I have a Hotmail account that I have used since the 1990s. Recently I forgot my password after being asked to change it. Google Chrome still logs in to my Hotmail account automatically on my laptop, but not on other computers. In the past if I forgot my password I had a text message sent to my cell phone. However, I also lost that cell phone.
The only other option Hotmail offers me is to fill in a questionnaire with detailed information about recent messages and folders I have created. However, no matter how much information I provide, the automated response refuses to provide the password.
Recently I thought maybe Google Chrome would reveal the passwords it saves and would tell me what my Hotmail password is. However, when I go to: chrome://settings/passwords my Hotmail account is not listed (although various other passwords for various other sites are listed).
Is there some way I can retrieve my Hotmail password from Google Chrome?
Alternatively, is there some way I can obtain my Hotmail password from Microsoft by speaking to a live person?
I can read every email sent and received, create folders, provide old passwords, and answer security questions. But none of that is good enough. I can even provide the phone number to which texts used to be sent before I lost the cell phone. However, I cannot change the password without knowing what the current password is.
Thank you for any advice. I do not wish to lose the Hotmail account given that I have used it since perhaps 1998.
146 Answers
The same thing happened to me. I hope this information helps.
"The customer service number for Hotmail is 866-672-4551 or 800-642-7676. A customer service representative is available between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. from Monday through Friday – or between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday or Sunday."
You can try call the number above, but the only way to retrieve the account is by online and filling in information.
Afterwards I went to support.microsoft.com to talk to the person directly online, and fortunately received the web link for the form which leads to directly to the technicians.
Right now I am just filling in. "I want to set proper expectation that the success of this will depend on the information that you will enter."
1If your Google Chrome was set to remember my password & if you are authentic local account user.
You can retrieve your passwords following the instructions below:
- Go to chrome://settings & scroll down to the bottom
- Click on Show Advanced Settings
- Scroll down to Passwords & forms section & click on Manage Passwords
- Search for the site in Manage Password list & click on Show
- Authenticate using your computer password when asked
- Yo should see the password after successful authentication
Ok give this a try.
Go to your login screen on Chrome where it shows the email and hidden password. Right click the password box and click "Inspect Element". On the highlighted line of code double click and change type="password" to type="text" and press enter.
Should show you the password
3If you can't get access to your account through the questionnaire your best bet is to call support, maybe they can help you further.
When you have full control of your account again make sure to change your account settings and add a current phonenumber AND secondairy e-mail address, you might also want to think about password management software like keepass. (I know this doens't help you right now but I've learned to use it the hard way and never lost a password again.)
2I had a phone number associated with the account. However, as explained in the original post, I lost that cell phone.
Fortunately, that phone number was out of service this month. I had to purchase another cell phone and have that old phone number assigned to the new phone. Then I was able to have a security code sent to that new phone and I created a new Hotmail password.
Since google chrome is making auto login for the hotmail account eventhough you are unable to find the password for it.
Google chrome would store the password and history information in the following location for default profile C:\Users\\Appdata\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\ so there is tool called Gmail Password Dump which would export the password.
You can download the tool Gmail Password Dump.It would get installed in the location C:\Program Files (x86)\SecurityXploded\ChromePasswordDump.To use the tool you need to use the command prompt to navigate the location and then try to run the command ChromePasswordDump.exe.
If the profile is in different location,you can execute the command
C:\Program Files (x86)\SecurityXploded\ChromePasswordDump>ChromePasswordDump.exe -f "C:\Users\vembu\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default"
