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What Are Outlook.com’s IMAP, POP3, and SMTP Settings?

Question: How do I use Hotmail or Outlook.com with my desktop email program? It wants something about POP3 and SMTP. What should I put in?

With the proliferation of devices running their own email programs, settings for POP3, SMTP, and now more frequently IMAP are a popular request for the various email services.

For a long time, Microsoft didn’t provide the ability to connect to a desktop email program, but they added it to Hotmail a few years ago. With the transition to Outlook.com as Hotmail’s replacement, that functionality remains.

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Email programs

Various desktop and mobile email programs will ask for this information in a variety of ways and in different places.

Typically, when you set up an email program, you will configure one or more email accounts. An account includes:

  • Your email address
  • Your account user name (sometimes, this is the same as or derived from your email address)
  • Your account password

Outlook.com LogoAs you enter this information, your email program may also ask about the protocols that it will use to communicate to the servers of your email service provider.

That’s what we’ll go over in Hotmail/Outlook.com with this article1.

SMTP

SMTP is used to send mail.

The SMTP configuration parameters for Outlook.com are:

  • Server: smtp-mail.outlook.com
  • Port: 25 (or 587 if 25 is blocked)
  • Authentication: Yes
  • Encrypted Connection: TLS
  • User name: Your email address
  • Password: Your password

Configured as described above, you should be able to send email from your desktop email program via Outlook.com.

POP3

Your email program uses the POP3 protocol to download email from your email service provider’s server.

The POP3 configuration parameters for Outlook.com are:

  • Server: pop-mail.outlook.com
  • Port: 995
  • Encrypted Connection: SSL
  • User name: Your email address
  • Password: Your password

Note that you need to enable POP3 access in Outlook.com.

Click the gear icon in the upper right and then click More mail settings. Under Managing your account, click Connect devices and apps with POP:

Outlook.com enabling POP

Under POP, select Enable, and then click Save.

You’ll note that you also have the option to force delete requests to be ignored. This is more-or-less the equivalent of the “Leave messages on server” option that many desktop email programs have. If you choose the “Don’t let devices or apps delete messages…” option, then they’ll remain accessible via the Outlook.com web interface until you delete them there.

IMAP

Your email program uses the IMAP protocol to copy or mirror email stored on an email server to your desktop or device.

The IMAP configuration parameters for Outlook.com are:

  • Server: imap-mail.outlook.com
  • Port: 993
  • Encrypted Connection: SSL
  • User name: Your email address
  • Password: Your password

IMAP is perhaps the most convenient way to access email across multiple computers and devices as it keeps them all in sync. The downside is that a more-or-less continuous internet connection is typically required for the best experience.

Other

Microsoft also includes additional access mechanisms with Outlook.com, including Exchange Active Sync (which is apparently similar in functionality to IMAP). You can see a full list here on Microsoft’s site:  Set up an email app with Outlook.com.

 

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Footnotes & references

1: Hotmail and Outlook.com are the same thing these days. Settings that used to work for Hotmail, based on Microsoft’s old Live.com servers, should continue to work. This article outlines the current settings documented by Microsoft.

197 comments on “What Are Outlook.com’s IMAP, POP3, and SMTP Settings?”

  1. Important Please Read

    Comments complaining about how this feature doesn’t work for you will be deleted.

    Hotmail is unbelievably large, and they have a long history of rolling out changes slowly so that not all users get access to new features at the same time. Follow the instructions precisely, and if it doesn’t work, wait a few days, or even a few weeks and try again.

    – Leo
    11-Feb-2009
    Reply
    • Thanks for info, Worked (-: Reset back to POP3 and all Outlook, Live, Hotmail accounts work again in Windows Live Mail after receiving error’s unable to check email account due to Windows 10 support being dropped to Live Mail. Again Thanks for the refresher (I forgot the POP/IMAP and Port settings) P.S. Let’s see how long this lasts (-:

      Reply
  2. So, this is rather cool :-)

    I now have Live/Hotmail downloading and sending happilly in Thunderbird using POP3/SMTP :-D

    HOWEVER I did have to tweak the settings slightly:

    • POP3 should use port 995 and SSL (as outlined above for Outlook Express)
    • SMTP should use port 25 and TLS (*NOT* SSL as OE does)

    Atleast, thats whats working for me at the moment!

    Thought it might save somebody somewhere a headache or two ;-)

    -Jo

    Reply
  3. One question: after setting this up, does one still have to log on via the web interface to keep your account “live”? Or does accessing your mail via POP count as “logging on”? (I’d also like to see them introduce forwarding to a mail account outside of the Microsoft world, but having POP is a good start!)

    As is so often the case, Microsoft has not been clear on that. I would assume that POP3 access would count as access, but I’d be reluctant to count on it. (And forwarding to arbitrary addresses works for some people – like me. Why? No idea.)

    – Leo
    18-Feb-2009
    Reply
  4. Hi Leo and Jo, I would like to add one more tweak to the one Jo mentioned earlier.
    In my case and my version of Thunderbird (2.0.0.19)
    the outgoing port number needs to be 587 and not 25.
    587 is the same port number used by gmail pop which is how I discovered this. Port 25 returns an error message in either gmail or hotmail.
    Changing the port number to 587 as well as checking tls or tls if available did the trick.

    About time indeed!

    Reply
  5. P.S. POP3 for hotmail works great for me with T-Bird. I am posting this from Win 7 beta which has no native email client so I’m using the Portable version
    of T-Bird installed on my HDD.

    Reply
  6. How to configure Hotmail in my Windows mail (which is a built-in mail program in my Vista ultimate.) Everytime I go for creating a new account it says …..
    “Windows Mail no longer supports the HTTP servers used by Hotmail and other web-based e-mail providers. Click the Back button to set up a different e-mail account, or see other options for accessing your web-based e-mail.”

    Help is appreciated.

