Emails are not coming through to me

Question

Emails are not coming through to me

Tyler Smith 0

Emails are not coming through to me from trusted senders. They are people who have emailed me from their same address for a long time. Now all of the sudden, their emails to me are not going through. I have a HOTMAIL address.

They are getting "Message Blocked" with a red stop light graphic.

What is the problem here and how do I get it fixed?
Thank you for your help!

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Hello

I am seeing a sudden increase in similar reports from other users in this forum as well.

Unfortunately, I cannot find any official information from Microsoft acknowledging this issue. Microsoft's published requirements for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC apply to senders sending more than 5,000 emails per day. However, based on the sudden increase in reports from the last few days, I suspect these requirements may now be affecting low-volume senders as well. This is just my observation, not something Microsoft has officially confirmed.

I helped several users with this issue the last few days in this forum. One interesting thing we noticed is that email headers may show DMARC as passing, even when the sending domain does not have a published DMARC record. We were able to identify this by checking the domain using a free tool such as https://mxtoolbox.com/.

In some cases, once the missing DMARC record was properly configured and verified, emails started coming through again.

For this reason, I strongly recommend having your senders check their SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for the affected sending domains. This is not an issue you can fix on your end. It has to be addressed on the sender's end.

If you need help checking these records, I am happy to do so. I would just need to know the sending domain name. You do not need to share the full email address.

Also, a news article about this issue: https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-outlook-spf-validation-error-blocks-email-sending-and-receiving/

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

Answer 2

Ask one affected sender to copy the complete delivery-failure message—especially the SMTP code and “Diagnostic information for administrators”—because “Message Blocked” alone does not identify whether Outlook.com rejected the sender or your Hotmail settings diverted the message.

Check your Hotmail account first

Sign in to Hotmail through Outlook.com, then:

Open Settings (gear icon) → Mail → Junk email.
Under Blocked senders and domains, remove the sender’s address or domain if listed.
Under Safe senders and domains, select Add safe sender, enter the address, and save it. This prevents accepted messages from being treated as junk, but it cannot override a server-level rejection. ^1^
Check Junk Email, Deleted Items, Archive, and the Other tab.
Open Settings → Mail → Rules and remove any rule that deletes, redirects, or moves mail from these senders.
Check your Microsoft storage. If it is full, Outlook.com cannot receive mail; messages sent while it was full are bounced and cannot later be recovered. ^2^

If several unrelated senders suddenly cannot reach you, storage and mailbox rules are especially important checks.

If the failure message contains a 550 or 5.7.x code

That generally means the message was rejected before reaching your mailbox, so it will not appear in Inbox or Junk. Adding the address to Safe Senders may not resolve that kind of rejection.

Have the sender examine the complete postmaster message. Microsoft advises looking for Diagnostic information for administrators, which normally states the delivery-failure reason. ^3^

The sender should then:

Give the complete error—including the SMTP code—to their email provider or IT administrator.
Have the administrator check the sending domain’s SPF/authentication, DNS, sending-IP reputation, and mail-server configuration.
If those settings comply with Microsoft’s requirements but Hotmail still rejects the messages, submit the issue through Sender Support in Outlook.com. Microsoft provides sender/ISP tools and an Outlook.com deliverability support form for @hotmail.com, @outlook.com, @live.com, and @msn.com delivery problems. ^4^

Previously successful correspondence does not guarantee that later messages will be accepted; sender authentication, server IP, reputation, or message content can change.

About the red stop indicator

If this is actually a red safety bar inside a message you received, rather than a rejection shown to the sender, Outlook.com detected potentially unsafe content and blocked that message. Microsoft recommends not opening it and deleting it; contact the sender separately to verify what they sent. ^5^

If the account checks are clean and the bounce provides no usable diagnostic code, select Help in Outlook.com, describe the issue, and choose Still need help? → Yes to contact Outlook.com support. ^6^

References