How do I change my MSN Hotmail password?

I've had an MSN Hotmail account for a while and have suddenly become paranoid that I might have had my password intercepted by a key sniffer. How do I change my password in Hotmail?

Dave's Answer:

You are wise to change your password on MSN Hotmail (aka Microsoft Live Hotmail) as it's a frequent target of phishing attacks and other password scraping scams. If you are going to use Hotmail, I'd suggest you change your password every 2-3 months, at a minimum.

To change your password, log in to your Hotmail account, then click on "Options" in the top right:

Changing your MSN Live / Hotmail account password

At this point you can change quite a few settings, but the two important ones are shown here:

Changing your free MSN Live / Hotmail account password

We'll change password, but remember this is how you also change your security question in Hotmail if you ever need to make that change...

Change your MSN Live / Hotmail account password

Most of that's self-explanatory, but I strongly suggest that you check off the box adjacent to "Make my password expire every 72 days". This will make the system automatically require you to change your password every ten weeks or so, which is a great way to remember that you should be changing your password with some frequency. In fact, I don't know why Hotmail doesn't automatically set this option.

Hope that helps you figure out how to keep your Hotmail account more secure.

Note: this article has been updated: how to change your MSN Hotmail password

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Categorized: Computer and Internet Basics (Article 7109, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: hotmail, hotmail password, hotmail security, microsoft hotmail, msn hotmail
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Reader Comments To Date: 164

Mo said, on March 8, 2009 2:36 PM:

I cant reset my 10yr old hotmail password! I forgot the password but when I try to reset it, it doesn't give me the option to use a test question or the option to use an alternative email...the instructions are sent to the same email i cant into....please help!!

[LILSXC] said, on March 9, 2009 3:46 PM:

hi dave,

i have 3 e-mail account this is the only one i can access. i suppose i could say iv been locked out of my other accounts, my passwords, secret questions and everything are drifferent...
what do i do?

lewis said, on March 15, 2009 9:00 AM:

i need to change my password somebody is hacking my account PLZ PLZ tell me how to get a new pasword.

Aneela said, on March 15, 2009 10:46 PM:

Hi Dave

I forgot my password and did go to the reset password option, my pass word was reset BUT since I cannot open my hotmail account how can i get my new password, please help as there is some urgent email in my in box. You could reply me on aneelakilledar@yahoo.com

I have also tried the secret question thing for password reset and I have forgotten it too.

Please assist.

Best regards

Yazhini said, on March 17, 2009 2:37 AM:

Please help:I forgot my password and secret question nor i gave an alternative email address while Signing up...and i really very badly need this account..it will be thankful if u could help me... and whn i tried logging in it tells me all the information which i gave was wrong..if u can send me my password recovery page link to my yazhini.samuel@gmail.com this id it would be big help. kindly do the needful......

NOLA said, on March 25, 2009 8:32 PM:

I forgot my password and requested to set up a new one through computer address and secret question. Now I can not stop it from automatically signing in. I want to stop my hotmail account from signing up automatically. Please help.

alec said, on March 26, 2009 10:11 AM:

I also need a password recovery page as my hotmail locked me out and told me all my info is wrong. Plus, my alternate email is out of service, so i cant check that...

annana said, on March 30, 2009 12:18 PM:

my gf is changing my password wenever she wants... i dont knw how she is doin dis... nyway i need a software in which i can give my orginal password and if it canges it shoud provide me d new password with a mail... is der a software lyk dat??? if ny1 knws pls mail me in youngster_999@hotmail.com

Justin Lanctin said, on April 4, 2009 12:17 PM:

hello, i can no longer get into my account, and i dont remember my secret question, can you please help me get my account back, you can email me to arsenaultdebbie@hotmail.com. my account is justin_lanctin@hotmail.com. thank you

milan said, on April 12, 2009 12:59 AM:

i have a hotmail id i just forgot my password, i didn't know the secret question also, so please help me

Chloe said, on April 23, 2009 9:28 AM:

I Can't Change My Password But I Want To Coz I Got A Virus And It Keeps Sending Porn To Other People On My Account And Its Really Annoying !! Lool

