Problems with adding Hotmail to Mail

I'm running OS X El Capitan v 10.11.6 and v9.3 Mail

This morning my Hotmail Account on my desktop Mail stopped working. I was able to send emails but received messages were not showing in my inbox. Mail on my iPhone is still working fine. I tried lots of different things but decided to bite the bullet, delete the Mail Hotmail account and re-add it. But unfortunately I can't figure out how to set it up as I get the message "Unable to verify account name or password" even though I've checked that the password is correct by logging into to hotmail directly via web browser directly. Any suggestions?

iMac 27″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Apr 25, 2023 4:42 AM

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Posted on Apr 25, 2023 7:02 AM

What year model is your iMac?

see > Identify your iMac model - Apple Support


Start the iMac up in Safe mode and see if you can add the account to Mail.

see > How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support


If that doesn't help, then you may need to upgrade the Mail version by upgrading the macOS.

see > How to download macOS - Apple Support


If the iMac is to old to upgrade, then you can continue to access your mail from a browser until you replace the Mac with a newer model.

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Question marked as Best reply

Apr 25, 2023 7:02 AM in response to radzombie

What year model is your iMac?

see > Identify your iMac model - Apple Support


Start the iMac up in Safe mode and see if you can add the account to Mail.

see > How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support


If that doesn't help, then you may need to upgrade the Mail version by upgrading the macOS.

see > How to download macOS - Apple Support


If the iMac is to old to upgrade, then you can continue to access your mail from a browser until you replace the Mac with a newer model.

Jan 24, 2024 10:43 AM in response to radzombie

Hi @radzombie,

Did you end up finding a solution for this problem ?

I have had this exact same problem this morning and I have been trying multiple options but still no luck.

I have managed to re-install on my iPhone but no luck on my Mac. Same error message as you had when trying to re-install an Hotmail account In Mail...

What a head-ache !

Many thanks.

Jan 24, 2024 2:11 PM in response to radzombie

I've not used Hotmail for decades so you will need to see if my comment is applicable to Hotmail.


Hotmail may be using a device specific password so go to the Hotmail help site and see if this is the case. A device specific password is generated for you for use on a specific device. Other mail accounts sometimes use this method.

Problems with adding Hotmail to Mail

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