cannot recover a hotmail email account

You’re running into a very common Microsoft recovery problem: the system is trying to verify recent activity on the account, but inactive accounts are the hardest to recover because there’s very little recent data to match.

Having the password unfortunately is not always enough for Microsoft if:

• The account was flagged for unusual login activity (VPNs can trigger this),
• The account has been inactive for a long time,
• Or recovery/security info is outdated.

First, try Microsoft recovery again without using a VPN and from a device/location you previously used for that account.

If you still cannot recover the account, you can try the EdbMails application. We use the EdbMails OST to PST Converter in our organization for email backup and recovery, and it works well. If you still have an old OST or PST file from that account on your computer, you can use the “OST to PST Converter & Recovery” operation to recover and export old emails.

Also keep in mind: if the account was inactive for years, Microsoft may have permanently disabled or deleted it under their inactivity policies. In that case, recovery may no longer be possible even with the correct password.