Bridget said, on April 26, 2009 5:03 AM:

Hi Dave!
This is Bridget I am hving some major issues with my m.s.n. mssenger, I am tryingt cange my password as I got nailed by that crazy problem with the porno links being sent out & m receiving the same from all my friends this tok plae on April 1 2009 & it is now April 26 2009 I have sentmany e-mal messages out to you all regarding this & still no answers. I have uninstalled & reinstald messnger i have tried changing my password & there is no place for me togo & cange itI haereformatted my computer I hae ao done used my vius san & all still having people tellinge it's hacked, Please helpe orI wil beforced to result in deleting my messageing completely for good!!! Thanks a bunch BlueEyes

sean gallagher said, on May 10, 2009 11:05 AM:

uum wats URL 4??????????????????

Sarah Johnson said, on May 15, 2009 12:55 PM:

I need a new password since I forgot my old one with my hotmail email address.

saeed said, on May 17, 2009 3:24 AM:

i have to change my password

cieanna said, on May 27, 2009 4:49 PM:

I HATE THIS FRICKEN THING !!!!

Chaz said, on May 30, 2009 8:17 AM:

Hi.i hoep u can help me..I have another hotmail account..n_p4t3l@live.co.uk..for which i have forgotten my password and secret answer..they have sent me password reset info. to the email address i ahve forgetten the password for!! is there any way of getting that info. I can't remember which alternate email address I used but it isn;t for any of the accounts I use now.

Thankyou
Any help grately appreciated

thomas said, on June 7, 2009 6:07 AM:

I use msn windows messenger when i was at my last job. i only had one email set to that account which was my work email...i no longer have access to that email. when i request a password change it sends it to that email address. how can i have the new password sent to my personal email address?

saba said, on June 18, 2009 11:17 PM:

i need to change my msn hotmail

Jin said, on June 26, 2009 5:13 PM:

Dear Dave,

I forgot my password on hotmail. I looked online for a solution, and one of them were to answer a secret question. But when I went to hotmail.com and clicked forgot password, they didn't give me an option to answer my secret question. It only gave me the options to send it to the email I used, or an alternate email, which I can't remember. Is there any way I can answer my secret question?

siham said, on July 14, 2009 7:16 PM:

hey dave
this is siham talking
someone had changed my e mail password and i really want to get it back because it contains all my memories and personal things can you help me please i beg u its urgent pluse i dont remember my alernetive e mail and secret question
please help in any way ur my only hope .........anywayz thanxx *_*

mahnoor said, on August 15, 2009 8:21 AM:

i want to change my password because same knows my password

enxhi said, on August 31, 2009 7:32 PM:

I've had an MSN Hotmail account for a while and have suddenly become paranoid that I might have had my password intercepted by a key sniffer. How do I change my password in Hotmail?

enxhi said, on August 31, 2009 7:52 PM:

I have a msn hotmail accountand have forgottenthe password. Can you help me?

joane said, on December 16, 2009 6:27 PM:

plz help me i have forgotton my password and secert question 4 hotmail can u help me get it back, ill be for eva thankful mwaaa

help me said, on January 13, 2010 10:23 PM:

hey ok so heres whats wrong ive got the old msn and the new msn now i have forgotten my password but thank god i can login to the old msn since i put on remmeber my password for it to be easy for mt to get in ....... is there a way to find out my password while iam on the old msn???

kaltuun said, on February 11, 2010 10:15 AM:

I for get my email password and i cant remember my my secret question and alternative email address.that my problem can you help me

samreen said, on February 26, 2010 9:28 PM:

I m lost my password and all informatiom which i provide making th account now how can i fiind my password

zahid said, on February 26, 2010 9:37 PM:

my brother change my password and secrete info can u send me new passord on thia email address zahidhsm@hotmail.com

ahmed nafadi said, on March 6, 2010 11:42 PM:

hi dear dave i have logged in to my account from france so i lost my password and i forget all informasion so pls send me new password to my email adress ahmed.i.nafadi@gmail.thanks

huma said, on March 7, 2010 1:05 PM:

ii hav a problem someone knowsmy msn password and they have changed it so now i cant log into it what am suppose to do because they arenow sending all of my contacts messages that i dont know what they are and my friends are saying to me what have you been saying to us when the real reason is that the person who haschanged my password has been sending messages to all off myy contacts

pleasehelp me

i dont know what to do..

