Hotmail Account "Signed in too many times w/ an incorrect password"

Why is login.live being stupid about this? i started getting that message sporadically a week or so ago, and would close the browser, reopen and get back in okay. now, it's flat-out not letting me in on either of my machines, i get that error, have to get a PIn to my other email address etc. i changed my password, next time i tried to get in, same damn message.

Same thing happened to a few of my hotmail accounts last month.

The fix for me was using a recovery email or phone number associated with the account to log in. If you haven't already set up a recovery email or phone number then it's probably going to not let you in. After you use the recovery email code or the phone code it won't show you the incorrect password option.

Unfortunately there was one or two accounts I did not have this set up for and I was unable to log in at all.

MY GRIPE with Hotmail was they would force me to change my password all the time, it was none of their business .. that went on for decades... hotmail is my junk mail service...

The same thing has been happening to me for the past 2 weeks.
The same message: "Signed in too many times with an incorrect password".
What has allowed me to log in is the PIN.
Occasionally I manage to log in with the password, but it quickly reverts to the same problem.
Using a recovery email doesn't work (the code never arrives in the alternate email).
I did some research and there are many reports of the same problem in the forums.

i can do the PIN/recovery thing but it happens eevery damn time. just logged in now using Outlook on WIn 11 rather than the brower, no issue, but i'd cleared my browser data previously and don't know what else to try.

New member here, I joined the forum in order to join in on this discussion as it is fairly recent and still relevant to all of us. Me especially.

I notice that I am encountering this issue time and time again. In my particular case, I have a very popular email address, so it is likely random people trying to brute force the account. What am I really supposed to do here? Allow me to whitelist a set of IP(s) would be nice.

Microsoft needs to step up and give me an alternative option, because my password is secured, saved, and I want to log the heck in without having to reset it every time I need to check in on something.

UPDATE: This is real rich. I'm forced to reset my password, and once I reset my password and save, it now prompts me with the error "That password is incorrect for your Microsoft account." Get tf out of here!

UPDATE #2: So, what I had to do was find a workaround. When I previously tried to reset my password for the account, Microsoft never sent the code. I resorted to using my phone number to receive the code. Keep this in mind.

Searching for answers as to why I could not log in with a perfectly new password, I found the following solution to get access back to my account and logged in.

1. ⁠Download Firefox on a mobile device. (Do not use a computer.)
2. ⁠Go to account.live.com/proofs/manage and login. (This prompted me to receive a code to my email to sign-in, which was received. Go figure. It allowed me to sign in without issue.)
3. ⁠Turn on either 2FA or passwordless authentication.

JeRM said:

I have a very popular email address, so it is likely random people trying to brute force the account. What am I really supposed to do here?

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Set up passcode then remove password. No one can then attempt to sign in to your Microsoft account from anywhere else.

I got average 20 failed password attempts every day from other countries. Since switching to passcode only, I now get zero.

This is a well known problem of Outlook mail and MS account in general. Some people think that Microsoft knows about this but the bug has a low priority, some others believe in conspiracy that MS forces people to use passkeys any possible way. My account is not an exception, last couple of months I need to use a recovery mail and get a code; Outlook doesn't have an option to get a code from mobile authenticator, even though it would be more logical. Happily, I use Outlook not very often, like a few times a week.
Microsoft never warned me about attempts to get access to my account and never asked me to change the password. Instead, password is useless now.

Slavic said:

Some people think that Microsoft knows about this but the bug has a low priority, ...

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I think it's a feature, not a bug.

Slavic said:

Microsoft never warned me about attempts to get access to my account ...

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You've always been able to monitor attempts at Sign in to your Microsoft account

From time to time again, every now and then, I get that same "Signed in too many times with an incorrect password" error.
It tends to stop bugging me when I try to log in using the correct password a few times.
I never try logging in from anywhere else, and my email address is unique.
I think it's a bug at Microsoft. Would be nice if they address this issue.

pepanee said:

From time to time again, every now and then, I get that same "Signed in too many times with an incorrect password" error.
It tends to stop bugging me when I try to log in using the correct password a few times.
I never try logging in from anywhere else, and my email address is unique.
I think it's a bug at Microsoft. Would be nice if they address this issue.

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All email addresses are unique, or no messages would ever be received.

Is your email address not available or published anywhere on the web?

BruceR said:

Is your email address not available or published anywhere on the web?

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Yes, that's what I meant by unique. I apologize for the misunderstanding.
My email address is a non-existent word that I made up @ hotmail.