No access to hotmail account

Question

My Dad has a hotmail account but has lost access to it.

The password is not correct anymore.

He has a old phonenumber linked wich is not active anymore and the form to recover the account gives the result that no more recovery attempts can be done because there were to many attempts.

It did this from the first attempt.

I suspect his account got breached Because he had had the same password for years (tbf a very insecure one).

But to actually secure his account extra with correct verification methods and a secure password i need to recover access to the account but none of the do it yourself methods work.

I fear his account is lost unless Microsoft themselves can recover access to it.

Answer 1

Hello Ultrared,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Community. My name is EXPERT and I'm happy to help.

I'm sorry you're experiencing this problem. I understand how important recovering your father's account is to you.

You may ask your father to answer these questions:

When did you last successfully sign in to your Microsoft account? If you have not logged into your account for more than two years and it has been closed due to inactivity, you will not be able to use the Account Recovery Form to recover your account. Reference: https://support.microsoft.com/office/7c0a9fa7-0982-b7c6-fd72-df852b63699f

Did you have two-factor authentication (2FA) active on the account? If you do have the 2FA active, are you able to access the second factor of authentication? If so, please try resetting your password. Detailed steps on resetting your password can be found in the following support article: https://support.microsoft.com/office/eff4f067-5042-c1a3-fe72-b04d60556c37

Important: The account recovery form can only be used if two-step verification isn't turned on.

If you did not have 2FA active on the account, and the account was not deleted due to inactivity, you will need to try the Account Recovery Form: https://account.live.com/acsr

Detailed steps on how to use the Account Recovery Form can be found here: https://support.microsoft.com/office/b19c02d1-a782-dee6-93c3-dc8113b20c42

Microsoft takes account security very seriously, that's why Account Recovery is an automated process with no human influence. If you don't have the correct information, you may not be able to get through account verification using the Recovery Form.

The Account Recovery Form requires adequate information to prove that you are the owner of the account. The Account Recovery Process can be a time consuming process, but providing as much info as possible from the start of the process will increase the possibility of being verified by the automated process. You'll need to keep trying until you're verified by Microsoft.

Remember to use a familiar device from which you've frequently accessed your Microsoft account, as well as a familiar location. Microsoft will review your responses and respond within 24 hours. If you are verified, instructions on how to log back into your account will be sent to you, and if you are not verified, you will need to submit the Account Recovery form again. You can do this up to 2 times every 24 hours.

It's important to note that Microsoft Support will not be able to grant you access to your account, you will be sent back to the Account Recovery pages that have been linked above.

If your Microsoft account recovery request was not granted or was unsuccessful, please click the attached link for more information: https://support.microsoft.com/office/dc56c3e3-dff0-4ed5-8edb-60290eea6b53

While it might not be the outcome you are looking for, if you’re unsuccessful in recovering your account, then you will need to create a new Microsoft account. You can do that by clicking this link: https://signup.live.com/

Additionally, please be aware that:

"An account that hasn't been accessed for a year becomes inactive and all emails are deleted.

An account that hasn't been accessed for two years is permanently deleted.

An account that is deleted due to inactivity cannot be recovered or reused."

And using the Account Recovery form will no longer help in recovering your account.

I extracted the following information from this topic: https://answers.microsoft.com/thread/77d14af0-51d6-40a9-9da5-a156bb8f1b8b

Let me know if you need more help.

Regards, Marisol D.