If you have been a long-time Hotmail user, you might have noticed that Microsoft has changed the
login
website for Hotmail accounts due to a rebranding. We will discuss your possibilities when
returning to
your old Hotmail account and what to do if you run into any issues. Let’s get into it!
Hotmail re-brand to Outlook.com
If you used Hotmail a while ago, you might wonder - “How to sign into my old Hotmail account?”
after
finding out there’s no Hotmail website anymore. Older Microsoft accounts like MSN, Hotmail, and
Live
were moved under the single service- Outlook.com after some time of rebranding and updating the
Hotmail email service. The decline of users, increased spam, security issues, and growing
competition
from Gmail with its flexible user interface, bigger storage space, and faster response time
contributed to
Hotmail’s decline.
As a result, Hotmail was discontinued in 2014 and merged with Outlook.com.
If you are unable to find Hotmail old version sign in page, worry not, it just has been moved to
another
website - outlook.live.com/.
Once you log in via Outlook.com login page using your old Hotmail credentials everything should
work
out of the box but this time with the Outlook web interface which may take some getting used to.
The
upside is that you can keep the Hotmail email address but it is no longer possible to create
Hotmail
account from scratch. All the new accounts created under Outlook.com will have the corresponding
domain.
If you are having trouble logging in or you just want to update your password for improved
security,
consider Hotmail password reset. It is performed the same way as a password reset of an
Outlook.com
account. Visit https://account.live.com/password/reset
to get help with password reset.
There is, however, no Hotmail app so if you want to add your Hotmail account to another email
app next
part might be of help.
Using a Hotmail account with email apps
In Apple Mail, you need to use the “Other” option in the account setup wizard.
Then follow the setup
instructions- enter your email, and password and you should be done.
Microsoft Outlook has an automatic setup so you just provide the Microsoft
Hotmail login
credentials
and you are ready to go.
Adding a Hotmail account to eM Client is just as easy and you get some extra
security if you opt
in for
the encryption. Use the automatic setup field in Menu > Accounts > Add account and once
you fill out
the address, complete the authentication, and pick the preferred encryption option your account
is
ready to
go.
See the setup instructions with screenshots
and detailed account settings for Hotmail/Outlook.com
accounts.
If you will run into any issues during the setup you can also use these settings to manually
configure your
Hotmail account:
Outlook IMAP details:
- IMAP server: imap-mail.outlook.com
- Port: 993
Outlook SMTP details:
- SMTP server: smtp-mail.outlook.com
- Port: 587
Changes to Hotmail account sign in procedure
With all the changes that were made to Hotmail, the new authentication process might surprise
you so if
you were using basic authentication the question might arise- “Why do I need to enter my Hotmail
email
login in a separate browser window?” To some it might seem suspicious but we assure you that
there is
nothing to be worried about as this authentication model is used by Gmail for ages and Microsoft
has
began pushing it too since they removed basic authentication for Hotmail accounts.
So, only the modern oAuth authentication method is allowed since Fall 2022 which is a
significant
change to the authentication process. Read more about it at our Blog.