Hotmail Sign In

Windows Live Hotmail sign in screen, to login to your account This tutorial explains how to sign in with Windows Live Hotmail: this is the process that takes place when you login to your Hotmail account - either when you are signing in for the first time, have logged out of your previous Hotmail session, or when you are using a public computer to check your Hotmail emails. A separate tutorial will explain how to deal with Hotmail sign in issues and error. We will go over the sign-in screen and the various options you have to log into your Hotmail account, etc. (This tutorial assumes that you did already sign up to create a Hotmail account.) In this tutorial: Hotmail Sign in (Overview) - Automatically sign in - Manually sign out - Security options

Sign in to your Hotmail account

Once you start using Hotmail, you will be able to determine whether the system should keep you signed in, or if Hotmail should ask you for your credentials (password, or email address and password) every time you want to check your emails. But, in the scenario where you are logging in for the first time, or signing in for the first time on the particular computer you are using at the moment, Windows Live Hotmail will display the following screen:

Login through the standard Hotmail sign in page
On the left, Hotmail displays the information needed for someone who wants to sign up for a Hotmail account. On the right pane of that screen (labeled "Sign in"), are displayed the controls (textboxes, checkboxes, links, and buttons) you use to sign in to Hotmail and other Windows Live services. Let's take a closer look at the sign in screen:

Hotmail sign in screen

2011 Hotmail Sign in Form Windows Live Hotmail's sign-in screen is displayed on this screenshot. The first field is labeled "Windows Live ID": this is where you enter your email address in the form userName@hotmail.com. (In other words, your login user name is your full Hotmail email address.) In the next field, type in your Hotmail account password.

Notice next two checkboxes: first, Hotmail gives you the option to "Remember me": if checked, this means that Hotmail will "remember" your email address next time you come to this login screen, on this computer. In fact, Hotmail will set a "cookie", or small text file, inside your web browser's settings: the implication is that Hotmail will in fact remember you on this computer when you are using this browser. (A good way to have multiple Hotmail users using different accounts on the same computer is to each use a different web browser.)

The second checkbox, "Remember my password", allows you to tell Hotmail to keep you signed in, and automatically skip the sign in screen next time you visit hotmail.com...

Tip: note that you cannot have the second checkbox checked without having the first one checked too: in other words, if Windows Live Hotmail remembers your password, it will have to remember your email address as well.

Automatically sign in to Hotmail

If you check both checkboxes mentioned above and click on the Sign in button, Hotmail will create a cookie containing your login information, and instructing it to automatically sign you in next time you want to check your emails. Simply make sure that the two checkbox are checked, and Hotmail will take care of the rest.

Sign in to Hotmail from a public computer

When checking emails from a public library or school, on a computer that isn't yours, take a few security precautions: do not check these two checkboxes, and do manually sign out of Hotmail (explained below) when you are done reading your emails. Don't close the browser window when it still shows your Hotmail inbox, otherwise the next user may end up in your inbox if you haven't properly signed out. Please see our more in-depth overview of the Hotmail login process, or how to login to Hotmail from a public computer.

Sign out of Hotmail

By the same token, Windows Live Hotmail gives you the option to sign out whenever you want: this will clear the "automatically sign in" settings you may have configured above, and ask you for your credentials (login information) next time you go to hotmail.com...

Hotmail displays your user name in the top right corner of each screen: to sign out, or log out, of Hotmail and other Windows Live services, simply click on the Sign out link displayed below your name, as shown on the screenshot. Once you click Sign out, Hotmail will log you out of the system, and redirect you to msn.com (another Microsoft-owned website).

For more detailed info on logging out, erasing your tracks and/or ensuring that no-one else can login to your email account, please see our "Hotmail Sign out" tutorial.

Sign back into Hotmail

The next time you get to the sign in screen, Hotmail will either ask for your password only if you elected to have your email address / email address + password be remembered. When you are logged in and want to customize your Windows Live profile, for example, Hotmail will only ask you to sign in using your password (to confirm your identity).

Hotmail sign in form with pre-filled email address
If you want Hotmail to stop pre-filling in your email address as well (if you are using a computer in a public place, for example), you just need to click on the Forget me link: this will instruct Hotmail to stop storing your email address as well. If you clicked Forget me, you will see the blank sign in form next time you go to Windows Live Hotmail. Neither your email address nor your password now are remembered (as if you had never signed into Hotmail from that computer or web browser).

Hotmail sign in security options

An earlier version of Windows Live Hotmail used to offer a "Use enhanced security" option, which allowed you to sign in to your account using an "SSL" protected login form (web pages that show a padlock icon in the browser's address bar, known as "secure"). This is no longer the case in the new Hotmail, where you are automatically using a secure sign in page: in web browsers that support the feature, you will see a green background, indicating that the ownership of the domain (Microsoft, in the case of Hotmail), has been verified. Here's the secure Hotmail URL with the protection of an "Extended Validation Certificate":

Tip: regardless of how you used to sign in to your Hotmail account previously, the latest iteration of Microsoft's webmail service uses a secure URL; this option cannot be turned off (which is good, since it means that your login information is only sent encrypted over the web!)

You are now equipped not only with an excellent understanding of the login options available through the sign in page, but also (perhaps mainly) with the security precautions you should take when checking your Hotmail account from a public place (like work, school, a friend's computer, or other unfamiliar locations).

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