I wish to always use a password for Hotmail

Question

My hotmail in outlook loads without requesting a password. I wish to always use a password on all my devices even when signed into Windows 11.

I have spent hours looking through Microsoft help pages but have not been able to find an answer which works.

Answer 1

Hello, thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

May I confirm whether you are accessing your email using the Outlook desktop application or Outlook.com in a web browser?

When you sign in to the Outlook desktop application with your Microsoft account, the app securely stores a sign-in token after you authenticate. As long as this token remains valid, Outlook will not prompt you to enter your password again. This behavior is by design and cannot be changed in the desktop application.

(The sign in token only becomes invalid if you make any security changes such as password reset, signing out from your account, clearing Windows credentials, etc...) Since these changes happen automatically in the background, it is not something you or any user can realistically keep track of each time. Also, this behavior cannot be changed using the built-in settings of the Outlook desktop app.

If you access your email through Outlook.com in a web browser, the browser may prompt you to sign in each time if it is configured to clear cache and cookies when it is closed or restarted. Once this data is cleared, you will be required to enter your password again the next time you sign in. This behaviour is only achievable on the browser version of Outlook.

Answer 2

The AI generated answers were not complete enough to find answers or had not enough specific help when accessing the Credentials or was unable to find the section ... "Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings, select your Hotmail account, and then click on Change".

Answer 3

To ensure that Outlook always prompts you for a password when accessing your Hotmail account, you can try the following steps:

1. Remove Saved Credentials: Go to the Windows Credential Manager and remove any saved credentials related to your Hotmail account. This can be done by navigating to Control Panel > Credential Manager > Windows Credentials, and then looking for entries related to Outlook or Microsoft Office.
2. Disable Automatic Sign-In: In Outlook, you can check your account settings to ensure that the option for automatic sign-in is disabled. Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings, select your Hotmail account, and then click on Change. Ensure that the option to remember your password is unchecked.
3. Use Modern Authentication: If your organization supports it, enabling Modern Authentication can help enforce password prompts. Check with your IT team to see if this is an option.
4. Sign Out of Windows: If you are signed into Windows with an account that has access to your Hotmail, signing out or switching accounts may also prompt Outlook to ask for a password.

These steps should help you configure Outlook to always request a password when accessing your Hotmail account.