Recover an old hotmail account

madi fabian 0 Reputation points
2026-09-15T02:03:41.87+00:00

When microsoft retired the hotmail account, it required me to use outlook instead. I kept my old hotmail email to the outlook and added an outlook email. At the time, i still was able to have both emails available to me for a short while. I am trying to recover the old hotmail account to access important files but it is telling me it no longer exists. For example, I use the old hotmail email for my Pinterest account however I accidentally logged out of it and cant get back in. I am unable to access my old hotmail account to gain access because it says it doesnt exist. How can we re-access it?

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Email
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  1. AI answer

    2026-09-15T02:04:00.0333333+00:00

    If the old Hotmail address now shows that the account does not exist, these are the supported possibilities and next steps:

    1. Try the Microsoft account sign-in page at account.microsoft.com with the old Hotmail address.
      • If a password prompt appears, the address is still a Microsoft account.
      • If it says "We couldn't find an account with that username" or "account doesn't exist", the address is not currently recognized as a Microsoft account.
    2. Double-check the exact address.
      • Verify the spelling of the name.
      • Verify the domain, such as .com versus .co.uk.
      • If the old account had another alias or phone number attached, try that instead.
    3. Use the Microsoft Sign-in Helper if the username is not recognized or there are other sign-in issues.
    4. If the password is the issue rather than the account existing, use Recover your account and complete the verification steps to reset the password.
    5. If standard recovery does not work, use the Microsoft account recovery form. Microsoft reviews the answers and responds within 24 hours. A working email address is required for the recovery request.
    6. If the account has not been signed in to for more than 2 years, it may have been deleted and can no longer be reopened.
    7. If two-step verification was turned on and none of the alternate verification methods are accessible, support agents cannot send password reset links or change account details.

    For the Pinterest access issue, if the Hotmail account is no longer recognized or was deleted, re-accessing that mailbox is not supported. In that case, recovery must be done through Pinterest using any alternate recovery options available on that service.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. Jhun Buala 5,720 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-09-15T04:04:54.7933333+00:00

    Hi Madi,

    If your old hotmail address was kept as an alias on your Microsoft account, your may still be able to use it to sign in. Adding an Outlook.com address does not normally remove the existing hotmail address. So, let;s try these steps first:

    1. Go to https://account.microsoft.com and sign in with the Outlook address you currently use.
    2. Open Your info > Account info and check Account aliases.
    3. Look for your old @hotmail.com address there.

    If the Hotmail address is listed, you should still be able to use it to sign in to services such as Pinterest, depending on how that account was set up. But if the hotmail address is not listed and says that the address doesn't exist, it might been removed rather than it was replaced. Generally it can't be restored once it has been permanently deleted or recycled.

    For now, check first whether the old hotmail address still appears under your account alias on your MS account. This will help us to point out on where actually the problem is situated.

    Regards,
    Jhun

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