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Why is my MSN Hotmail Inbox suddenly empty?

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Summary: I get periodic reports of email disappearing from Hotmail Inboxes. "Why" might be interesting, but more important is "What now?"

I logged into my MSN Hotmail account today and my inbox was empty! I had lots of important emails there and nowhere else. What happened, and how do I go about recovering the contents of my MSN Hotmail Inbox?

That's actually a synthesis of a question I get almost daily. People login to their MSN Hotmail or Windows Live Hotmail account one day only to find that all of their messages are gone. Poof.

I'll review what the possible causes are and also what (little) can be done.

I'll start with my standard admonition: this scenario is exactly why I so strongly recommend against relying on any free email account as the only place to keep anything you consider important. Things like this happen, apparently more frequently than most people realize, and there's almost nothing that can be done.

So with that out of the way, let's look at what might have happened.

You shared your password with someone you shouldn't have. This is probably the most common scenario, particularly among younger users. There should never be a reason to share your password with anyone (save, perhaps, your parents if you're underage). Doing so is simply asking for trouble. Yes, you may be friends today, but next week? Next month? Next year? Who knows? And with your password they have the ability to cause all kinds of damage.

You were hacked. This has all sorts of complicated connotations, but in fact this kind of hacking is most commonly done simply by guessing your password. We all want to choose a password that's easy to remember, and I understand that, but if it's too easy to remember then it's probably too easy to guess. And once someone guesses your password, all bets are off. They can do whatever they want with your account including deleting it, changing it, and sending nasty messages to all your friends and contacts.

"If customer service does not respond to your request, I know of no way to recover your inbox."

Temporary Server Problems. I would not have guessed this one actually, but I keep hearing reports of it. The scenario looks like this: you login, your inbox is empty. You login a few hours later, and everything is back. That's clearly a problem at the mail provider's end. So be sure to try again in "a while", whatever that might be. An hour might be expecting too much, and after a few days you can probably be assured that this isn't the problem.

You might not be looking at your inbox. Particularly with Windows Live Hotmail's new interface, it's easy to overlook which mail folder you might have selected. If you've accidentally clicked on a folder that has nothing it, like "Drafts", it might appear that your inbox is empty. Before panicking, click on the "Inbox" icon on the left to make sure you're looking where you think you are. This also clears "full message view" which can obscure the list of messages in your inbox.

You've selected a display filter. Next to the "Sort by" item in the Windows Live Hotmail column header is a small icon that allows you to "Show only messages..." that meet a criteria. For example you could elect to show only messages that have an attachment. If there are none, then your inbox will appear empty. Once again, clicking on the inbox icon to the left will clear the filter and show you all messages in your inbox.

It just disappeared for reasons unknown. I hate to even have to include this as a possibility, but as best I can tell it happens. Recently it seemed to occur as accounts were switched from the old style MSN Hotmail to the new Windows Live Hotmail, but that should be over by now. Nonetheless, I've not been able to determine a common cause or reason. It just happens.

So what can you do?

Sorry to say, pretty much nothing.

You can try to contact customer support. The quickest route I found was this link: https://support.live.com/eform.aspx, and then click on Windows Live Hotmail. You can then submit a support request.

If I sound skeptical, it's because I am. Certainly every request I've ever made using this approach has been ignored. That's also what I hear from the vast majority of readers who've attempted it as well. However, every so often I do hear a success story, so it's certainly worth the attempt. Let's face it, you have nothing to lose.

But in all likelihood, you've already lost everything.

If customer service does not respond to your request, I know of no way to recover your inbox.

None.

So I would take this as a very hard lesson learned, and once again, never rely on any free email account as the only place to keep anything important.

