Password Recovery in Windows Live Mail

By Andrew Todd

Users of Windows Live and Hotmail are required to set a password to access their email accounts. If you do not remember your password, you can reset the password to both Windows Live and Hotmail email accounts directly from the Windows Live website. You can reset the password by either answering the security questions answered when your account was created or by having the system send a confirmation email to your email account, which is useful if you have a means of checking your email, such as Outlook, Thunderbird or Apple Mail.

Go to the Windows Live login screen in your web browser (see Resources).

Click "Forgot your password" below the password box.

Enter your full email address in the box labeled "Windows Live ID" (including Hotmail addresses), then enter the characters displayed in the picture in the box labeled "Characters." Click "Continue" to proceed.

Select either "Use my location information and secret answer to verify my identity" or "Send password reset instructions to me in e-mail" as the method you would like to use to recover your password.

If choosing to verify your identity using your location information and secret answer, select your country, then enter your state and ZIP code. Enter the answer to your security question in the box below the question. Click "Continue" to proceed to the Password Reset page.

If you have chosen to send the password reset instructions to your email account, verify that the email address is correct, then click "Continue" to send the email. Check your email, then click on the link to open the Password Reset page in your web browser.

Enter your new password in the box labeled "Type New Password," then enter it again in the box labeled "Retype new password" to confirm that the password was entered correctly.

Click "Continue" to save your new password and to log in to your Windows Live or Hotmail email account.

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