HOWTO: Send and Receive Hotmail through Evolution

[Indras]

Okay everyone, after digging around in these forums and googling like I've never googled before, I figured out how to send and receive e-mail through hotmail using Evolution. I'm throwing together a rough HOWTO for others. If things need more clarification, let me know and I'll update it.

First, make sure your system is up to date. Open up a terminal and type:

sudo apt-get update

Now, install the inet daemon

sudo apt-get install inetutils-inetd

This takes care of all of our dependencies. Now on to the good stuff...

sudo apt-get install hotway hotsmtp

This will install hotway, which allows you to read hotmail e-mails by simulating a POP3 server, and hotsmtpd, which allows you to send e-mail through hotmail using SMTP. By default, however, only hotway gets installed properly to your inet daemon, so let's fix this.

sudo gedit /etc/inetd.conf

Look for a line like this:

pop3		stream	tcp	nowait	nobody	/usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/bin/hotwayd

By default, hotway leaves a copy of each message it downloads on the server. I prefer it this way, so I can read my e-mail at other locations, but if you don't feel like filling up your hotmail box, change the line to add "-r" to the end, like this:

pop3		stream	tcp	nowait	nobody	/usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/bin/hotwayd -r

And we also need to add a line to get hotsmtpd working, just paste this at the bottom:

2500		stream	tcp	nowait	nobody	/usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/bin/hotsmtpd

This will set the inet daemon to listen to incoming calls on port 2500, and forward the connection to the hotsmtp daemon. Now, save your file, exit gedit, and restart your inetd server:

sudo /etc/init.d/inetutils-inetd restart

If everything is working properly, you'll see this pop up on your screen:

* Restarting internet superserver inetd                            [ ok ]

Now, close out of your terminal and start up Evolution. It may pop up the first-time use wizard, you can use that if you like. Or, you may have to go to Edit->Preferences and hit the Mail Accounts button on the left. However you choose to do it, here's your information:

Email Address: xxx@hotmail.com (fill in your normal e-mail address that you use to login to hotmail)

Receive Server type: POP
Server: 127.0.0.1
Username: xxx@hotmail.com (same as above)
Security: No encryption
Authentication type: Password
(Remember password checkbox is up to you)

Send Server type: SMTP
Server: 127.0.0.1:2500
[X] Server requires authentication (check this box)
Use Secure Connection: No encryption
Authentication Type: PLAIN
Username: xxx@hotmail.com (same as above)
(Optional Remember password checkbox)

[avtolle]

Thanks. However, should be hotsmtp, not hotsmtpd as set out in the third code step in your original post.

[Indras]

Thanks. However, should be hotsmtp, not hotsmtpd as set out in the third code step in your original post.

Thanks, all corrected.

I get this error message after entering password and trying to download mail?

I've heard of people getting this before, I'm going to look into it.

By the way, how old is your account? I find a lot of articles in google saying that Hotmail was ending WebDAV access to new accounts in order to crack down on spam, but all the articles are around September 27, 2004. I know for a fact that I've had my hotmail account for at least six years, and I've always had the capability to open it in Outlook Express (which uses WebDAV). I'm thinking if it's a really new account, it might need to be active for a certain number of months before they give you WebDAV. Otherwise, it might be that all new accounts are not getting WebDAV at all, in which case you're SOL.

My only other suggestion is to try logging directly in via www.hotmail.com to confirm that the e-mail address and password are 100% correct, and that the account is active.

EDIT: Here's a website that confirms my suspicions:
http://www.neilturner.me.uk/2006/Apr...ve_mail_i.html

You can experience with the WebDAV option, which may work with your account if you have been using Hotmail for a few years.

[Browser_ice]

The link about :

EDIT: Here's a website that confirms my suspicions:
http://www.neilturner.me.uk/2006/Apr...ve_mail_i.html

says to open the extension dialog. I don't know where this is.

[forbzie22]

Thanks, all corrected.



I've heard of people getting this before, I'm going to look into it.

By the way, how old is your account? I find a lot of articles in google saying that Hotmail was ending WebDAV access to new accounts in order to crack down on spam, but all the articles are around September 27, 2004. I know for a fact that I've had my hotmail account for at least six years, and I've always had the capability to open it in Outlook Express (which uses WebDAV). I'm thinking if it's a really new account, it might need to be active for a certain number of months before they give you WebDAV. Otherwise, it might be that all new accounts are not getting WebDAV at all, in which case you're SOL.

My only other suggestion is to try logging directly in via www.hotmail.com to confirm that the e-mail address and password are 100% correct, and that the account is active.

EDIT: Here's a website that confirms my suspicions:
http://www.neilturner.me.uk/2006/Apr...ve_mail_i.html

FYI - Your setup instructions worked fine for one of my hotmail accounts which is about 7 years old, my other hotmail account ive had for 3 years, this one doesnt work, complains about ERR to POP 3 server.

[Truedream]

I keep getting unable to bind error

[Sealbhach]

Hi,

Anyone know if something similar could be done for Yahoo Mail?

Never mind, I've done it. Took ages until I realised I had to go into my yahoo account and enable POP3 to be used!

It's just dumped 1,287 messages into my Evolution client, hee hee!



.

[willj]

Thanks. However, should be hotsmtp, not hotsmtpd as set out in the third code step in your original post.

ok i got it working using the original tut. however the first time i did it, i didn't add the d like stated in the quote above. Went back added the d and everything works like it should. Again original tutorial works great, thanks.

[dphirschler]

OK, I think I have some answers. It turns out my ISP, Bellsouth.net (which is now att.net) is blocking port 25 which is what Hotmail wants to use. They have a fix on their website which basically has you using their smtp server for sending emails. I found the fix by searching their website for "smtp port 25".

For me, I had to go into Evolution's Hotmail settings and change the sending server to mail.bellsouth.net. Then I had to say "no encryption" and change the Authentication Type to "Login" and then put in my bellsouth email address in the username field. Finally check "remember password".

So now I can send and receive Hotmail using Evolution. However I have noticed that deleting emails here in Evolution and then checking my hotmail through the web interface, the emails are still there. So it behaves differently than Outlook did in my Windows PC. In Outlook, when I deleted an email, it would delete it locally as well as on the Hotmail web werver. Maybe there is still some setting I need to check.

At least we are one step closer. Why can't it "just work" like gmail?


Darryl

[dphirschler]

OK, I think I have some answers. It turns out my ISP, Bellsouth.net (which is now att.net) is blocking port 25 which is what Hotmail wants to use. They have a fix on their website which basically has you using their smtp server for sending emails. I found the fix by searching their website for "smtp port 25".

For me, I had to go into Evolution's Hotmail settings and change the sending server to mail.bellsouth.net. Then I had to say "no encryption" and change the Authentication Type to "Login" and then put in my bellsouth email address in the username field. Finally check "remember password".

So now I can send and receive Hotmail using Evolution. However I have noticed that deleting emails here in Evolution and then checking my hotmail through the web interface, the emails are still there. So it behaves differently than Outlook did in my Windows PC. In Outlook, when I deleted an email, it would delete it locally as well as on the Hotmail web werver. Maybe there is still some setting I need to check.

At least we are one step closer. Why can't it "just work" like gmail?


Darryl