How to delete old account you can't remember password to?

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How to delete old account you can't remember password to?

Questioner 20

Back when I was younger, I created some Hotmail accounts, unfortunately I can't remember the actual passwords to them, and I can't remember the answers to the security question either. Both of the accounts have been locked, but is there a way to get the Microsoft team to just delete them? Both of them should be over the two-year inactivity mark by this point, and I really don't care about recovering their contents, just making sure that they're shut down. I'm asking because when I tried to see if the accounts have been deleted yet, it appeared as if they have not been removed yet.

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Answer 1

John Jefferson Doyon 90,530 Independent Advisor

Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

Microsoft automatically closes and permanently deletes personal Microsoft accounts after about 2 years of inactivity. Once that process completes, the account is fully shut down and the data is removed. There isn’t a separate way to manually request deletion if you can’t sign in, since Microsoft needs account access to verify ownership.

If the email addresses end with @hotmail.com, @outlook.com, or @live.com, those addresses cannot be recreated, even after the accounts are deleted. That’s normal and by design for security reasons, so seeing that the address still “exists” doesn’t necessarily mean the account is active.

If the accounts are already locked and haven’t been used in over two years, they will remain inaccessible and will eventually be fully purged by Microsoft’s automated system. Since you’re not looking to recover anything, there’s no further action required on your end.

I really hope this information is helpful! Let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Regards,

John J.D.

Questioner 20 Reputation points

2025-12-31T21:06:32.9066667+00:00

So just to be clear, does the ability to try and recover the password for a locked and inactive account mean anything regarding whether or not it has been deleted yet? That's one of the reasons why I'm asking here, because I can't seem to figure out whether or not the accounts have actually been deleted yet. I know that the accounts in question haven't been logged in by me within the two-year span, but you hear so much about hackers these days that I just want to try to be safe.
John Jefferson Doyon 90,530 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-12-31T21:33:16.0433333+00:00

Thank you for letting me know.

No, the ability to attempt password recovery does not mean the account is still active or hasn’t been deleted. Microsoft keeps the email address and recovery pages visible for security reasons, even after an account is locked or closed.

If the account hasn’t been signed into for over 2 years, Microsoft automatically closes it. A locked and inactive account cannot be accessed by hackers unless they can verify ownership, which they can’t without the original credentials or security info.

So if you haven’t used those Hotmail/Outlook accounts in over two years, there’s nothing you need to do.

Should you need further information please let me know.
Questioner 20 Reputation points

2025-12-31T22:04:53.3433333+00:00

I see. Thank you for answering my questions. Have a good day!