    Make sure that the incoming mail server type is “POP3”. That’s what Hotmail just enabled, and that’s what this article is all about.

    – Leo
    20-Feb-2009
    Reply
  7. I read the article, got really excited and then I figured out following:

    You could have mentioned that POP3 access is available for free for all Hotmail accounts in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Australia, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands for free **BUT** countries that do not have POP3 access enabled for free, Hotmail plus costs $19.95 for each year the user is subscribed to the service, and POP3 access is available to all other countries through that service…

    So, it did not work for me, and the reason is not that Hotmail is unbelievably large, but the reason mentioned above…

    They have still not caught up with GMail.

    Reply
  8. Thankx Leo for answering my question.

    But that’s not the problem here for me, i just searched internet for a work around on this.

    So here is the solution for “Windows Mail no longer supports the HTTP servers used by Hotmail….” in Vista Windows Mail.

    When creating new email account just type a fake email address like “username@xxxx.com”, then after entering all the settings needed for a POP3 account mentioned in this post, don’t connect to internet and change your fake Account email from Tools>Accounts>… to REAL email address like “username@hotmail.com” .

    This should work.

    And for accessing Hotmail Pop3 another than supporting countries,It’s working for me – at India, just follow this HACK at http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/22/hack-to-enable-hotmail-pop3-and-smtp-support-instantly-for-all-countries/

    Reply
  9. For me, to get the outgoing mail on outlook express to work for my new Live account, I had to check off the SSL for the smtp with port 587. This finally worked for sending out e-mails.

    Reply
  10. I already mentioned a couple of times that one used to be able to access hotmail directly from outlook express or outlook but then some years ago Microsoft turned it into a paying service.
    Those who already had an email address from before that time could keep on benefiting from this service for free (I’m still using it).

    Dave, this service counts as access. Don’t know about the POP3 access.

    Leo, I’m a little reluctant on using the POP3 service for several reasons:
    – Dave’s remark
    – Your response to that
    – the fact that the httpmail is still working for me
    – the fact that Microsoft has turned this into a paying service in the past and might do it again
    – or they might decide to simply cancel the service

    I must note however that I’ve been using hotmail for over nine years now and except for the one time complete removal of all my messages by hotmail (without any kind of apology…) have always been able to use it within Outlook.

    Reply
  11. Thanks for the guide Leo! Except I have this problem with my SMTP outgoing. I have a Mac 10.4.11, running Thunderbird 2.0.0.19 — settings are:

    Description: N/A
    Server Name: smtp.live.com
    Port: 587 (tried 25) Default: 465

    Security and Authentication
    _ Use name and password
    User Name _______

    Use Secure Connection:
    _ No _ TLS, if available _ TLS [X] SSL

    Any idea why it won’t work?

    Well, you didn’t tell me how it fails, so I can only guess. I’ve heard some people say that TLS works for them when SSL wouldn’t.

    – Leo
    08-Mar-2009
    Reply
  12. Sorry about that Leo — but whatever the problem was, your suggestion helped. So, for people who have similar problems (with SMTP), here’s what you should do:

    Description: ____
    Server Name: smtp.live.com
    Port: 587
    User Name: (Your Email Address)
    Secure Connection: TLS

    Reply
  13. Hey, im trying to get it to work on an LG U990. All the settings iv entered are as u have said, and it just says “failed to connect”… which is a descriptive error message.

    Any ideas?

    Reply
  14. hello mr Leo i need help cause i try to get settings to connect the hotmail service on my mobile phone but it always say connection failed, i live in Denmark and i need a help please.

    Reply
  15. Just want to say thanks Leo! The short version info on live hotmail settings got me up in running on my Palm-Windows Mobile 6.

    Reply
  16. This is fantastic! Works a treat on my new samsung tocco ultra, just edited the settings as above on the built-in email client.

    Reply
  17. I tried all of the above. First followed Leo’s instructions to s T (no go), then tried things in comments(no go). NOTHING WORKED!
    I don’t want to use Windows Live Mail. I want to use their regular Windows Mail program. I had it working about a week ago on a computer I purchased, but now have returned it and when I tried to set it up on this new Toshiba E105, No Go!
    What can I do?

    Reply
  18. Hey, thanks…but one problem….
    After I typed in pop3.live.com and that other one lol.
    But after clicking Finish, it should me this message:The connection to the server has failed. Account: ‘pop3.live.com’, Server: ‘pop3.live.com’, Protocol: POP3, Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

    (Im using WIndows Live….does that make a difference?)
    I dont really understand this pop3 and stuff like that so…..yea, Im stumped lol

    Nope, what makes a difference is just following the instructions exactly. The error message tells me you did not – SSL is supposed to be checked.

    – Leo
    07-Jun-2009
    Reply
  19. Many ISP’s block port 25, so use 587 instead.

    Also, the settings for Outlook 2007 are somewhat different: use TLS encryption for outgoing server.
    In Outlook 2003, use SSL.

    Reply
  20. Thanks for this. I’ve tried to set this up in Apple’s Mobile Me and entered pop3.live.com but no joy. Appreciate any advice. Thanks again

    Reply
  21. This the error report i recieve after following your instructions to a Tee. I`m almost ready to give up.
    The connection to the server has failed. Account: ‘POP3.live.com’, Server: ‘SMPT.live.com’, Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): Yes, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

    It’s clear from the error message that you’ve mistyped the name of the sending serverin your account configuration. It’s smtp.live.com – you have smpt (the p and t are reversed).

    – Leo
    16-Jul-2009

    Reply
  22. Thank you for your helpful answers. I have one other question.
    My Default address seems not to be recieving mail. All other addresses on my Live Mail account receive and send,except for my default account. I believe the default account sends, yet the default account does not recieve. Is that Normal?
    Thanks again for everything

    Reply
  23. Thankyou so much Leo – I have been trying to get this going on my computer for nearly 2 months and you made it happen ! I hadnt realised that the largest ISP in New Zealand, Telecom, was deliberately blocking post 25, and changing to port 587 would sove it all. Thanks again.

