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May 15

Hotmail Blocking Gmail Emails

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I'm absolutely sick of this situation. Every time I send an email to anyone in my family (who all use Hotmail because of the MSN Messenger legacy) the emails dont come through. They don't even go into their spam folders. Hotmail/Windows Live Mail is simply blocking the emails full stop, any other account I send them to works fine.

I'm slowly moving them over to Gmail as it is a better service all round, the search works (unlike Hotmail), the spam filtering actually works (almost 100% fullproof), you get more space every day, and they don't block emails from competitors' services (that should be illegal anyway imho). Anyone else had this happen? Looks like this has come up before.

(I have a feeling this has something to do with me using the Gmail Pop/SMTP service, however this is perfectly normal email usage and as I said before I can send email to any other service without problem).


57 comments

  1. § Keith said on : 15/05/07 @ 08:18
    U soundin' pretty vex'd there Richard!!

    I migrated to gmail about 2 years ago, including my messenger login, so now my hotmail account remains untouched. Never looked back!!

    Anyways i still have the account and just did a little test from gmail to hotmail.com and while it was a little slow, the message did get through!!

    You sure its not your family using a "if (message from richard) delete" filter? lol
  2. § Richard Leggett® Email said on : 15/05/07 @ 09:03
    "You sure its not your family using a 'if (message from richard) delete' filter? lol"

    Hah, I think you might have something there Keith!
  3. § Josh said on : 15/05/07 @ 17:21
    Are your messages specifically going through GMail's SMTP server, or your own? You mentioned the POP/SMTP service, so it got my radar up. I've found that many free webmail providers specifically block mail that doesn't go through officially known servers.
  4. § Scottae said on : 15/05/07 @ 21:23
    I don't know why people are so reluctant to switch to Gmail. I try to get all my friends and family to switch, but many of them are like, "I'm fine with my Yahoo/Hotmail/Whatever". I jump through hoops of fire to show them how Google has all kinds of cool stuff that they can use........for free. To no avail. You think it would make sense, if there is a better version of something, you get it......if possible. If I have a job making $30,000 a year, and then I get offered a better job making $60,000 a year, I'd be stupid to say "Meh, I'm good".
  5. § Richard Leggett® Email said on : 16/05/07 @ 02:13
    @Scottae couldn't agree more.

