Hi All,

I've found members of this forum to be much more helpful than any other forum I've visited. Maybe someone can provide a solution. I've tried microsoft help pages and their forum with no benefit.

My Grandson forgot both password and hint for his Windows Live ID after not using it for a long time. Now he has his own home and his own computer, and wants to use the Hotmail account, but can't sign in. He sent a request for password reset, and it said "instructions have been sent to your email address". Well, Duh If you can't sign in, you can't get the instructions. Then we found a screen to fill in information to validate his identity, with the option for response to be sent to my email address instead. There has been no response. Does anyone know if there is a phone number for assistance with Windows Live ID?

Alex works in the oil fields, and is away from home half the time so I take care of business, etc. for him. I have backed up everything on his computer in preparation for upgrade to Windows 7, and hope to get the Windows Live sign in issue resolved before the upgrade. Any help would be much appreciated.

Hi Picablu, nice to see you again.

You could try this freeware password recovery tool. It found my Windows Live Mail details straight away.

The download is at the bottom of the page, and there's a ZIP version which doesn't need installing.

Good luck with it.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mailpv.html

hey Dennis good post,think we all need this app.

Hi Dennis,

I hope I've remembered how to reply. I tried the link you provided on my computer. Works great! Then I installed it on Alex's computer and only the new Windows Live account shows for him. The original account was not there. When creating the new account, using the original e-mail address as an alternative was not allowed because "another account had that address", so we know it's there and just can't get into it.

Thank you for your assistance. Now we have this great password finder in case there should ever be a problem again.

Have a wonderful day!

Picablu

Have you tried this web page Picablu?

http://email.about.com/od/hotmailtips/qt/et_passwordlost.htm

One link in particular on that page... Windows Live Hotmail password reset page.

It says Hotmail, but it's all Windows Live ID I believe.

Supposed to be able to get a new password without providing the old one. Worth a shot.

OK, this time I think I've found the correct way to answer your message, Dennis.

The link you provide here is new to me. It has the same instructions for password reset and/or validation that I have tried before. Guess I'll just have to hope they respond.

Thank you so much for trying. Picablu

I have a big problem also. My account got compromised and microsoft recovered it. I followed the instructions in the first e-mail they send me, but the problem is when I click send to alturnate e-mail i;m not getting the instructions, please give me some help. My account is not receiving the instructions. I called xbox live and had them change my contact e-mail address. Same thing, got the first e-mail telling em to go to live.com and click on send to alturnate e-mail, same problem, please help!!!!


Jared

life4life82 your thread about this is ongoing here , let's just continue with it there

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=25283