    Reply
  24. Maaaannnn! Where have you been all day?
    Thank you so very crazy much! You’re outstanding. This is the first place i’ve seen this info all day, after hours of searching.

    Configuring Outlook 2007 was pretty simple because it searched out the servers itself. However, Windows Mail does not. You have to manually enter the specifics.

    How could this information not be the biggest news? It should’ve spread like a disease. I guess they’re leaving it up to you Leo.

    Thanks again for the best news of the day.

    Reply
  25. I actually did all the above but still not receiving
    The host ‘pop3.live.com’ could not be found. Please verify that you have entered the server name correctly. Account: ‘sabu’, Server: ‘pop3.live.com’, Protocol: POP3, Port: 995, Secure(SSL): Yes, Socket Error: 11001, Error Number: 0x800CCC0D
    Any ideas. i connect using anlogx proxy since i dont have a direct net connection

    pop3.live.com is correct so all I can think of is some kind of issue with your proxy.

    Leo
    12-Aug-2009

    Reply
  26. Thanks. Extremely helpful. Can I please ask one question. Having sent a message from Outlook Express, the sent folder in hotmail accessed via the web does not show a copy of that message (i.e. not sync’d). Is that expected or have i likely done something wrong? Many thanks

    That’s expected. The “Sent Mail” folders are not synchronized between Hotmail’s web interface and your desktop email program.

    Leo
    14-Aug-2009

    Reply
  27. Hey Leo!
    You are a genius thanks a lot dude. I think this will help me alot.Just one important question as Yahoo.com is providing pop3 services but it is payable.Can u tell me that whether this hotmail provide us free or payable pop3 services.

    Hotmail’s free.

    Leo
    20-Aug-2009

    Reply
  28. Leo, I have gone thru all the comments. Great that several people have got their Outlook working, but not me.
    I use Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5512 on Win-XP connecting thru my office network.
    Same config using HTTP mail still works fine for Hotmail.
    I have tried your directions on http://ask-leo.com/what_are_windows_live_hotmails_pop3_and_smtp_settings.html but still getting the message:
    1.
    The host ‘smtp.live.com’ could not be found. Please verify that you have entered the server name correctly. Account: ‘xxxxxxxx #Hotmail# New’, Server: ‘smtp.live.com’, Protocol: SMTP, Port: 587, Secure#SSL#: Yes, Socket Error: 11001, Error Number: 0x800CCC0D
    2.
    The host ‘pop3.live.com’ could not be found. Please verify that you have entered the server name correctly. Account: ‘xxxxxxxx #Hotmail# New’, Server: ‘pop3.live.com’, Protocol: POP3, Port: 995, Secure#SSL#: Yes, Socket Error: 11001, Error Number: 0x800CCC0D
    Please suggest the solution.
    I also have my official mail account configured under single ‘Main Identity’, that works fine.
    Thanks,

    Reply
  29. FIXED! (Work around) You can receive but not send email using HOTMAIL’s new POP settings.

    Use the settings on this page BUT…

    For outgoing mail, DO NOT USE smtp.live.com – use whatever your default server is (mine is smtp.west.cox.net). I figured this part out on my own because when I use my domain mail, this is how it is set up. (Use port 25 for outgoing messages).

    And if using anti-virus e-mail scanning like NORTON, go to OPTIONS / EMAIL and UNCHECK “scan outgoing messages”. (Incoming are still scanned for your protection.)

    Microsoft (LIVE) and Symantec (NORTON) need to get together to resolve this issue…

    Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/329820/en-us

    Reply
  30. I struggled with this over two hours. I fixed mine by switching my outgoing server to my ISP’s outgoing server name and unchecking the box for outgoing SSL.

    Reply
  31. Yes! Use your own outgoing server and unchecking the box for outgoing SSL.

    Just dowloaded a slew of old HOTMAILS left on the server. THANKS!

    Reply
  32. The solution to use your local domain i.e. ( smtp.west.cox.com)is fine if you never leave your domain. What about the rest of us that take our computer to other locations outside of the cox network work properly. smtp.live.com needs to work everywhere and it doesn’t seem to. Following theinstructions at the top of this page do not work for me.

    Reply
  33. My problem is sending emails on my phone with my hotmail email. I have a Samsung Tocco f480 with O2 ireland as my provider. Eventually got it to download my emails. When I try to send one it says “hotmail.com: No response”

    Reply
  34. I’m with Qwest which uses the Hotmail service. I did all the steps to set up my first email acct in Outlook 03. That went fine and downloaded everything from the web but it put it in Personal Folders Inbox but didn’t set up folders for that particular email acct. I set up my second email acct (I have 5 email accts) and it too was dumped into the Personal Folders Inbox. Have I missed a step somewhere to get a set of files going for each of the email accts? It’s a mess to have 5 email accts mixed into one inbox.

    Reply
  35. Leo,

    Does this now mean that my Hotmail account is no longer syncronised with the Hotmail webs page way of reading emails?? I too am having problems with sending messages.

    Reply
  36. Bud Meyers, thank you very much! Your contribution was very useful, because I also could not send anything before I found your comment via google search. I learned my outgoing server by calling my internet provider.
    Regards,
    Ilqar
    Azerbaijan

    Reply
  37. Sending: smtp.live.com,
    In the Outgoing Server (SMTP) field, type 25 or 587 for the port number.

