Account recovery
Please expand the account recovery form to include more questions, & thus more chance to recover an old account. Questions like "(apprimately) when was the account made", "(appr.) when did you last login", "from which email accounts did you receive emails" and "to which accounts was your email linked" would be helpful. I know the last two are less reliable, but maybe make them 'weigh' less importance to compensate. And maybe allow for a 5~10% window on the "when" questions if theyre more than 2 months ago.
Lastly, it would be really nice if it were possible to speak to an actual person if account recovery isn't working. It sucks when you fill in the form, it fails, and you have no other options left.

33 comments
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Werner commented
lange Laufzeit bei jedem Skript, was ist zu tun?
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babybratts12 commented
how do I find my old outlook account
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purchasing commented
phone recovery not working. I have had to reset my account security on this account and one other because Outlook was unable to send or refused to call to the phone number, a valid backup phone number.
Note that sending text to a phone is not possible for IP phones, so the ability to select calling is essential. In addition, some phone numbers have added security to prevent junk calls, so that automated callers cannot get through.
In addition, one time my phone number changed and the old number was on an account, so again I had to redo security informaiton.
Can you please implement a 3rd tier solution: to generate a recovery code which can be saved and used instead of a phone call or text to verify an account. I'm getting tired of having to verify my accounts all the time. A recovery code option would be more secure and provide a better option.
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jaharvey3 commented
Would appreciate that if you get locked out of your account (ie. terms of service) and you fill out the account recovery form that sends you a ticket number and a response to get back to you in 24 hours it doesn't turn into days and weeks and months without any followup. Some of us need our e-mail and our MS forums, store, cloud storage and you might consider taking your job a bit more seriously instead of handing it all over to a computer that can't be bothered getting back to you.
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djstropes commented
my Daughters ex boyfriend stole her account sometime ago and she wants help to reclaim it.
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luigi commented
it is unreal, 20 days ago my mail was locked for no reason, the verify system and recover are ridiculous and the info you give are never enough, the support put in on old of 24 hours , and they never contact me back, this is happening since 20 days ago!
Put the secret questions back to verify the owner of the account, make efficient the verification code, permitting to update the info in real time and not 30 days!
Train your operators to work decently cause people doesn't have time to play around!this issue is costing me a lot of money and I hope my lawyer will answer me soon !
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Anonymous commented
Fix your ******* account recovery process. I spent an hour trying to recover my account and got nowhere. And when I tried using your virtual assistant, I basically got “oh well, go **** yourself and make a new one” get your ******* head right
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Anonymous commented
Hello why u block my acc email all my important email is inside my ,I have used that email for very Long and all my job sheet email all send there can u unblock my acc,I very ******* about think u Nv infrom me just block my acc.
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sandra.eber commented
I created an outlook account. I went through all the automated steps - which did not require password recovery info. I sent one email. The next day I blanked out on the new password (hey - it's a new account!) . The recovery system requires that I provide email addresses of mail sent and exact subject lines - but I only had one. This wasn't enough to satisfy the form. I later remembered my password but as I had already tried too many other options I was forced to change the password. But I could not change the password because I had only sent one email!
This actually had consequences because I had spent a good amount of time pointing various subscriptions to use this new email address and some of these won't let me change back because I need to confirm the change through the outlook email.
Had to create another email and face fixing a big mess.
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Lee commented
Why was my email locked? I violated no terms or conditions, I responded to Craigslist ad and using a VPN, why would you lock email for using a VPN when your reason for locking was to protect my identity and info which a VPN does that. After I provided my cell # email was still locked asking for verification, according to terms and conditions you violated them, you tricked me into giving you private info (cell) and how does getting a code address my alleged violation by obtaining my cell #, hey, it's cold outside, I better brush my teeth. makes no sense. Again, the only time, times now, that I have had my email hijacked is when MS hijacks it to protect my identity or information or requires a code sent to 2nd email while 2nd email requires a code sent to primary email and locked out of both. With all the users asking for help and still having the same problem your help (successful help) would be appreciated, no need to add to the multitude of people needing help. Rant over, truce, the road to **** is paved with good intentions.
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hiker commented
I deleted two associated or linked accounts from one of the accounts, then tried signing in to those two other accounts and I can't because it says they don't exist anymore. I need those two accounts back!
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Victoria commented
The account recovery system with Microsoft is an absolute farce. I've been attempting to recover a brand new account after what I suspect to be a typo in the password for the last week, and I've gotten absolutely nowhere. For a company that's been around as long as Microsoft has, this is truly disappointing. There is no number to call to speak to a real person, and you get disconnected in the live chat if you select 'Account Recovery' as your issue. The account recovery form is useless. As this was a brand new account, we hadn't sent any emails from it and therefore could not complete the third page of the form, and so our submissions were rejected. We opened multiple tickets (as we were advised to do) and we were told that our ticket was being worked on, yet we never received a response outside of the automated one. I am completely dumbfounded that Microsoft doesn't have a backdoor solution for passwords resets, and the current system leaves customers feeling ignored and frustrated. Thanks to the lack of assistance and communication, I now have to spend a few hundred dollars reprinting wedding invitations with a new email account listed for RSVPs. Even a phone number to call and speak to someone would've been enough to ease some of the dissatisfaction with the company.
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zhou.110 commented
Recently i cannot login into my account, it reminds me my account has been blocked according to some regulatins from microsoft, please tell me which terms i have violated, thanks, looking for your reply
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Anonymous commented
Help. My outlook account has been locked for over a month. I really need access. I have changed the password and security and still no luck. Angela
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patriciamariemitchell commented
I suggest that Microsoft step up their investigative procedures! You blocked me from my hotmail with no explanation, then it shows up on the dark web!
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Daniel Barnett commented
Recovering e-mails as it appears there are hundreds of emails missing even on the Outlook web app between 14/10/2016 and 5/06/2018
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rsymak commented
Email recovery
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ZPZ-Top commented
Die Wiederherstellung des Konto ist sehr umständlich und hat nichts mit Sicherheit zu tun sondern ist einfach nur bescheiden.
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MiGAviator commented
Email recovery is ******* worthless. You tout security, yet the Chinese and Russians run circles around you ******* morons. ******* christ, you're all ******* beyond incompetent. I legit ******* hope for Microsoft to die. I actually ********* hope you ******* cocksuckers end up broke. **** the **** of an give me back my ******* emails, you giant dickeaters
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SataiDelen commented
I agree with everyone else, and to add to this, the asking us when exactly we created the account. SERIOUSLY?! When we have an account that is OVER TWENTY YEARS OLD you really expect people to remember when it was created!? Most of the questions you ask on the form are ridiculous because NOBODY these days can answer them! But, I don't know why I'm bothering to add to what everyone else has said. It's not like you actually give a S... I mean, look at the over EIGHT HUNDRED people complaining about the inability to block scam emails anymore and the FAILING on your end to then delete them automatically and the FACT that you're IGNORING everybody, well, I guess you WANT people to abandon Hotmail and ****** Outlook (Outlook sucked from the very beginning so to have it shoved down my throat now is just obnoxious and shows that as per usual, you don't care about your customers) and go to Gmail or Yahoo or anywhere else but here! It's bad enough you're still trying to force people to get Windows 10 (which I REFUSE to do!) but this is absolutely beyond the pale!