4

I have the following problem.

Some Hotmail/Live.com users who register @ my website don't get verification emails. Exim logfile shows the following:

2015-01-22 19:45:04 1YELoT-0006U2-Su => XXXXXXX@live.com R=dnslookup T=remote_smtp H=mx3.hotmail.com [65.54.188.94] X=TLS1.2:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA256:256 DN="CN=*.hotmail.com"
2015-01-22 19:45:04 1YELoT-0006U2-Su Completed

but emails never appear in Hotmail mailboxes.

I have SPF records for my domain, "from" address exists, server has reverse PTR record, server's IP address doesn't exist in any blacklists. No problems with Gmail, Yahoo etc, only with Hotmail.

I use non-existing "reply-to" address. Could it be a problem?

Anyway, if there is a problem with my emails Hotmail should reject them instead of accepting and not delivering. They are just fooling people.

As I understand this problem is not permanent. I have users with Hotmail email addresses, some people get verification email, some not. Today I made several tests but no emails in my Hotmail mailbox.

Is there any way how to get in contact in Hotmail to fix the problem? If not the only solutions is not to accept Hotmail/Live com addresses. :(

user1406271
  • 1,071
  • 4
  • 14
  • 20

4 Answers4

5

I am going to block Hotmail/Live.com/Outlook (Microsoft) email addresses at my website. I am just losing users and money. People who try to register with Hotmail/Outlook etc email addresses can't complete the registration process because the activation emails never arrive - Hotmail/Outlook/Microsoft just stole them. Please read the answer from Hotmail below.

@ Microsoft Forums I found a way to submit a support ticket Microsoft. I included 2 IP addresses of my servers (Hotmail - Microsoft stole emails sent from both servers). The first IP address I use more than 6 months and the second IP address I use just 2 days (got a new server). Hotmail/Microsoft decided that the first IP address "is eligible for conditional mitigation" but the second - not.

As I wrote, the second IP address I got just 2 days ago when I ordered a new server @ my data center. After server installation and configuration I sent a test message to a @hotmail email address. Exim reported "Completed" but this email never arrived to the Hotmail mailbox nor Junk mail folder.

I am not a spammer, my domain name has a SPF record, both IP addresses has PTR records but for Hotmail is just nothing.

I can't send even 1 email from a new server but companies like Linkedin, Badoo, Facebook etc are allowed to send spam (caled invitations) every day.

==============================

Dear [my name]

We have completed reviewing the IP(s) you submitted. The following table contains the results of our investigation.

Conditionally mitigated [FIRST IP ADDRESS]; Our investigation has determined that there are no active blocks against these IP(s); however, some messages were filtered. We have confirmed that these IP(s) are eligible for conditional mitigation, but may be subject to low daily email limits until they have established a good reputation. Please note that this mitigation does not guarantee that your mail will be delivered to a user's inbox.

Mitigation may take 24 - 48 hours to replicate completely throughout our system.

If you feel your issue is not yet resolved, please reply to this email and one of our support team members will contact you for further investigation.

Not qualified for mitigation [SECOND IP ADDRESS]; Our investigation has determined that the above IP(s) do not qualify for mitigation.

Please ensure your emails comply with the Outlook.com policies, practices and guidelines found here: http://mail.live.com/mail/policies.aspx.

To have Deliverability Support investigate further, please reply to this email with a detailed description of the problem you are having, including specific error messages, and an agent will contact you.

Regardless of the deliverability status, Outlook.com recommends that all senders join two free programs that provide visibility into the Outlook.com traffic on your sending IP(s), the sending IP reputation with Outlook.com and the Outlook.com user complaint rates.

Junk Email Reporting program (JMRP) When an Outlook.com user marks an email as "junk", senders enrolled in this program get a copy of the mail forwarded to the email address of their choice. It allows senders to see which mails are being marked as junk and to identify mail traffic you did not intend to send. To join, please visit http://support.msn.com/eform.aspx?productKey=edfsjmrpp&page=support_home_options_form_byemail&ct=eformts.

Smart Network Data Services program (SNDS). This program allows you to monitor the ‘health’ and reputation of your registered IPs by providing data about traffic such as mail volume and complaint rates seen originating from your IPs. To register, please visit http://postmaster.live.com/snds/.

There is no silver bullet to maintaining or improving good IP reputation, but these programs help you proactively manage your email eco-system to help better ensure deliverability to Outlook.com users.

Thank you,

Outlook.com Deliverability Support

user1406271
  • 1,071
  • 4
  • 14
  • 20
4

Do not waste your time, you can't resolve this issue even if you join Micrsoft's stupid JMRP & SNDS, call support, ask for delisting at:

todelist@messaging.microsoft.com

delist.forefront@messaging.microsoft.com

delist@messaging.microsoft.com

etc...

The best case it will be temporary solution, later messages will go to junk or will be deleted anyway… and you never predict when it is delivered or put in junk or deleted.