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Article C3239 - December 16, 2007

Recent Comments
94 Comments

I might have found out an answer for you to get into your e-mail inboxes at hotmail. I came across this web site after I posted my message here on Leo's web site. The person said to stop your antivirus and try to Sign In. I did just that and it worked. All 4 of my accounts were there with all of my e-mails too. My antivirus is back on. Here is the URL: http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.msdn.webservices&tid=e4e7654b-e36e-44d2-ad42-652c81d5b5d3&mid=dea2a0e8-ebbf-495d-9a81-9796e4f7a2d3&cat=en_US_8ab82f3b-f5a6-4b4a-b5cc-51574b93b7c6&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=&p=2
Here is the Post: " shpiksi 6/22/2008 10:40 PM PST



This reeplay goes for the other gyes that they dont need to STRES.

My (NOD 32) (ekrn.exe) or (egui.exe) anti virus stops somehow exactly only
the hotmail inbox.

So basicly I just stoped the anti virus software and all stres was gone, try
stop your antivirus for just going to inbox then if it works for you start
antivirus back.
Heave Fun."


I hope this helps you.

Posted by: Erika at April 9, 2009 10:44 PM

I am also finding the same problem, it is really very shocking morning. If Microsoft do so then whom we beleave. I love Microsoft, and i know i ill get the inbox back!!!!!!

Posted by: Mayank Mishra at April 9, 2009 10:44 PM

I got my inbox back...a BIG BIG lesson- DO NOT AVOID TAKING BACKUP of EMAILS

Posted by: aman at April 9, 2009 10:51 PM

Turning off anti-virus worked for me, got my inbox back, thanks guys

Posted by: Jodie at April 9, 2009 10:59 PM

It's not IE and I have upgraded to IE 7. I've been told by a computer specialist not to upgrade to MSN Optimized 8 because it's not as "safe" as Microsoft claims. If you have a PC Microsoft always wants you to download their products. I am also still using XP and he told me that Vista sucks and to stay with XP. Anyway, I have all of my e-mail back from all four (4) accounts. However, I am going to get another AOL account. This way, it won't be free. If anyone knows of another ISP that is better than AOL and isn't free please let me know. Verizon (I've heard that Verizon FiOS is great), Comcast, Roadrunner, etc. are not available in my area. I hope my information helped you and that you are all have your e-mail accounts back. Thank you.

Posted by: Erika at April 10, 2009 3:54 AM
Important

Windows Live Hotmail apparently suffered an outage of some sort. Inboxes (including mine) disappeared and a message that I didn't have one "yet" was displayed.

This is not your fault, and there is nothing you need do.

I got my inbox back by:

• Signing Out

• Waiting a while

• Signing back in

Nothing more was required, and my inbox was back.

Important Lesson: Backup and/or stop relying on free email accounts as the only place you keep important information.

- Leo
09-Apr-2009

Posted by: Leo at April 10, 2009 8:17 AM

Same thing happened to me. All my inbox was gone and said I had to create one. I went to the Help Center site as posted, clicked on "Sign in" under Creating account, and it took me to my Hotmail inbox and folders. WHEW!!! Today it's all back to normal. I don't like Windows (Mac user) and will now be officially moving to another mail provider. It's a shame, as I really like the filtering system on Hotmail.

Posted by: Diane at April 10, 2009 10:39 AM

This recently happened to me. I signed up for a hotmail account like I never had had one, and all of my hotmail and folders were back.


What is the best e-mail one should get to avoid these problems.

Posted by: Jan Mead at April 15, 2009 7:45 PM

I would like your organisation to immediately inform the concerned person so that he may take steps in time to avoid hardship. For the last more than one week I am facing the problem of non-availability of the e-mail and even inbox does not exist now.

Posted by: r.R,S, nIGAM at September 10, 2009 8:07 AM

My contacts got on their mail that I am out of country to attend a seminar and have lost my papers and money; contacts were asked to send $ 250 returnable on my coming back home. This e-mail is absoultely wrong, I am at home for all the days and my contacts know that it is work of some cheating person. Even my e-mail account has been erased completely and I am denied access as also receiving and sending e-mails. I want all the e-mail on the last ten days be restored in an inbox which requires immedaite opening.

Posted by: r.R,S, nIGAM at September 10, 2009 8:13 AM

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