Can no longer access my email account on outlook.com

Open Microsoft account → Your info → Manage how you sign in to Microsoft and make your intended Outlook/Hotmail address primary only if it already appears under Account aliases.

Check which account owns the mailbox

1. Go to the Microsoft account alias-management page:
   https://account.live.com/names/manage
2. Under Account aliases, look for the address containing your original email.
3. Follow the applicable result:

The original Outlook/Hotmail address is listed

Select Make primary beside it, then:

1. Sign out of Outlook.com completely.
2. Close the browser or open a private browsing window.
3. Sign in using that Outlook/Hotmail address and the same Microsoft account password.
4. Check whether the original folders and messages appear.

Microsoft aliases share one password, contacts, storage, subscriptions, and account settings; changing which existing alias is primary does not create a separate Microsoft account.^1^

Do not remove any alias until the correct mailbox is visible and you have confirmed that you can sign in with it.

Only a non-Microsoft address is listed

If the sign-in name is from another provider—such as Gmail, Yahoo, an ISP, or a custom domain—the generated outlook_<characters>@outlook.com address can be a placeholder Outlook identity. Outlook.com does not automatically import the mailbox belonging to that outside provider; those messages remain with the provider that hosts the address.^2^

In that case:

• Access the original mail through its actual email provider.
• If desired, use Add email to create a new Outlook.com alias and make that alias primary. This changes the displayed Microsoft alias, but it will not transfer the third-party mailbox or its previous messages.
• An existing Outlook/Hotmail address already attached to another Microsoft account cannot be added as an alias to this account.^1^

The original Outlook/Hotmail address is not listed

That strongly indicates that the current sign-in reached a different Microsoft account. Adding a new alias will not reconnect the missing mailbox.

Because signing in again with the passkey already returns to the generated mailbox, use the Microsoft sign-in helper rather than repeating that attempt. On the alias page, select the guided support tool, or contact Microsoft Support and report:

• The expected Outlook/Hotmail address
• The generated outlook_<characters>@outlook.com address
• That Outlook.com opens a new or nearly empty mailbox
• That the intended address is absent from Account aliases

Microsoft documents the alias-management and support options here.^1^

If the correct address is listed and made primary but the web mailbox remains empty, in Outlook.com select Help, enter the issue, scroll to Still need help?, and select Yes. Outlook.com support can investigate server-side mailbox association; a community forum cannot inspect or restore mailbox data.^3^

References

1. Change the email address for your Microsoft account
2. My email address has emptied all emails from every source - Microsoft Q&A
3. How to sign in to Outlook.com | Microsoft Support