Outlook Hotmail Account Overwritten with old Hotmail Defaults using Auto Account Setup Solution

Problem:

Recently my Hotmail account was upgraded and Outlook Hotmail Connector Version 14.0.6123.5001 failed to stop working. I tried to manually add a hotmail.com account to Outlook 2007 to access the IMAP Outlook.com server imap-mail.outlook.com, but because I was using a hotmail.com address, Outlook would overwrite then manual settings with the old Hotmail default settings (see 1 in image below) with http://services.msn.com/svcs/hotmail/httpmail.asp.

How to configure your Outlook 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 client see here.

 


Why the migration? 

Microsoft is migrating all Outlook.com mailboxes to the Office 365 Exchange Online mail servers, which is why my Outlook Hotmail Connector Version 14.0.6123.5001 failed to stop working. 
The of Outlook.com mailboxes to Exchange Online is expect to occur starting at the end Q1 2016 and beyond.

Office 365 Exchange Online now uses OST vs PST file? 

OThere are major differences between OST and PST containers for you emails. PST files are used to download all your emails so you can make a full back-up, OST is only a recent used cache of emails. You can read full details here.


How can you tell your mailbox has been migrated?

Solution:  Hack the Hotmail Auto Account Settings for Hotmail.com 

I had to make the following change to the registry for setting to get my account to work.

Old registry Hotmail registry setting (this from readable form using RegtoText)

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[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Domains\hotmail.com] "MSN.COM"=[REG_DWORD] 1 "HTTP Mail Enabled"=[REG_DWORD] 1 "Friendly Name"="Hotmail" "Sign up URL"="" "Config URL"="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=56568" "HTTP Mail Server"="http://services.msn.com/svcs/hotmail/httpmail.asp" "Use Wizard"=[REG_DWORD] 0

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[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Domains\hotmail.com] "MSN.COM"=[REG_DWORD] 1 "HTTP Mail Enabled"=[REG_DWORD] 1 "Friendly Name"="Hotmail" "Sign up URL"="" "Config URL"="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=56568" "HTTP Mail Server"="http://services.msn.com/svcs/hotmail/httpmail.asp" "Use Wizard"=[REG_DWORD] 0

Hacked: Change to this registry Hotmail registry setting 

Before you begin, back up your registry.

You start by change these two settings to your registry. 

1. HTTP Mail Enabled to 0 and 
2. HTTP Mail Server to your POP or IMAP settings. See Outlook Mail servers here.

Make you changes the add manual connection. Close Outlook. Restart and check the connection setting check that is not overwritten. 

If it is overwritten,  add the rest of the setting below. 

My final registry stetting using (Regedit.exe export)

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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Domains\hotmail.com] "MSN.COM"=dword:00000001 "HTTP Mail Enabled"=dword:00000000 "Friendly Name"="Hotmail" "Sign up URL"="" "Config URL"="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=56568" "HTTP Mail Server"="imap-mail.outlook.com" "Use Wizard"=dword:00000000 "IMAP Mail Enabled"=dword:00000001 "IMAP Mail Server"="imap-mail.outlook.com"

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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Domains\hotmail.com] "MSN.COM"=dword:00000001 "HTTP Mail Enabled"=dword:00000000 "Friendly Name"="Hotmail" "Sign up URL"="" "Config URL"="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=56568" "HTTP Mail Server"="imap-mail.outlook.com" "Use Wizard"=dword:00000000 "IMAP Mail Enabled"=dword:00000001 "IMAP Mail Server"="imap-mail.outlook.com"

Images of final Registry settings 

If you are using new IMAP connection, and emails are not deleting from you inbox, you have to change the view, to "Hide Messages Marked for Deletion". So when you delete a email, it look like it is removed. It only gets removed on next refresh.