It is useless and the reason is "famous" Microsoft SmartScreen message filtering, as they call it "Technology"...

According to that Microsoft SmartScreen technology:

"... All messages sent to Microsoft (MSN, LIVE, Hotmail, Outlook) accounts are spam, therefore must be put in junk folder..."

They do not declare this directly, but follow that rule directly, rule of fighting of legit messages and not spam.

However there are exceptions - top domains and mail service providers like Yahoo, Gmail are not filtered strictly by SmartScreen, so there is still a chance to have message received in Inbox, but your IP should not be blocked or blacklisted.

The resolution: if they do it, you can do it also – ban and block Microsoft accounts

I block customers who come to my web with Microsoft (MSN, LIVE, Hotmail, Outlook) emails and ask them to open accounts with other email providers (Yahoo, Gmail etc) and the copy of this message customers see at my web simultaneously goes to Microsoft support emails like I have indicated above

If many webmasters who acquire customers at their web follow this way we will defeat Microsoft SmartScreen sooner or later

P.S.

I had the similar problem of delivery to Apple (@icloud.com, @me.com, @mac.com) accounts and the approach above helped, Apple removed my IP and domain from blocked list.

cmpt
  • 87
  • 1
  • 5
  • 1
    Don't hold back... tell us what you *really* think. – womble Nov 13 '15 at 03:43
  • This will ultimately be a problem with _any_ mail provider that lets users click Junk and uses that data to classify email, because many users have a really bad habit of clicking Junk to mail they signed up for! But Microsoft takes this to an extreme, doing very bad things like dropping mail on the floor. This alone makes their email services unreliable at best. – Michael Hampton Nov 13 '15 at 04:14
  • 1
    Sincerely, I think this is Not an answer, but a rant. How can someone imagine considering a functional solution, that has for consequence banning a large part of the internet from your application, as a correct answer? I come to ServerFault and look for **technical** + **solutions** not **functional** + **poor decisions**. Flagged. – lajarre May 27 '16 at 19:19
1
  1. Last I heard, Yahoo requires a DKIM signature for all inbound mail. Configure your Exim system to DKIM sign messages, set up the required DNS records, and you'll most likely at least get into the Junk folder of the recipients.
  2. Make sure your IP address is not listed in any of the major blacklists. A great one to check multiple lists for you is located at http://multirbl.valli.org/
  3. Make sure that the sending email address (the envelope sender, not the address in the From header) is valid and verifies.

One of those likely will get you some positive results.

Todd Lyons
  • 2,036
  • 16
  • 13
  • I don't have any problems with Yahoo or Gmail. All emails arrive. Just Hotmail stole everything. I have checked your suggested blacklist website and my domain/IP address is blacklisted by the same lists as Hotmail: [link](http://multirbl.valli.org/lookup/hotmail.com.html)[/link] – user1406271 Mar 08 '15 at 01:46
  • Not an exact answer to the question, but still a very useful (actually must-do) check list. – lajarre May 27 '16 at 19:23
1

Here is the list of Microsoft outbound IP addresses (MTA):

http://mail.live.com/mail/ipspace.aspx

65.54.190.0/26
65.54.190.64/26
65.54.190.128/26
65.54.190.192/26
65.55.116.0/26
65.55.111.64/26
65.55.116.64/26
65.55.111.128/26
65.55.34.0/26
65.55.34.64/26
65.55.34.128/26
65.55.34.192/26
65.55.90.0/26
65.55.90.64/26
65.55.90.128/26
65.55.90.192/26
65.54.51.64/26
65.54.61.64/26
207.46.66.0/28
157.55.0.192/26
157.55.1.128/26
157.55.2.0/26
157.55.2.64/26

To Admins and Postmasters:

Reconfigure your MTA (SMPT) to ban those IP addresses and bounce emails with the following message or like that:

"MTA with illegal Microsoft SmartScreen filtering engine has detected. The message is not accepted for delivery due to violation of RFC2821 6.1 (http://www.rfc-base.org/txt/rfc-2821.txt), Please contact Microsoft company for clarifications"

cmpt
  • 87
  • 1
  • 5
  • I might have missed something, but isn't the question about sending mail **to** hotmail and those IP-addresses are relevant primarily for mail sent **from** Microsofts mail services? – HBruijn Dec 25 '15 at 12:05
  • 1
    Hi, has anyone ever found a solution to this problem? Four years later and.. it still seems to be a problem. I can attest to this personally, as I run the mail-servers for my day-job, as well as the mail-servers for my own business. Both outgoing servers, mail going to outlook.com, hotmail, and office365 addresses always goes straight to the junk folder. In the case of my own server, it has proper DKIM/SPF/PTR/reverse lookups etc. No spam, no marketing, no lists. No blacklists. Only occasional mails. Very few. Always goes to Junk, labeled "This message was identified as spam". – jdmayfield May 22 '19 at 23:51