Ask Leo!: Hotmail Password Management

Can I recover my MSN Hotmail password rather than reset it?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:22:44 -08:00

I've forgotten my MSN Hotmail password and I could easily reset it, as I DO still have access to my alternate email account that I provided and I DO remember the answer to my secret question.

However, it is imperative that I do not change/reset the password, but instead recover the old one. It's very complicated, but basically I have used the same password for several things and I cannot afford to lose it.

What I am really asking is "Is it possible to merely recover my MSN password rather than reset it??"

]]> I normally don't respond to password requests any more unless there's something new, like a change in Windows Live Hotmail's password recovery mechanism.

I've been getting the question above off and on for years. Even though many requests are possibly legitimate, I can't tell which ones are, and thus have to address them as password hacking attempts. In other words, I have to ignore them.

But it dawns on me that there are some valuable lessons to be learned here.

Why am I getting password reset mails for my Hotmail account?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 12:41:55 -08:00

I continually get emails from Hotmail saying I have requested for my password to be reset, and I most definitely have not requested this. I have had the same password for years (probably not a good idea) but could these repeated emails from Hotmail be a sign that someone is hacking into my account?

]]> Yes, while it's definitely not a good thing to leave your password unchanged for years at a time, I also know that changing it often is a pain. I'm as guilty as you are when it comes to my Hotmail account.

Unsolicited password requests aren't a good thing. The question is just how bad a thing are they? The answer varies.

How do I get a password reset or reminder sent to my alternate email if I can't login to it?

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:09:43 -08:00

I'm unable to login to my Hotmail account, so I wanted to try the option of sending a password reset via email. But how can I receive that reset password link if the whole problem is that I can't login and get my email because I don't have the password?

]]> A classic chicken and egg problem. You need your password to receive the reset, but you need the reset in order to get your password.

I see this happen also when people specify bogus "alternate email" addresses, or don't specify one at all.

In a nutshell, you're SOL - severely out of luck.

The best we can do is prevent this situation from coming up again in the future.