Can't access Hotmail.co.uk account - help!

Stumpy

This has been bugging me for some time, but as I don't use the account all that much, I've not done much about it .... I assumed that it was some weird Microsoft thing.

Anyway - I keep trying to log into my Hotmail.co.uk account - I'm logged in (I've even gone through the "I've forgotten my password" thing and reset it all), but when I try to log in I just get a message saying:

Hotmail does not support the .NET Passport you are signed in to. Visit the Hotmail Web site for information or to set up a free account.

and the bar at the top shows that its the "wrong domain".

I checked the help files, but they weren't much use - it can't have been cancelled because it was only a few months ago that I last was able to access it, but I can't even find the .co.uk website any more, it just forwards me to the passport login, then to the .com site. I tried to sign up a new account, but I can't find out how to signup for a new .co.uk one. Have they given up on the idea of the .co.uk? They were all for it a while ago, advertising that you could get your own hotmail domain names, etc. I tried googling, but all I got was a story from a few years ago where they forgot to re-register for the domain name, not really relevant to this problem, unless they've gone and done it again!

shopbot

If you have not signed into your Hotmail account for 30 days it is de-activated.
If you go to www.hotmail.co.uk you can sign up for a .co.uk Hotmail account.

Stumpy

shopbot wrote:

If you have not signed into your Hotmail account for 30 days it is de-activated.
If you go to www.hotmail.co.uk you can sign up for a .co.uk Hotmail account.

I'm sure I saw somewhere that it was a year before the account was deactivated, but regardless of that, I can't get a new .co.uk account open. If I got to the https://www.hotmail.co.uk site to sign up, I get a list of countries to select from, but when I select the UK, it stays at hotmail.com. I went through all the help pages I could find, which were completely useless - so much so that I decided to use the "was this topic useful" link to let them know what I think, only to discover that that doesn't work either (but apparently they're working on it ... yeah, right!). I'm starting to feel that I don't really want a hotmail account anyway - can't collect e-mail through my e-mail programme, can't get a .co.uk account, they delete it after 30 days. Maybe I should just go for another yahoo account, or not bother. I only used it for stuff that I was a bit suspicious of, luckily as it turns out.

mike55_2

this is not much help stumpy, but .net passport stopped me from using hotmail, even when i was logging in every couple of weeks.

a friend opened one for me and sent me a link thing. it was the only way i could use it, after changing the password

yahoo's not too bad. mail alerts and all the whistles and bells you'll ever need.

mike_paterson

Have you tried:
a) creating a new .net passport account and using that instead ?
b) deleted all your cookies (Tools - internet options in IE) and tried.

I use gmail for most of my mail now - it fully supports POP3 access by email clients and has been excellent.

Let me know if you want an invite and I will send you one (though I will need to send it to an existing email address!)

brummybloke

have you got msn or microsoft messenger? is it running? if so you may find you are already logged in under a different name. you would need to log out of that first.
if when you signed up to your hotmail account you got some junk mail ever it should keep your account open longer as it shows your account is being used. i didnt sign in to my hotmail.com account for 7 months and it still works.

Stumpy

There's definately going to be some mail (or was!) in my hotmail account - most of it was rubbish from Microsoft, but there were a few others as well. I tried to access through both IE and Firefox, both coming up with the same problems. I'm using MSN Messenger, and manage to get logged into that no bother (well, apart from the odd glitch, but I think thats down to the MSN network). The only thing I'm wondering about is that I changed IP a while ago - come to think of it about the same time as I had problems getting into the hotmail account - I changed the e-mail address that my "passport" thing was linked to, to the new one. I did try logging in with the old e-mail address, but it wouldn't recognise it. I have tried clearing cookies in the past, which made no difference - don't like to do it too often though as then I have to try and remember all my passwords again!

I did consider the gmail thing, but doesn't that send you loads of adverts as well?

I've got my own domain, with loads of e-mail addresses I can use to forward stuff through - I may just do that instead. It just rankles that the mailbox seems to have disappeared.

Ooooh - new smilies!! :xmastree::xmassign:

brummybloke

have you tried to re register the name on hotmail? does it tell you it is already taken? if so it should still be yours ( unless your hotmail was something like david @hotmail.co.uk where by someone else would obviously want the name). did it let you reset the password or is it not even letting you onto the site? if so and someone else is sharing your pc, it maybe worth checking that hotmail.co.uk is not blocked on your internet settings or firewall or anti virus

shopbot

Hi Stumpy, I got the info about the 30 day decativation off the Hotmail site. It is because MSN want you to trade up to Hotmail premium service which has no time limit and has extra features.

My only other suggestion would be....
When I log into Hotmail with my @hotmail.com address it asks me whether I would like to change my address to a @hotmail.co.uk address. It might be that you can only do this if you have the .com already. Why not sign up for a .com and then see if you can migrate?

Good luck!
SB

mike_paterson

Stumpy wrote:

I did consider the gmail thing, but doesn't that send you loads of adverts as well?

No
Rgds
Mike

tigermatt

I have received this exact same error when I tried to sign in with my .NET passport, but not hotmail.co.uk account. (You can register other e-mail addresses as .NET passports for MSN Messenger) Basically, I registered my other e-mail address as a .NET passport so I didn't need to maintain a second e-mail adress (Hotmail) for Messenger.

Are you signing in with a hotmail account, or another non-hotmail .NET passport account?