the emails cannot be recovered, you can use the old Hotmail to log in again to any third-party service which you might have used in the past.
Recover My Old Hotmail Login
1. First go to the “Create Free account” section on the Outlook.com homepage. Here you will find the options for both Outlook.com (default) and Hotmail.com in a drop-down menu. Choose the username to pair with the old Hotmail account.
2. Enter a desired password for the Hotmail email account. It does not matter if it’s the same old password or something new, as this email account is fresh.
3. Solve a simple puzzle to validate your account creation request. Once the new Microsoft account is created with Hotmail, you will be redirected to the Outlook.com page with a greeting email.
4. Go to “My Microsoft Account” to fill in the other recovered account details.
Rename Hotmail Account to Outlook
You can easily change your email address from Hotmail to Outlook.com while retaining the existing username. This would allow any emails to continue being delivered to the older Hotmail address while you log on using the new Outlook.com address. Your password remains unchanged.
1. Sign in to Outlook.com with your Hotmail account and click on the profile icon in the top-right corner. From here, you can open “My Microsoft Account.”
2. Go to the Microsoft Account Profile and select “Edit account info” in the “Account info” section.
3. On the “Manage how you sign in to Microsoft” page, you will be able to see all the email aliases you use to access Outlook.com, Skype, OneDrive, and other services. If you’ve never used anything else other than Hotmail, then there will be no other options.
4. Click “Add email.”
5. Choose a new email alias with Outlook.com. It can be exactly the same as your old Hotmail username.
Once the new Outlook.com email address has been created with the same username as Hotmail, you can make it your primary email address. It can take up to 48 hours for this new primary alias to appear on all Microsoft products and services. Also, some of your friends may appear to be offline until they sign out and sign back in.
All previous Hotmail emails will continue to be redirected to the new Outlook email inbox. Do not remove the old Hotmail account from secondary aliases, although there is an option to.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What do I do if I can’t remember my Hotmail password or secret questions?
Not remembering your password and secret questions is a fairly common issue, especially with old and inactive Hotmail accounts. You can try for account recovery from an alternate email address as shown above in the “How to retrieve my old Hotmail account” section. If you can’t do that, try to regain access to the old Hotmail account from the “Create free account” section on the Hotmail homepage.
2. How do I know if my Hotmail account is still active?
To know whether your Hotmail account is still active, one of the easiest ways to find out is from the “Create account” section on the Outlook.com homepage. Try to create a new account using the username you’re testing for inactivity. If the account is inactive, you will see a status that says: “Looks like you don’t have an account with us. We’ll create one using the old username.”
3. When does Microsoft delete inactive accounts? Is there a way to regain access?
Microsoft considers any account inactive if it has been unused for more than two years. There are a few ways you can access this account despite prolonged inactivity: if you used it to purchase an active Microsoft product or service, if you have an unused Microsoft account balance from a gift card or credit, if you used the account to publish to the Microsoft Store, and if it has earned you a training certification from Microsoft.
Now that we have learned to recover a Hotmail email account and change it to Outlook.com, check out the most frequent Outlook issues and how to solve them. You can also find out all the accounts linked to your email address.
Sayak Boral is a technology writer with over ten years of experience working in different industries including semiconductors, IoT, enterprise IT, telecommunications OSS/BSS, and network security. He has been writing for MakeTechEasier on a wide range of technical topics including Windows, Android, Internet, Hardware Guides, Browsers, Software Tools, and Product Reviews.