    @Josh, I am indeed using smtp.gmail.com which is why it's very strange.
  6. § Ralph Batten said on : 02/06/07 @ 05:50
    same here. I can't get my emails through to hotmail. I alsdo HAD a hotmail add and have now written it off. if they cant deal with me, that's their hard luck. I refuse anthing to do with hotmail. My revolt for what it's worth!!
  7. § ONX said on : 07/08/07 @ 13:28
    i cant get emails from hotmail, at all. it's been a problem lately. is this microsoft or gmail? also, if microsoft is advocating net neutrality, what the hell is this?
  8. § ManU said on : 23/09/07 @ 10:46
    I recently sent an email to a hotmail account from gmail. I am not sure if it made it through. However, a day after I started getting much more spam than usual. I find this very suspect...it may be a coincidence, but I would like to know if anyone has had a similar problem. What is happening to those emails going from gmail to hotmail? Are spammers listening in and stealing adresses? is hotmail selling them when they come from gmail and not delivering for certain gmail adresses
  9. § Vanesss said on : 01/10/07 @ 02:49
    Yeah i had this problem too. Microsoft might think they will stop people from getting gmail accounts, but actualy they only make us mad. Same thing when they forced me to upgrade to windows live (from hotmail).. i am really thinking about getting a gmail account!
  10. § Jerome said on : 02/11/07 @ 17:37
    I have been sending emails from our gmail account to hotmail accounts and now you guys have got me wondering if they ever even made it!!! Surely this is not happening across the board? Is there a way any of you know to be able to verify with microsoft or google about this alleged practice?
  11. § Akhan Almagambetov said on : 27/11/07 @ 04:52
    Several months from the date of this post this situation is still in effect for almost all messages going from Gmail accounts to MS Live accounts (even those registered by schools, such as @student.school-name.edu).. Although, for posterity reasons, MS Live does let _some_ email to go through. This is really frustrating.. it is, however, understandable why Microsoft would be blocking Gmail. Or why they would be at all concerned with it. After all, they are inferior when it comes to mail and the account options offered. I would not be surprised if this results in a lawsuit several months down the road. Not surprised at all. What surprises me, however, is the fact that most schools still prefer to get the MS Live accounts for their students. Granted, the accounts integrate nicely with Windows Vista and never require you to log in (given that your MS Live account password is the same as your doman password and you are using their snappy version of IE.. but who does that anymore?).. Google Apps offers a vastly better suite of "applications" as well as account features, all of which could be batched. I've beta-tested Google's apps and as far as I can tell, it's the greatest thing since sliced cheese.. (or bread?) I guess it takes time for some to catch up with the trendiness of all-powerful Google...
  12. § Dale said on : 12/12/07 @ 16:00
    I thought i had the same problem.. and i was looking for a solution.. but just read lots of things like this forum etc.. and then the messages came through. A little slow but it did arrive.
  13. § Yong said on : 22/04/08 @ 10:40
    I have the same problem as you, Richard. I'm sure it worked a couple years ago, but not any more now! I've been trying to resolve it, no perfect solution so far. Does your Gmail gets emails from Hotmail accounts?
  14. § Ric said on : 01/05/08 @ 13:15
    I have email at my domain redirecting to my Gmail account. In the past week I have not received emails from a number of (but not all) Hotmail accounts. Spam in my Gmail account has also been reduced, so I am assuming that Gmail is blocking these emails altogether as if they were REALLY BAD SPAM.
  15. § Raj Email said on : 21/05/08 @ 14:37
    Im really getting mad. My girlfriend doesnt receive emails from me (from gmail to hotmail). What a **** system!
  16. § Emanuel said on : 28/05/08 @ 02:28
    Seems things are getting worst. Not sure who's fault is it. But today I just had the same problem. Gmail and Hotmail people could start conversations to solve this issue and make everyone happy!
  17. § nneonneo Email said on : 28/05/08 @ 05:09
    Newsflash: Hotmail is now *rejecting* emails from Gmail outright.

    Technical details of permanent failure:
    PERM_FAILURE: Gmail tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 SC-004 Mail rejected by Windows Live Hotmail for policy reasons. A block has been placed against your IP address because we have received complaints concerning mail coming from that IP address. If you are not an email/network admin please contact your E-mail/Internet Service Provider for help. Email/network admins, we recommend enrolling in our Junk E-Mail Reporting Program (JMRP), a free program intended to help senders remove unwanted recipients from their e-mail list: http://postmaster.live.com (state 13).

    i.e. Gmail can't deliver emails to Hotmail at all, probably due to the recent cracking of Gmail's CAPTCHA. This really bugs me, since I've got to find some other way to deliver my mail...
  18. § Canadian said on : 28/05/08 @ 05:42
    Just got the same error message as nneonneo, trying to e-mail from Gmail (via Google Apps implementation) to Hotmail at 28/05/08 @ 00:27 EST (GMT -4:00)
  19. § Freakin Email said on : 28/05/08 @ 06:37
    Same thing as Canadian and nneonneo... wtf is wrong with these people?
  20. § asshats Email said on : 28/05/08 @ 09:49
    Yep - Microsoft are twats... I can't believe they were silently killing the messages before - at least now it's in the open. What a pathetic excuse for a company they are, no respect or care for their customers. I will personally invite all of my hotmail using friends to open gmail accounts so that I can mail them now, suck on that MS :p
  21. § Rog said on : 28/05/08 @ 10:32
    Hotmail now bounces email from both of my Gmail accounts and my webserver's signup emails too (small forums site, certainly not spam). It's not even getting into the junk folder, it's just refusing connections, which is absurd.

    I know Gmail was exploited recently for spammers, but Microsoft's lockdown is just making their email system unusable. Apparently they aren't clever enough to do anything but throw the baby out with the bathwater.
  22. § Jenn Email said on : 28/05/08 @ 19:39
    Same 550 (hotmail doesn't like gmail) error received yesterday for me. Even on a reply to a hotmail address! Any fix yet? I use my gmail for business. Does this mean I need a hotmail address too? If there's a fix out there... I would be VERY greatful!
    All things I found was hotmail blaming gmail... gmail blaming hotmail.... pay a $50 fine (I don't think so!)
    How frustrating!
  23. § Jasper Winkel Email said on : 30/05/08 @ 09:34
    Same here. Unfortunately, my wife and her low-tech friends never made it through the Exodus, and are still wandering the Hot(mail) desert.
    As a result, they form a cluster of people unwilling to help themselves, and able to communicate only with eachother.

