Using classic Outlook for Windows in business environments
Hi there! This is Raech. I'm an Independent Advisor and an Outlook.com user like you. I'm sorry to hear about the issue.
I understand you are trying to recover an old email account. If you have not signed into your Microsoft account at least once a year, the account is deemed inactive, and your emails are purged completely. The only way to log in is if you have the right password.
There is also a Microsoft policy that if you haven't signed in for more than two years, the account will be deleted and closed permanently. To view this policy, kindly refer to the article below.
https://support.microsoft.com/topic/microsoft-a...
Unfortunately, support is unable to assist with any account or login-related issues, so the automated recovery system is the only option and if that fails, there really is no other solution.
Please do note that this is a public user-to-user community forum. None of us here work for Microsoft and it is beyond our capability to assist directly with account or login-related issues.
Sincerely,
Raech C.