    587 works for me….. 25 doesnt

    Reply
  38. I set up Outlook Express following your advice above, but when I tried to get my Hotmail mail, I received the following error:

    Unable to logon to the server using Secure Password Authentication. Account: ‘Hotmail’, Server: ‘pop3.live.com’, Protocol: POP3, Server Response: ‘-ERR command not implemented’, Port: 995, Secure(SSL): Yes, Server Error: 0x800CCC90, Error Number: 0x800CCC18

    Reply
  39. If you find that incoming mail is fine but outgoing doesn’t work, it’s worth remembering that some ISPs like to block all SMTP usage except via their own servers – O2 Broadband and TalkTalk are two examples in the UK. To keep it simple you have to set up the POP3 settings as in the article but use your ISP’s own SMTP server. The set-up for this is different depending on your email software but if you already have an account set up using the ISP’s own email domain it should be fairly straightforward to find and copy the settings – as long as you know the password!

    Reply
  40. When you send a message appeared this result:
    The connection to the server has failed. Account: ‘Hotmail’, Server: ‘smtp.live.com’, Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure#SSL#: Yes, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

    Reply
  41. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! You fixed my issue with sending out messages on my Live account in just a few minutes what took me two hours to not get right in the first place. By the way love the screen shots–it helped allot!!!

    Reply
  42. I use dial-up. I tried doing this with my hotmail account and outlook 2002. Doesn’t work. My computer has vista operating system. Any ideas? I have tried everything I know to try. I have literally spent hours on this. Microsoft is absolutely no help.

    Reply
  43. I’m trying to set up email (hotmail account) for my sons to access using the magic desktop that came with my laptop… I have followed the instructions as per outlook but am still getting error messages, any ideas?

    Depends on the error messages.

    Leo
    08-Oct-2009

    Reply
  44. I must say that I spent four hours trying to figure this out and this is the correct steps that you need to follow and it resolved my pain and headache to solving the issue with outlook 6 setup.

    Reply
  45. Thank you so much! I’ve tried everything up until now, and finally I find something that works!!! Thanks you so much! Way to go!

    Reply
  46. Thanks — my hotmail and msn mail accounts stopped working in Outlook Express when Microsoft ended HTTP server support on Sept 1, 2010. Your article helped me to restore access via Outlook Express by using the POP3 settings.

    Reply
  47. I’ve tried all advice given here for thunderbid but all i can do is get mail no sending mail. get msg saying smtp server not acepting

    Reply
  48. Hi All,

    brillant! while some other sites pretend that no solution works well….
    Works fine here, I have Outlook 2007 and Vista, the tabs are slightly in diferent order but it was easy to set up all. Works fine, but on second day port 25 on SMTP was refused, changed it to 587. Also, you may tick the box ‘connect to incoming server before sending mail”. This helped in my case, may be because I have Spamhilator pluged onto the mail system.
    Thanks for this solution

    Reply
  49. I had these instructions from Hotmail and followed them carefully, have checked yours to see there is no difference. Mine still won’t work.
    Tried changing one thing at a time and testing again. Found the outgoing server on Advanced tab needed to be UNchecked to pass the outgoing server test.
    However still will not send test message (or other messages)& error message says to check the email address. Have deleted and retyped many times to remove any gremlins and it is the hotmail address I always use but still fails. How can I fix this?

    Reply
  50. I tried your instructions and succeeded in downloading live E-Mail in OUTLOOK EXPRESS. I still have the problem of sending mail out. It reads:
    The connection to the server has failed. Account: ‘pop3.live.com’, Server: ‘smtp.live.com’, Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): Yes, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

    Can you guide me further?

    Reply
  51. In regards to this post:

    “FIXED! (Work around) You can receive but not send email using HOTMAIL’s new POP settings.

    Use the settings on this page BUT…

    For outgoing mail, DO NOT USE smtp.live.com – use whatever your default server is (mine is smtp.west.cox.net). I figured this part out on my own because when I use my domain mail, this is how it is set up. (Use port 25 for outgoing messages).

    And if using anti-virus e-mail scanning like NORTON, go to OPTIONS / EMAIL and UNCHECK “scan outgoing messages”. (Incoming are still scanned for your protection.)

    Microsoft (LIVE) and Symantec (NORTON) need to get together to resolve this issue…

    Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/329820/en-us
    I found that this work around finally allowed me to send mail. Ports 25 and 587 didn’t work for smtp.live.com but my original pop smtp server smtp.mts.net does with port 25. Even my ISP couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working for me. I use Incredimail as an email program and most ISP’s don’t have any information on how to configure settings in that program. Thank you for the work around!! You gave a simple solution after hours of grief.

    Reply
  52. I got to this page from another page that said hotmail and live.com didn’t support POP3/SMTP. That was really shocking news to me since I had a hotmail account for ages that always worked using pop.hotmail.com for both incoming and outgoing mail in Outlook and various other email clients. I didn’t even have to use any of the funky long alternative domains. That has changed recently and I now use pop3.live.com for incoming mail and smtp.live.com for outgoing mail. I even got a newer live.com email that supposedly wasn’t supported (it was suggested old email addys before some ‘cut-off date’ should work), but the new one worked too. I wonder how it could have gotten so complicated for so many people. The only problems I have had is if I try to use ANY other setting than ‘POP before SMTP’ for sending mail. Then it doesn’t even log me in correctly.

    Reply
  53. “Thanks Leo , I finally solved my outgoing mail problem using Hotmail with the SMTP as 587”

    Same here! I was looking all over the Internet trying to find out how to get my outgoing e-mails to work in Outlook again, and changing it from 25 to 587 did the trick! Thanks!

    Reply
  54. As of the 21st of January 2010, my XP computers do not send mail using the settings shown on this page. My Windows 98 Laptop using the exact same settings as my XP computers, send and receive mail just fine. Wooda Thunk IT?…..Now Whay?

    Reply
  55. Please disregard that last post. I discovered that the virus control in my XP computers (avast)had updated itself right into screwing up my Outlook express. Terminate Avast in my mail server…problem solved.

    Reply
  56. For some reasons i cannot send emails anymore from thunderbird. Nothing has changed for more than a year so i really don’t know what the problem is.

