I set up my internet address almost 25 years ago. Qver the years I have occasinally had to reset the password.  Now my address has been blocked because I have reset the password too many times. This has meant that I can no longer accee any past mails or messages Microsofts toubleshooting site has been no use. Has any member any ideas how to get in?

Since you mention Microsoft I assume it is a hotmail account.

 

I gave up on hotmail ages ago, after I experienced the same debacle as you.

 

A friend had his hotmail account locked a few months ago, and asked my help to recover it.

 

We went through all the silly steps they require at least 10 times over the time span of a week, because after 3 or so attempts you are locked out for 24 hours, but impossible to recover the account, although we filled in everything correctly.

The idiot friend the opened a new hotmail account against my advice. 🤦‍♂️

Further to my above post, Microsoft has locked me out of Outlook also  please.

Just now, Maybole said:

Further to my above post, Microsoft has locked me out of Outlook also. Recomendations for a safe and reliable provider please.

 

18 hours ago, Maybole said:

Has any member any ideas how to get in?

I feel for you as that would be a nightmare for me. I am presuming you mean Outlook on the web and not part of the Office suite.

Unfortunately if you hadn't set up either of the below items other than trying to contact them or posting on their "sort of" help forum sorry no idea.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/category/outlook

 

For other hotmail account owners I would suggest always using 2FA with a secondary email account and/or phone number although even that is not foolproof.

You can also download a recovery code - looks like a windows key. From memory somewhere in your Microsoft Account details.

 

Finally perhaps use Thunderbird/Betterbird or similar set up to maintain your own copy of all your mails locally on a pc. At least you would then have the history.

Have a few email addresses but have had my hotmail since 1998.

For the past 10 years or so I change my password on it every 4 months for security reasons and never ever have had a problem.  

Had hotmail for some 20 yrs never any bronlems

The problem may be part of the new microsoft policy. However i thought it was due to start 01 August.

Microsoft is phasing out passwords for a more secure, passwordless future, starting with the removal of password management features from the Microsoft Authenticator app. Specifically, saved passwords in the Authenticator app will be deleted starting August 1, 2025. This is part of a broader push towards using passkeys and other authentication methods.
The ability to add or import new passwords into the Authenticator app has already been removed, and autofill functionality will also be discontinued, according to Microsoft. 

There may be a lot of people who are not aware of this yet.
Its seems to be easiest to create a passkey.

 

FYI, I have used yahoo mail for 28 years with few problems, and gmail as backup.

If the OP has outlook classic, can you not still open it offline?
If so can you then read the data,
and export the old data as Outlook Data File (.pst) if necessary.

Be aware that if you have upgraded to the new outlook, it is not possible to save data onto your own PC.
Data is stored in the cloud.
I had to revert to classic outlook from the new version in order to be able to save backups.

 

As a security, password only is notnot enough, especially for recovery.
Password +  Authenticator app (perhaps Microsoft) + phone number (OTP)

On 7/21/2025 at 9:51 PM, Maybole said:

I set up my internet address almost 25 years ago. Qver the years I have occasinally had to reset the password.  Now my address has been blocked because I have reset the password too many times. This has meant that I can no longer accee any past mails or messages Microsofts toubleshooting site has been no use. Has any member any ideas how to get in?

I was locked out of my Microsoft account a while back - (Not hotmail, but the microsoft account) - I contacted their support and they took over my PC remotely and sorted out the problem.

 

what I would say is be extremely careful in making sure this is a genuine site, it is worth a try - you need to talk to the LIVE HELP CHAT. Not saying they can work miracles, but they were able to find all of my details, microsoft invoices with passwords etc. and fixed it in 10 minutes - you might get lucky, it is worth a try.

 

Contact Us - Microsoft Support - I cannot post the link but if you go to Google and type in Microsoft support live chat help, it might get you started, good luck.

Don't understand why there are still people using Hotmail accounts, many companies refuse Hotmail accounts, it is much better to use an email account from your provider, they are always accepted.

2 hours ago, Peterphuket said:

Don't understand why there are still people using Hotmail accounts, many companies refuse Hotmail accounts, it is much better to use an email account from your provider, they are always accepted.

A number of people above don't seem to have any issues and I think you will find the number of world wide users runs into the many millions.....

Using an email from your provider - I presume you mean your isp.........First off didn't even know True/AIS/etc offered email addresses. Secondly even in Europe for example do you want to be locked into your current isp email when you change provider.......

Are gmail addresses similarly not accepted............

 

Not sure if you are American (know nothing about their "providers") but I don't understand when people state stuff as if it is an unalterable fact of life when often it is just a myopic view of their own very limited experience......

5 hours ago, topt said:

Secondly even in Europe for example do you want to be locked into your current isp email when you change provider.......

 

Worse than that.  My email was shut down because my provider decided I wasn't worth it.