chantelle miller said, on March 28, 2010 5:51 AM:

hello i cant get into my emales to change my password on msn-hotmail because i forgotin my password for it can u all help me please xxxxxxxx thank u xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

carole said, on April 5, 2010 3:04 PM:

I have forgotten an old email address that i now need access to. i know the password. any ideas on how i can get into the mail

Diane said, on May 5, 2010 8:45 PM:

I went to options and there is nothing about passwords under that tab. This is the most awful site I have ever used. What are your techs getting paid for?? Fed up!!!!

Dave Taylor said, on May 7, 2010 9:37 AM:

Update! Update! Check this article out:

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_to_change_msn_hotmail_livecom_password.html

Priya said, on May 17, 2010 10:52 AM:

hi i changed my password for my hotmail email address and then i forgot the password...i neither had a linking email address to this account nor a secret question/answer. i have tried different passwords and now my account has been blocked. i made a new email address in hope that i could have contacted the hotmail people however they have not replied what do i do?

kristy said, on June 17, 2010 8:31 PM:

i have an old email account i really need my contacts but some one changed my password my secret question and my alternate email now i cant access it at all how do i get into it

Brooke Singh said, on June 25, 2010 5:56 AM:

Cant remember my password or secret question I tried asking for a code but it never sent to my mobile ? what do I do ?

Tim Dunn said, on June 25, 2010 12:05 PM:

I have been trying to get into my hot mail and I
keep putting in those characters the best I can. MSN says they will email me my password but I can't open it so what good is that? You can contact me at my wife's address of wjdul@yahoo.com and she will tell me what to do. Thanks

Clint said, on July 10, 2010 9:22 AM:

I have a question and concern. I'm in a loop of dismay with my @msn.com e-mail. It asks for the password like normal, which for some unknown reason isn't the one, I was using. It wasn't any of my other 8 passwords, and when I type I forgot. It's options are to enter my wife's maiden name. hmmmmm that's easy. Then it tells me, "despite the fact her maiden name is 4 letters long" it's telling me "no it's not" and then I'm stuck, because it'll tell me, that it'll e-mail me a new password, TO THE ACCOUNT I CANT GET INTO!!! how stupid is that, Can you respond with a contact number or something to the people that run this place to either contact me, They'll have my phone number, which I don't see happening. Or e-mail me at clinton.wright@us.af.mil That would really be awesome. Thanks for your time.

elisha said, on July 25, 2010 3:54 PM:

i have another account and i have forgot my alternative email address for it please could you send me what it is for this account its elisha.waldron@hotmail.co.uk because i have forgoten my password for that account and i dont no what my alternative email is thankyou. :)

mary said, on September 6, 2010 6:23 AM:

i have forgot my password tried to go thru forgot password thing now how am i suppose to get to the instructions they send me in hot mail if i can't access it i set this account up over 15 years ago and don't remember the secret answers to the questions i gave at the time now how am i suppose to get in to the hot mail if you could please reply at my yahoo account i would appreciate it thank you

P Bruce said, on September 10, 2010 10:35 PM:

I am locked out of my account. To reset my password, hotmail is sending my "reset your password" email to the account that i am locked out of???? what the heck! how is this possible? what genius designed this system?

M Saravanan said, on September 29, 2010 3:51 AM:

I could not reset my Windows Live Hotmail ID password. Alternate e-mail id to which password reset instructions is sent is no more active. Is there any other way to access my hotmail id? I am in badly need of the same.

usman said, on September 30, 2010 9:48 PM:

sir,
my msn account is lock out and i dono what is this nor i know how to unlock and use it like b4 (aterash@hotmail.com).i went live help pages also but nothing works.plz someone help me.

munazza said, on October 3, 2010 9:56 AM:

plzzzzzzzzzz!!! help me i forget my password of this id plz tell me how can i change the password i don't have any other alternate id plzz help me!!!!