    I’ve tried changing the port numbers [25, 465 & 587]and i’ve also disabled secure connections and avast’s web mail scan.

    This started about two weeks ago. Are there any changes to Microsoft’s Live that i’m not aware abouts? Incoming mail is fine though. I can also send from my isp outgoing settings.

    Reply
  57. My mother uses an old MSN email account. It has been just fine for years under outlook express. Now, a few days back, it stopped sending, and gave here some bogus ~SMTP server does not support SSL~ message. Her SSL was set to port 25…I thought that was well and good…and checked and changed and reset just about everything I could think of…tearing hair out at this point. Then I found this beautiful piece of fine prose (above) that pointed me to using port 587. VIOLA!!!!!! Not sure if it was Microsoft that changed something or if Qwest (her ISP) started blocking port 25 or what, but in any case your port 587 suggestion fixed her up. Thanks! Now does anyone know where I can get a good toupe?

    Reply
  58. I followed your guidelines but when it came to get hotmail properties screen the advanced tab was not there! In the Outlook Express(3) properties it was created in 2007, I suppose that it is an old version? is there anyway out?
    many thanks

    Reply
  59. i entered the settings exactly from the images but i received an error after i selected Send and Receive from Tools menu of outlook express
    the message was this:
    There was a problem logging onto your mail server. Your Password was rejected. Account: ‘pop3.live.com’, Server: ‘pop3.live.com’, Protocol: POP3, Server Response: ‘-ERR authentication failed’, Port: 995, Secure(SSL): Yes, Server Error: 0x800CCC90, Error Number: 0x800CCC92
    There was a problem logging onto your mail server. Your Password was rejected. Account: ‘pop3.live.com’, Server: ‘pop3.live.com’, Protocol: POP3, Server Response: ‘-ERR authentication failed’, Port: 995, Secure(SSL): Yes, Server Error: 0x800CCC90, Error Number: 0x800CCC92

    Why?

    Reply
  60. While using outlook express for hotmail pop3 mail, all the email are downloading 3-4 times repeatedly. for example, if I have 10 email in my hotmail account, if i use pop3 outlook express, all email will download 2 or 3 times and 10 emails will show as 30 or 25 emails.

    Please advise, how to rectify

    Reply
  61. Yep, every email account I have works, but not Windows Live, settings stated here by “Leo” the “hero” don’t work on my iPhone, and I have absolutely no trouble with any other mail server settings. Maybe somebody should do a little more research before posting instructions that simply do not work!

    Reply
  62. It worked with vistas built in mail application. Now I needed to format my laptop, reinstall vista and both servicepacks, set up winmail again with my msn.com account and voila :

    ( tried all ports available )

    I can load the inbox, but no longer send out !

    SSL errors all over on every attempt to send a mail..

    Server answers: ‘421 Cannot establish SSL, SSL_connect error
    336031996′, Port: 25, Secure (SSL): yes, Servererror:
    421, error number 0x800CCC67

    Microsoft HAS changed something ! Like i said it worked before. I could use the “live Mail app” but I hate it. And vistas own app is much more Outlookexpress like and interacts with calendar and contacts.. therefore i would like to use it.

    Reply
  63. Leo. Thanks. I could send and receive on Windows Live Mail. However, there’s one problem, I don’t have my Sent Items on the Client. Everything on my Hotmail Inbox was downloaded, but the Sent Item is empty (even when I tried to “Sync Everything”. Ctrl+F5). Why is that? Did I miss something? How do I get the Sent Items to sync?
    -Mark

    Reply
  64. I cant beleive, that it is that difficult to set up an Microsoft Product (Outlook 2007) to Work with a Microsoft Email Service.
    I tried for hours now to set up Outlook for MSN. After a reinstall i use Windows 7 x64 an Outlook 2007 Professional.
    Therefore i used windows XP x64 and Office 2003 Professional. With 2003 it was dufficult, but after changing the pop3 server port it worked.

    Now Outlook is asking mer for my password again and again.
    My password is right, because i log in to msn with it.
    Any Ideas?

    Reply
  65. Using Outlook Express 6 (and windows xp), I can no longer send hotmail email’s. I can still receive but not send. Anyone have an update? (as at April 29, 2010) my outgoing email setting is smtp.live.com

    Thanks

    Reply
  66. Thank you so much for this it’s great to have the messages download automatically and works perfectly.

    Just a short answer to Thomas… I had the same problem until I realised my email password was different to the MSN messenger one, maybe that’s your problem too. Good luck

    Reply
  67. Just a simple thank you for the information on how to set up a free live account on Outlook Express. It took me a day of messing around, then I found your site and the answers work perfectly. I had to change to port 587 instead of 25 for SMTP to send mail out. I use Windows XP. Most other sites try to tell you it isn’t possible to do this, but thanks to you, it is. Cheers and Thanks.

    Reply
  68. Don’t send email through outlook. pop setting is ok.
    The connection to the server has failed. Account: ‘pop3.live.com’, Server: ‘smtp.live.com’, Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): Yes, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

    Reply
  69. I m using Mobile sony ericsson W200i, I received Email. Email not sent showing error “TLS/SSL Servr Certificate not authorized by known authoirty. Contact your email provider”.

    Kamran.

    Reply
  70. Microsoft allowing non-Microsoft programs to access Hotmail? I wonder what the catch is?
    I wonder why then are they are then trying (and failing) to restrict the web version of Hotmail to only IE/Firefox?
    Anyway, for Evolution in GNU/Linux, the following settings worked for me:
    (receiving email tab)
    Server type: POP
    Server: pop3.live.com
    Username: xxx@hotmail.com
    Use secure connection: SSL
    Authentication type: Password
    (sending email tab)
    Server type: SMTP
    Server: smtp.live.com
    Server requires authentication: YES
    Use secure connection: SSL encryption
    Authentical type: Login
    Username: xxx@hotmail.com

    Reply
  71. I’m not a computer genius but know a little about it… the SSL didn’t work for me on both ports… so I don’t really know what TLS is… and how to access it… can you walk me through that switch… thank you.