    I say sue the bastards for all they're worth!
  24. § Jasper Winkel Email said on : 30/05/08 @ 09:35
    (clearly, sue MS, not my wife and her friends =P )
  25. § rpatrick Email said on : 30/05/08 @ 18:54
    Gmail to hot mail does not work, I run mine through outlook, and I get a notice of failure to hot mail accounts.

  26. § andy Email said on : 30/05/08 @ 23:58
    Same problem here. All emails from gmail to hotmail got returned. All my friends/families are switching to gmail. Good job microsoft.
  27. § Don Email said on : 31/05/08 @ 20:13
    Here's what I have discovered. I setup Outlook to get my mail from Google apps. I used smtp.gmail.com to send from, ssl port 465 and hotmail bounces the email. I switched my outgoing email to my isp's server (smtp.charter.net in my case), no SSL and port 25 and hotmail does not block it. This is fine if using Outlook but is no good using the web interface.

    I opened a ticket with Microsoft (SRX1068800067ID) and their response was they are waiting on vital information from gmail (it's always someone else with Microsoft). I just opened a ticket with Google and have yet to hear back.

    It's not much, but may help some until it's resolved...
  28. § Don Email said on : 31/05/08 @ 20:23
    Here's Microsoft's official response to my ticket:

    From: Microsoft Customer Support [mailto:SENDS.EDFS.WW.00.EN.RTA.SEA.ES.GST.LV1.00.EM@css.one.microsoft.com]
    Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 1:22 PM
    To: don@ampsports.com
    Subject: RE: SRX1068800067ID - Sender Information for Hotmail Delivery

    Hello,

    We are currently working with gmail.com to resolve the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience and will resolve the problem as soon as possible once we receive vital information from gmail.com

    Thank You
    Stephen
    Windows Live Hotmail Domain Support
  29. § Person Email said on : 01/06/08 @ 11:31
    Well I can't receive emails from my dad who is using gmail.
    My friends however, who also use gmail, can send me emails on my hotmail account.
    Obviously both my friends and my dad are on my contact list, so the theory that only emails from people-on-the-contact-list will be received, therefore disproving this theory.
    I myself send an email from my own gmail account to my Hotmail account, and it got through. I hacked into my dad's email BUT the emails still can't be sent to my Hotmail account.
    Yes, I checked my spam folder, so it's not there.
    No, I did not receive an email saying that the email didn't get through.
    It is as simple and the email being sent(gmail to Hotmail), and never being heard of again.
  30. § pbintu_ablenty Email said on : 05/06/08 @ 17:46
    I dunno, i have both hotmail and gmail accounts, i often need to send stuff to my self (hotmail to gmail) and (gmail to hotmail) - ive never really had a problem with emails not getting through + all my emails would usually would have atachments...... so when i saw this page i thought maybe its becaus e im using an @hotmail.co.uk account? I also have a @hotmail.com account lol.... nothing wrong there too.... didnt even get into the spam folder - straight into the inbox! gud luck 2 u all with the probs...
  31. § david Email said on : 08/06/08 @ 23:55
    I just started seeing this today. I sent out an email to myself with a list of people BCCed. Out of ten people who had hotmail email addresses only two were rejected, both for the same reason:

    Technical details of permanent failure:
    PERM_FAILURE: Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 SC-001 Mail rejected by Windows Live Hotmail for policy reasons. Reasons for rejection may be related to content with spam-like characteristics or IP/domain reputation problems. If you are not an email/network admin please contact your E-mail/Internet Service Provider for help. Email/network admins, please visit http://postmaster.live.com for email delivery information and support (state 13).


