Why You Cannot Sign In or Log into Hotmail / Windows Live / MSN

I Cannot Sign Into Hotmail, Why?

You have a Hotmail account but not sure which is your Sign in I.D.? If you cannot sign into Hotmail,you are not alone, people have trouble signing into websites and web applications every day.Hotmail has undergone a lot of transformation in the past years. Since its acquisition by Microsoft Corporation, the email service has been rebranded from Hotmail to MSN Hotmail to Windows Live. These are not only name changes, but each of these new names have come with new features that have not been available in the original Hotmail.

Did You Forget Your Password?

So you still don’t know your Windows Live I.D. to sign in? Dont worry, whatever the name of your email service – Windows Live or MSN Hotmail, you are still using Hotmail.Most of the login problems are caused by common mistakes that most users do. Before you rush to think that your Hotmail account has been hacked, hijacked or that a virus has struck your computer, you should first of all eliminate some common basic errors that might be preventing you from signing into your Hotmail account. It might be as simple as forgetting your password, hitting or not hitting CAPS Lock when entering your password. A Hotmail sign-in password is case-sensitive, therefore you must try UPPER case or LOWER case when entering your password.

Are You Trying to Sign in with Your Hotmail Alias Email Address?

Another common mistake made by Hotmail users is using their alias email addresses (additional email addresses) to sign into Hotmail.Maybe this is due to the fact that people confuse their alias email address with the original sign-up email address. If you have an @live.com email address or a country-specific domain like @hotmail.co.uk, @hotmail.us,@hotmail.co.nz you might try to log into Hotmail with no success. Why? It’s simple, Microsoft does not allow you to sign into your Hotmail account as well as other services such as Xbox Live, Windows Live Messenger, Web Apps, Microsoft Store using alias email addresses. It is therefore important to remember your sign-up email address to avoid confusion with your alias email addresses.

What is your sign-up email address? Your sign-up email address is your newly created Hotmail account address or the existing email address that you used to create your first Hotmail account. There is one thing to take note of here. When you are creating your new Hotmail account, you have to go to the sign-up page to do that. The sign-up page gives you two options of creating your account. You can create a Hotmail account with an existing email address that has never been registered with Hotmail, for example, your Gmail address or Yahoo Mail address. If you have used any of your existing email addresses to sign up for Hotmail in the past, Hotmail will tell you that your email address is already registered, therefore you can’t create a new account but you must sign in.

When you use an existing non-Hotmail email address to create your account, you will be able to sign-in with that email address. The second option for creating a Hotmail account is for people who have never registered with Hotmail in the past. This option allows you to create a new Hotmail account and email address @hotmail.com

Your @hotmail.com address is your Windows Live I.D. to Sign in

Every new user gets an @hotmail.com email address on their sign-up. This is your one and only email address (Windows Live I.D.)  to sign into your Hotmail account and other Microsoft Services such as Messenger, Web Apps, Xbox Live and Microsoft Store. This @hotmail.com email address (Your Windows Live I.D.) cannot be changed or deleted. It is a permanent address.However, your alias email addresses that you add on top of your Windows Live I.D. can be deleted from your account.

What is an alias email address? An alias email address is an additional email address that Hotmail allows you to create in your account. Microsoft provides alias email addresses with country specific domains. These email domains are owned by Microsoft. An alias email address cannot be used to sign into your Hotmail services, but it can be used to send email. For example, when you are composing an email, you can insert your alias email address in the From: field. Microsoft allows users in selected countries to create alias email addresses with country specific domains. For example, if you live in Canada, you can create an @hotmail.ca or @live.ca email address for sending mail. To make a distinction between your Windows Live I.D. and alias email addresses, here are the domain extensions:

Windows Live I.D.

Always use this ID to sign in

Your Windows Live I.D. is in the form: @hotmail.com

Microsoft Alias Email Domains: Examples to illustrate the 6 email domain extensions used by Microsoft.

Your Microsoft Hotmail alias email addresses may be in the form:  (where xx is the country domain)

Hotmail.co.xx    e.g.  hotmail.co.za (For South Africa)

Hotmail.com.xx   e.g.  hotmail.com.hk (For Hong Kong)

Hotmail.xx   e.g.  hotmail.fr (For France)

Live.com.xx   e.g. live.com.au (For Australia)

Live.xx    e.g.  live.de (For Germany)

Live.co.xx   e.g.  live.co.uk (For United Kingdom)

Is your Computer Hosts File Altered?

If you still cannot sign into Hotmail and you are sure that you have not been trying to sign in with your alias email addresses, then you must look at other probable causes. Clear your browser cache and cookies, then try to log in again. Maybe you have a virus on your computer that is blocking Hotmail.Check your Hosts File to see if it has been changed or altered by a virus. Most of the times, you will find that the website that you cannot log into is listed in the Hosts File. Check to see if Hotmail or Microsoft domains are on the list,then remove them from the list.Save the changes on your Hosts File and try to sign into your Hotmail account again.

Location of Hosts File: 

Windows XP Hosts File  -  c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Windows Vista Hosts File -  c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Windows 7 Hosts File -  c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Mac OS X 10.2 and above –  c:/private/etc/hosts