    Reply
  72. I am not able to configure windows hot mail account in windows live mail

    I’d have to have a LOT more detail on exactly what you’re trying and exactly how it fails.

    Leo
    16-Oct-2010

    Reply
  73. Thanks for the help. I have used port 25 for years, but recently I had to switch to 587 because I was unable to send e-mail through OE. Was about ready to give up, until I read this!

    Reply
  74. I tried both 587 and 25. No luck. I was able to receive but not send. Now I can’t do either. I have 995 as the receiving and I checked the authentication boxes. Any clue?

    Reply
  75. I have a Netgear WNDR3700 router and would like to send the router logs to my windows live email address. The email setup screen ask for 1. “My Outgoing Mail Server” and 2. The email address I want to send to. It also has a place for “Mail Requires Authorization”. I would provide my email address and password for that. My problem seems to be the “Outgoing Mail Server”. What information should I provide for “Outgoing Mail Server”?
    I have tried:
    smtp.live.com,port25,SSL
    smtp.live.com,port25,TLS
    smtp.live.com,port587,SSL
    smtp.live.com,port587,TLS
    Thanks

    Reply
  76. hi, I did what you have instructed ealier but still no luck I get this error

    Subject ‘Fw: Welcome to Windows Mail’, Account: ‘pop.gmail.com’, Server: ‘smtp.gmail.com’, Protocol: SMTP, Port: 465, Secure(SSL): No, Error Number: 0x800CCC19

    what should i do? I read upon on that error and it says some thing about registry needs to be repaired but i restored my computer few days ago to the original setting…

    Can you please help me to set it up please.

    thanks

    Reply
  77. I am unable to receive or send using OUTLOOK EXPRESS v6 …. since last 5 days…. somthing that was working perfectly fine for last 2-3 years. I have 995 as the receiving and 587 as sending and I checked the authentication boxes. Any clue on fix … has something changed at hotmail?

    I tried MS Live Client before and had challenges on converting previous mails stored on PC.

    Reply
  78. I’ve been using Outlook Express & now Outlook and hotmail for a while. Receiving is OK but sending stopped recently.
    I changed the settings to SMTP port 587 ssl and now all works again.

    Thanks a lot for your help !

    Reply
  79. I used to have both Windows Live mail and seamonkey installed on my computer by default because I had Windows Live Messenger and Seamonkey web browser. So the mail came installed with these 2 software items. But I never could or was able to use these 2 types of email. which are complicated to use and the email never got sent as it had the wrong server information. I myselfe do not like this kind of mail as i don’t know how to use it. Why not just use an instant email messenger like Pidgin or Instantbird or just send a normal email from your Hotmail account or G.mail? what is wrong with that? At least THEY work. Andrea Borman.

    Reply
  80. I have emails coming into my outlook express but I can not get the emails to go out. Can you help me with what to do next? I have done what it asks in the Advanced page but it does not respond to me and still will not let me send post out.
    Thankyou for any help you can send me. rebecca.

    Unfortunately not without more detailed information. Please use the ask a question form and make sure to include the full description of exactly what steps you’re taking and the full text of any error messages that result.

    Leo
    16-Jan-2011

    Reply
  81. Thank you very much for your clear and easy to follow information. It worked first time compared with a lot of unsuccessful messing around with other methods that I tried

    Reply
  82. I need incoming server and outgoing server info for windows live or hotmail.ca e-mail for Huawei U1250-9 mobile phone

    Thank You Very Much For Your Help

    I believe the article you just commented on has that. If not, you’ll need to search Hotmail.ca’s help for “POP3”.

    Leo
    13-Feb-2011

    Reply
  83. This response is specifically for Outlook 2007. I couldn’t find anything on point. It appears Live.com just changed it so that the SMTP settings are port 587 and TLS only. I have only tested this with Outlook 2007, but the previous setting of port 25, with SSL stopped working. Port 587 with SSL would not work either. POP is still 995 and SSL.

    Reply
  84. I have windows mail. I have used the settings as described above. I have an error message stating
    “host smtp not found” what do I change to get smtp found?

    You’ve configured the SMTP server setting to be the literal string “smtp”. That should be “smtp.live.com”.

    Leo
    07-Mar-2011

    Reply
  85. @Joe: Windows Mail is an email program similar to Outlook Express, described in the article. You haven’t specified which email provider you are using. You’ll have to look up the SMTP settings on your email provider’s web site and configure Windows Mail accordingly.

    Reply
  86. Your short version worked ;)

    i need this email settings for my android fone :)

    Receiving: pop3.live.com, port 995, SSL
    Sending: smtp.live.com, port 587 (or 25), TLS (or SSL)

    thanks mate

    Reply
  87. Port 587 worked for me, I agree with you, it’s about {removed} time, I have been fighting this problem since 2007, thanks for an answer that finally worked!

    Reply
  88. Receiving: pop3.live.com, port 995, SSL
    Sending: smtp.live.com, port 25, SSL
    The sending of the mail works ok but the receiving of mail dosen’t work, I used pop3.live.com, port 995, SSL, TSL, & Auto still nothing ! Can you help me ?

    Reply
  89. Thank you, thank you, thank you Erik. I have also been pulling my hair out to fix my outgoing mail in Outlook Express. I could get mail but not send. Your suggestion worked.

    Reply
  90. Thanx Leo, it works fine!! At first the outgoing mail didn’t work but after trying all the options i got the outgoing mail to work. Thanx a lot!!

    Reply
  91. I have a new IPad and am having trouble setting up my hotmail account. Do I have to download the hotmailplus to be able to do this? I am a lot ignorant of what all I need to do because my son set up my IPhone for me!