    I guess I'll try resending to the two people directly instead of as BCC & will also open tickets with both gmail and hotmail. :(
  32. § Oldfart Email said on : 13/09/08 @ 00:14
    I've been having problems with the hotmail black hole for a long time now. I have two people on my family list who have hotmail (my eldest daughter and a granddaughter). They rarely respond to my emails and I wondered why. Because they haven't been getting them and I've been getting no errors. I use gmail via a pop interface with Thunderbird. I also have an email account with my cable provider. My only solution is to use the cable provider as my email sender and gmail as my email receiver. TB makes this relatively easy to do. But, whoever mentioned earlier that it might have something to do with using the gmail pop server instead of the web interface was, I believe, right on the mark. I just happen to dislike the web interface for emails.
    TB has so many more options.
  33. § Elmer Email said on : 29/09/08 @ 19:52
    I use Verizon SMTP email. Just in the last couple of days, I started getting the "smtp.550 SC-004 Mail rejected by Windows Live Hotmail for policy reasons. A block has been placed against your IP address because we have received complaints concerning mail coming from that IP address. If you are not an email/network admin please contact " and no contact given.
  34. § Eric Email said on : 04/10/08 @ 00:14
    Has anyone tried sending an email from a Hotmail account using Gmail using the multiple account feature of Gmail? Or does this still exist?
  35. § lyn montgomery Email said on : 07/10/08 @ 12:51
    hello everyone you are not the only ones, i use gotalk and starting from yesterday all my friends useing hotmail ,have all been rejected a block is on my email server as well.

    how can we get around this as I am trying to contact 2 friends I had lost 3 years ago and now i have their addresses they are hotmail.I cant get any help from hotmail because I cant contact them?

    And yes gmail is still around my daughter uses it.
    thanks lyn
  36. § Claire Email said on : 26/10/08 @ 23:35
    I am sorry but the service gmail has provided to me has been wholly inadequate. I have tried and tried to retrieve my inbox but to no avail. I have to say the service is very bad. On the occasion I do access my account I often find that gmail is waiting to access my account and then says (even though I can on screen see my inbox) they are unavailable to access my account. I have had this on several occasions.
  37. § Chris Lang Email said on : 12/02/09 @ 00:44
    Just the new social features alone in Google and Gmail should have proved highly beneficial and provide interactive to you and your family.

    Just ran across this in Google as I was researching some email problems for a client.

    Wondered how this played out for you.

    - Chris Lang
  38. § Richard Leggett® Email said on : 12/02/09 @ 09:12
    I haven't had any problems in a while now, fingers crossed it is resolved.
  39. § Manoj Email said on : 06/03/09 @ 07:57
    I had problem with hotmail and google apps . when i send mails using google apps ID for my company. its not delievery to hotmail IDs.
    but the problem is solved after creating SPF record for my google apps domain. Now the problem is when we are sending mails to hotmail from google apps its take delay to delivery. so that my customers not responding to our mails.
  40. § Rich Saleh Email said on : 07/03/09 @ 17:16
    My wife uses hotmail and can never get my emails which i send from my gmail account. No error messages and they don't end up in Spam or junk folders. We have done several tests. Not good for marital relations when she says i never answer her emails :-). Can someone please describe in more detail this SPF fix mentioned in the last comment by Manoj?
  41. § EvylRat Email said on : 09/03/09 @ 20:08
    I too have this issue. If I send an email to a hotmail account, it just dissappears, no errors, no warning, no way of knowing it's gone. But if I reply to a hotmail email, the mail sometimes gets though. More recently, I'm also having this problem with Tiscali.
  42. § MS Incompetent or Evil? Email said on : 20/04/09 @ 19:10
    Hotmail is throwing out my gmails to my son's hotmail account without any warning on any side.