N.M. said, on October 7, 2010 3:28 PM:

I have forgotten my password for my messenger account, and after having it reset...it was sent to an old email address that doesn't exist anymore. How can I get a new password.

Brenda Estes said, on October 19, 2010 4:43 AM:

So my hotmail account is hacked I can't get in an when I go to reset it it just keeps sending the new password to the account thats hacked? After visiting the site it tells me I can come back in 24 hours and they can help me again.. We're running in circles here I'll never get into that account at this rate. If theres a solution could you email it to me at my new yahoo account? I'll look here for a reply and instruction on how. Thank you very much.

Ann said, on October 20, 2010 2:04 PM:

i forgot my password and you are sending me the password reset on the same e-mail i forgot it's password so what should i do to get my password back???????plz reply...

Jo said, on October 31, 2010 8:48 PM:

I am trying to get into my hotmail.co.uk account. I have forgotten my password. When trying to reset, the new password is being sent to an inactive email address. I can't find any contact number to get this sorted. I have info on this particular account I need asap. Please help!!!!

Libby said, on November 7, 2010 3:29 PM:

Hi,

Please help me...I got locked out of my MSN Messenger (account: summa_shinez@hotmail.com) and I need it for work purposes. I know and clearly remember my password and login but somehow I cannot get it and have gone to the route of resetting my password. I do not remember the alternate email account that the password reset has been set to as it's been almost 10 years. Are there any ways I can get this to work?

Thank you! I appreciate your help.

Libby

Hussein, Adam Haji said, on April 6, 2011 11:51 PM:

I had A Long Time an email (hussein209@hotmail.com)which i kept may Files and I forget my history password there A solution for this problem thanks

Le Mahathir said, on May 4, 2011 10:33 PM:

Hi,
My email got locked out...i went through the process of changing the password but it keeps appearing as error and made me redo the password changing page over and over again...please help me to unlock my account with the current password...its the only email i've got...thanks..

Patrik said, on July 24, 2011 5:23 AM:

I need to change my hotmail password because some one knows my password. Thanks.

Erum abid said, on October 9, 2011 1:25 PM:

I forgot my hotmail id password and secret question answer.Please help me how regain it.
Erum

collin said, on October 10, 2011 7:18 AM:

GREAT, I have been locked out of my e-mail, and I havent been able to get back in after 3days, and the e-mail that I used to have I cant get into that, THANK YOU MICROSOFT FOR STUFFING ME CANT WORK CANT GET ANY ONE TO HELP ME sOME OF US OUT HERE ARE NOT I.T. WIZARDS

Thaha Haja Mohideen Marikar said, on January 2, 2012 11:11 AM:

Since December 2011,1st.week I couldn't visit or see my hotmail messages.This is a great loss to me.

eliseo said, on January 3, 2012 6:32 AM:

MSN requires my phone number in order for them to send the code..but i forgot my phone number. this is the reason hotmail keeps telling me that I am not completely signed out. plssss help me!

adeel said, on January 10, 2012 9:28 AM:

hi i have one problem my hotmail account has been blocked i know my password but forget my code

Keira Martin said, on January 16, 2012 6:01 PM:

Can not change password security question changed been hacked and hotmail ca not verify me as I can not answer security question

Hoo Chin Yin said, on May 10, 2012 7:42 PM:

I can't access to my hotmail account, when I want to reset my password, they send the code to my hotmail account which I can't access, what should I do to get back my account? my hotmail account is chinyinsmil3@hotmail.com

Tanica Chastanet said, on June 11, 2012 1:18 PM:

help me please fix it my password for me please hank to help me i hope

cathy Sanchez said, on June 24, 2012 2:32 PM:

Hi, my daughter knows my security questions so she able to access my password every time i change it, I need help with changing my security questions.

S. Scott said, on July 18, 2012 8:41 AM:

I found your site very helpful. I didn't need to follow your directions "step by step", but you pointed me in the right direction. Thank You

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

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How do I change my MSN Hotmail password?

Reader Comments To Date: 164

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