    Reply
  92. Thank you, thank you!! No other website I found mentioned changing the encryption from SSL to TLS for port 587. Thank you! It works!

    Reply
  93. All very nice for most POP3 clients…. but Foxmail appears to be the exception. No matter what combination of settings I use, Hotmail will not let me send e-mails. There’s no way to select TLS in Foxmail, and its version of SSL on port 587 or 25 doesn’t work. Very annoying.

    Reply
  94. Thank you for more info on e-mail. I have a Free AOL account and on: 9/11/11 some of my contacts were sent False e-mail’s…Not from me! I changed my password and security question. And for what it’s worth notified AOL. Thanks again.MA>

    Reply
  95. YAY! I can finally receive my hotmail through Windows Live Mail again. It was working fine for over a year then one day I just stopped being able to send/receive from my hotmail address. I tried things one after another until now. THANK YOU!

    Reply
  96. I use Msn as my home page to access my hotmail email…I have for years. I got a new printer, and it ask me for my email address, password. Then it ask me for my server and port number. Then it ask me my user name and password. It keeps telling me it is not valad. Can you please help me?
    thanks!

    Reply
  97. For the last few months now I have not been able to send outgoing mail on mail app! It always says cannot connect with ‘smtp.live.server:me@myemail.com’. I have tried changing ports to 25, 993, 465, 587 as I have read in other threads and ticking the SSL on and off! nothing is working! Im on snow leopard 10.6.8 (macbook air). its driving me insane!! I just want to send an email please help

    Reply
  98. i Can’t send any email.. this error showing..

    The connection to the server has failed. Account: ‘Hotmail’, Server: ‘smtp.live.com’, Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): Yes, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

    Try configuring your account to use port 587 for SMTP, as listed above in the article.

    Leo
    04-Feb-2012
    Reply
  99. An unknown error has occurred. Subject ‘test’, Account: ‘Hotmail’, Server: ‘smtp.live.com’, Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: ‘550 5.3.4 Requested action not taken; We noticed some unusual activity in your Hotmail account. To help protect you, we’ve temporarily blocked your account.’, Port: 587, Secure(SSL): Yes, Server Error: 550, Error Number: 0x800CCC69

    Reply
  100. Very helpful – it enabled me to set up retrieval of my live hotmail mail account on Outlook Express. Thanks very much.

    Reply
  101. i want to set up my hotmail on nokia email service
    incoming mail works perfectly but outgoing mail gives me tls error how to solve it

    am unable to set up tls on nokia email system.

    Reply
  102. i’ve used outlook express 6 and i’ve followed the steps written here, i’ve tried to use port 25 and 587 for outgoing but I still can’t send email message but I was able to receive email. Please help me out. Thank you!

    Reply
  103. When I send a letter back to some one overseas, it can’t send it; because smtp.live.com comes up after I try send the letter back

    Reply
  104. The connection to the server has failed. Account: ‘pop3.live.com’, Server: ‘smtp.live.com’, Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): Yes, Socket Error: 10013, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

    Reply
  105. I am using my android phone for checking 3 different pop3 and smtp email accounts, all working fine. For hotmail, however, despite following all the steps written here, I have not been able to send mail. The error message I get is “Setup could not finish. Unable to open connection to server”.

    The incoming works perfect. I’ve tried to use both port 25 and 587 for outgoing but I still can’t send email message. I have even alternated between all security types, SSL, SSL (Accept all certificates), TLS, TLS (Accept all certificates) and even the None. No good though. Please help. Thank you!

    Reply
  106. When I was using Outlook Express I thought it was fanatastic and today would love to get it back into operation and maybe do away with a lot of my problems on the computer. Thanks Leo, totally awesome.

    Reply
  107. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! it took me a bit to click a this box and change that port but I figured it out and now all kinds of happy!!!

    Reply
  108. Leo pls I need your help ASAP!. I lost my Outlook Account, forgot my Password. I tried every trick in the book to recover my P/Word but to no avail. Please help me recover my Account and password

    Reply
  109. Thank you so much. I spent over two hours trying other so-called help sites to try to fix my problem with no success. Your advice fixed it in five minutes.

    Reply
  110. How do you disable the IMAP “IDLE” function in Outlook 2010? In other words how to you stop the “PUSH” of emails so they do not get sent from the server to my application as soon as they are ready but instead will stay on the server until I request to receive emails. Other email applications such as Thunderbird have an option to disable (turn off) “IDLE”. Even the email notifier POP Peeper has a toggle function to check on or off for “IDLE”. One would think Outlook 2010 would provide this option to the user as well.

    If you’re curious why I want to do this, it is because I want the IMAP synchronization advantages and do use “IDLE” in POP Peeper but because Outlook has issues with the desktop “Alert” for new mail (it has never worked with IMAP accounts from Outlook 2003-2010 as far as I know). The Alert will only work if you’ve got Outlook open and you’ve opened the inbox for the account where the email arrives. I believe this is because while other applications have apparently solved the problem Microsoft has not been able to resolve the issue of email getting “Pushed” through when Outlook has not been launched and/or your not on the specific receiving inbox. The email has arrived by the time Outlook get’s launched thus Outlook does not see the “Pushed” email as “new”. If I can disable the “IDLE” function for IMAP accounts then the emails would not arrive until I requested to receive them.

    Reply
  111. Hi Leo, actually i have account in MSN as email “email address removed}. I can’t back up my emails. Plz send POP3 settings for email ids

    Reply
    • Not sure where “email address removed” comes into play, but the article you just commented on has the POP3 settings you’re asking for.