    Hopefully the EU will look at this as more evidence of MS up to the same old monopolistic b.s.
  43. § Chris Email said on : 25/04/09 @ 16:19
    Just adding my voice to the chorus. My emails from gmail to hotmail are first delayed then rejected. Booo microsoft.
  44. § Ron Email said on : 04/05/09 @ 12:13
    I've just sent two emails to my daughter on Hotmail they have been returned, they were rejected for 'Policy reasons', they have 'placed a block on my IP address because of complaints concerning mail from that IP address'. What a load of garbage I am a private individual, I email a lot of friends & have not had any complaints.
    What really annoys me is the 'Big brother' attitude of no reply address on the returned email so that I can find out where they got this stupid idea from. Best idea I guess is to stop people using Hotmail.
  45. § Charles Email said on : 14/05/09 @ 00:54
    My wife couldn't send email from yahoo's sbcglobal.net to my hotmail so she switched to gmail. I had no more problem getting email from her until today when email from her gmail stopped coming. One friend can't email me even from hotmail. A couple of other friends have trouble reaching me too. There may be others. I have no way of checking who's missing and my wife doesn't get bounce-backs so she can't check if her messages have been received. Is there no technical support for this?
  46. § Bob Email said on : 26/05/09 @ 20:49
    Same here, just encountered this problem as of May 26th '09.

    Just thought I'd share my rage since it shows the diligence with which they "solved" the issue.

    "
    Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 SC-001 Mail rejected by Windows Live Hotmail for policy reasons. Reasons for rejection may be related to content with spam-like characteristics or IP/domain reputation problems. If you are not an email/network admin please contact your E-mail/Internet Service Provider for help. Email/network admins, please visit http://postmaster.live.com for email delivery information and support (state 13).
    "
  47. § Ahmad Bekdash Email said on : 26/05/09 @ 22:07
    I am having the same F****** problem :(
    Hotmail SUCKS.

    Best Regards
  48. § Marcus Email said on : 27/05/09 @ 15:31
    SAME HERE!
    550 SC-004 Mail rejected by Windows Live Hotmail - from GMail
    I'm thinking of dropping MSN entirely because of so many issues constantly and going straight to GMail.
  49. § Richard Leggett® Email said on : 27/05/09 @ 15:38
    We are now 2 years after the post, and it looks like nothing has changed.
  50. § LYNDA Email said on : 28/05/09 @ 12:19
    I too have had the same problem. I set up googlemail about 6 months ago and one of my daughters who is on hotmail has never got any emails from me and we didn't know why. Her sister who is also on hotmail was receiving mail from me right up until 27th May when they were returned. I hope that they will resolve the matter as my daughters do not want to switch, and nor do I. I am really happy with googlemail. Very unhappy with hotmail!

  51. § diablicka1@girlsandnylons Email said on : 17/07/09 @ 16:00
    What else is the same as my doman password and I am using their snappy version of IE?
  52. § Celine Email said on : 19/07/09 @ 09:47
    I have a friend on gmail and we email each other pretty often.. usually she takes a day to reply. but its been a week since i've heard from her. i have a gmail and i experimented also..

    I received every email.. so what do you think could be the problem?
  53. § Donnie Email said on : 23/07/09 @ 21:51
    This is too funny! I came here looking for a way to permanently block gmail accounts from my hotmail. Most of my business is run "online" and I'm am sick of all the scam emails that always come from gmail accounts. I have a gmail account and it sucks along with being easy to bot and create junk mail. Yahoo and hotmail made it to where you cannot set-up a bot there, why doesn't gmail?
  54. § adam Email said on : 29/07/09 @ 21:23
    I opened a case with the FCC and referenced this website (hey, you never know):

    Form 2000A - Deceptive or Unlawful Advertising or Marketing Complaint
    Date: 07/29/2009
    To: Federal Communications Commission
    Subject: 09-C00140352 (Form2000 Filed Via The Internet)
  55. § Jacob Email said on : 12/11/09 @ 21:04
    Yeah, that really sucks! I have been trying to send messages to my family, and I don't even know what they got and didn't get. I've also been applying for jobs with my gmail account to hotmail addresses. I feel that Microsoft owes me money now!!!
  56. § walter Email said on : 03/01/10 @ 06:53
    Gmail is not getting through into hotmail / msn.

  57. § Rajeev Chaudhary Email said on : 04/01/10 @ 04:30
    Neither Hotmail not Gmail are kids! the owners are typical business tycoons! If it would have been completely hotmail fault, then by now Gmail would have moved to court. Also Hotmail knows that gmail can't do anything in this case.
    Technically and legally they are able to defend each other. I don't know if they have changed their terms and conditions.
    Even my emails are not delivered and business getting :)
    Gmail and Google keep fighting and users are at loss.
    Rajeev

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