      Reply
  112. i am not able to download unread emails from my hotmail/outlook.com to my laptop’s /outlook express.. pls advise the relevant settings

    Reply
  113. Could someone please help me it’s driving me nuts.I have a hotmail,(now outlook)email account and I’m trying to sync it with my android phone.I have tried doing exactly as people have suggested and adding the pop3.live.com server and ssl security, port 995 and it still won’t work.What am I doing wrong? thanks Helen

    Reply
    • To begin with use the IMAP, not POP3 settings. Alternately, just install the Outlook.com application from the Google Play store. It’ll make it all pretty transparent.

      Reply
  114. I can add my gmail account successfully, but when I tried to add my hotmail account into MS outlook 2007, receiving error message –
    Receiving’ reported error (0x800CCC0F) : ‘The connection to the server was interrupted. If this problem continues, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).’

    Reply
  115. I am having problems connecting to Outlook 2013. It worked fine and then all of a sudden it stopped and will not connect. I can view my mail in Hotmail, but I prefer Outlook 2013.

    I have tried changing the setting and get the following messages.
    Log onto incoming mail server (POP3): The operation timed out waiting for a response from the receiving (POP) server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).
    Send test e-mail message: Outlook cannot connect to your outgoing (SMTP) e-mail server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).

    Reply
  116. thank you leo for helping mi with this good information i will set my email account well now using outlook mail

    Reply
    • “hoot-mail”? never heard of them. You’ll want to find out that service’s POP3 and SMTP settings and you can then do remote fetch using outlook.com.

      Reply
      • I think you may mean Hotmail. If so, the settings in the article should work as Hotmail and Outlook.com are the same service with the same settings.

        Reply
  117. Hi,

    I have outlook, but like Eudora better. I’m get a 10013 error when I try to download on Eudora 7.1.09. What can I do? All the settings seem to be correct.

    Reply
  118. Hi

    I have a email id {email address removed} and try to download in my Local PC Outlook 2007.
    I have enable the POP option (Let device and App use POP)
    also configure the outlook 2007 all settings are correct but unable to download mails from outlook.com server to local outlook 2007 it is prompting me the password box.

    Any solution for this.

    regards

    Reply
  119. THANK YOU LEO YOU ARE A LEGEND.up until a few days ago i was still able to use outlook express to connect to windows live/outlook.com and download to my XP computer(i know,its ancient,but i prefer it).but then suddenly i was unable to signin with outlook express with connection/password errors.searched the net for hours and hours but to no avail,with most sites including microsoft,saying it was impossible to use outlook express with outlook.com anymore.by enabling POP in outlook.com like you said,and changing incoming mail setting from ‘pop3.live.com’ to ‘pop-mail.outlook.com’ as you said,everything is back to normal.so much appreciated.gary

    Reply
  120. Hi Leo,

    Thanks for a great website.

    As Windows Live Mail 2012 will become unuseable from next month (according to a letter from Outlook I got recently), I tried to add my live.jp mail address to my Gmail but got the error message ‘Server denied POP3 access for the given username and password.
    Server returned error: “Login to your account via a web browser to verify your account.”‘ Logged in to Outlook via web browser and did as per your instructions (to enable POP in Outlook) then back to gmail, but same error message and I AM logged in to my account via browser (logging out and re-log in doesn’t change anything)…I feel like I am going around in circles. Any suggestions please? Also since WLM 2012 is being ditched by MS, what is your recommendation for a mail client to install on my Win.7 computer to replace WLM 2012? Thanks again.

    Reply
    • Almost sounds like you might be using a wrong password. Do you have your outlook.com password remembered in your browser? If so you may be logging in with the browser okay, but putting the wrong password in Gmail. Just a guess.

      Reply
      • Thanks Connie,
        That is what I thought too, and did a double-check: made sure my password was the correct one, even logged out from my Outlook and re-logged in manually with that password which I then entered again for the operation over at Gmail but it kept returning the above error msg. I am a bit stumped, really.

        Reply
      • Oh, and I should add that when the password entered is wrong (when trying to add a new POP3 email address in Gmail) the error message is different from the above; it just says “Authentication failed”.

        Reply
  121. I configured my hotmail id on outlook 2007 and put SSL 995 as you suggested but I am not able to received incoming mail where as sending mail is proper. Kindly help me out

    Reply
  122. THANKS A LOT !!! Your note about enabling POP for apps and devices saved me some extra time & headache searching for why it did not work before…

    Reply
  123. Thank you for the info. Could not figure out why my emails stopped being transferred to my Google account. I kept getting a message that my username or PW were incorrect. Your blog helped me tremendously!

    Reply
  124. Dear sir,
    i am using live mail and tryed 100 time to setup on outlook 2007.
    but every time unsuccessful please guide me what to do

    Reply
  125. Hi Leo,
    I have 3 email addresses linked to my phone however after I had my laptop “cleaned” the one email address’s mail is not coming through. I deleted the account and tried to reload but it gives error “cant connect to server” pop disabled…..I am so not with the technology of today and dont know where and how to fix this…I urgently need to fix this as it is my business email not working…

    Thanks
    Thea

    Reply
    • So your laptop and your phone both simply pick up email. There are very few things that could have been done to your laptop that would make it so that the phone suddenly can’t get email The only thing I can think of is that the person who “cleaned” the laptop used it to change the password on one of your email accounts.

      In order to sort this out you need to work through where your email comes from. If it comes from one of the free online services (Gmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo, etc) then you can log in online and make sure you have your password and POP3 information correct. If it comes from a server with your own website, or from your ISP then you will check the email settings through those providers.

      Reply
    • I use Thubderbird with my Hotmail (outlook.com) account all the time and have never had that problem. It might have something to do with the SMTP settings on Thunderbird or a problem on Microsoft’s end.

      Reply
  126. I still use Windows Vista XP, Outlook Express….Its been awesome & reliable for many years.
    Under Tools, Accounts, Properties, Advance. Somehow my settings were changed. Last settings I was given, Least I can receive emails but cannot send emails is SMPT 26, IMAP 143..
    Any suggestions I can try ?

    Reply

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