Send and Receive Your Hotmail messages through Evolution
Posted by admin on February 19th, 2007 
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First, make sure your system is up to date. Open up a terminal and type
sudo apt-get update
First You need to install the inet daemon
sudo apt-get install inetutils-inetd
This takes care of all of our dependencies.
Next You need to install pop3 server and hotsmtp
sudo apt-get install hotway hotsmtp
This will install hotway, which allows you to read hotmail e-mails by simulating a POP3 server, and hotsmtp, 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 the following line
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 but if you don’t feel like filling up your hotmail box, change the line to add “-r” to the end, complete line looks like below
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 the following line at the bottom of the file
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 using the following command
sudo /etc/init.d/inetutils-inetd restart
If everything is working properly, you’ll see the following 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)
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February 20th, 2007 at 11:45 am
Worked like a breeze, but… got the following message:
Unable to connect to POP server 127.0.0.1.
Error sending password: -ERR Hotmail said you must pay money to have WebDAV access
Please enter the POP password for ********@hotmail.com on host 127.0.0.1
Is there a workaround or am I doing something wrong?
February 20th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
try this
edit the /etc/hosts.allow file and add the following line save and exit the file
hotwayd: 127.0.0.1
i would also suggest you to check the hotmail server settings
Hope this helps
February 22nd, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Great howto.
Everything seems ok except the ‘Error sending password: -ERR Hotmail said you must pay money to have WebDAV access’.
Any work around? I’ve tried everything, these sorts of things are what caused me to switch.
February 24th, 2007 at 1:12 am
wonderful
February 24th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Thank you! Superb!
February 25th, 2007 at 3:43 am
Hmmmmmm it does not work for me either I tried editing the hosts.allow file but to no avail. Any other suggestions?
February 27th, 2007 at 12:37 am
Of those having problems, have you been able to access your hotmail account through a pop3 client previously? There was a window of time when Microsoft would allow you to do that. Then the cutoff hit and anybody that didn’t have access previously couldn’t get it without paying.
March 2nd, 2007 at 7:45 am
After editing host.allow I still had no luck connecting.
Then I guessed the problem is an issue with the password length.
If you use a long password try shortening your password to eight digits or less and try again.
The issue is a local one because I can still connect to Hotmail with a long password from my Macbook Pro.
Hope this helps.
;p
March 16th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
It also works with kmail, Thanks
April 8th, 2007 at 1:11 am
AWESOME!
I’ve been putzing for a day and a half w/forums trying to cook this goose. BRAVO! Owe you a beer, dude!
Richard Paul
Greenwich, CT
April 12th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Works great but if I delete an email in Evolution it remains on the hotmail server. Is there a way to “sync” the two so that if I delete an email in Evolution it is deleted in the hotmail account?
April 19th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Great how-to,
something I’ve always wanted to have. It works so well. How about yahoo mail. Would this how to apply to setup the yahoo mail as well?
Thanks,
April 30th, 2007 at 9:13 am
hey you all, i read this over and over again and gave it a try though it didnt work :S
dunno wht am i doing wrong though with each command i type in terminal it asks me for the pass and after hitting enter nothing happens…
May 4th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
same for me ; tells me impossible to connect to 127.0.0.1, along with the message:
-ERR Please log in with USER first
then when i type the pass the same windows pops up endlessly…
May 12th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Thank you. Ideal guide.
I’ve done every single instructions and when I try to send a message and type in my password, this is what I get: ‘Error sending password: -ERR Hotmail said you must pay money to have WebDAV access’. And there is no way through! Is there a solution here?
May 16th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Hi There,
It all looked so promising but when trying to send and receive I get the following error :
-ERR Unable to find folder inbox on remote server
Any Ideas ?
Gavin
May 16th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Here is a telnet session to localhost:
gjones@ubuntu:/etc$ telnet localhost 110
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
+OK POP3 hotwayd v0.8.4 -> The POP3-HTTPMail Gateway. Server on ubuntu active.
user gavin@domain.com
+OK Username validated, Password required
pass password
-ERR Unable to find folder inbox on remote server
quit
+OK see you later!
Connection closed by foreign host.
May 17th, 2007 at 6:43 am
Hi guys, I’m still having problems with starting up Evolution. This message
“Unable to connect to POP server 127.0.0.1.
Error sending username: -ERR Please log in with USER first
Please enter the POP password for xxxxx on host 127.0.0.1″ pops up endlessly.
What do i do now to move on from here? I feel stuck.
May 17th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Hi Toni,
Can you copy the telnet procedure I did above ?
Basically:
telnet localhost 110
USER you@hotmail.com
PASS YOUR_PASSWORD
If that works then try “list”
Gavin
May 19th, 2007 at 9:02 am
Hi Gavin, I’ve just sent my reply and even posted it twice, for which I got “you’ve submitted this twice” or the sort, however, it did not show up on the site. So, here it is again.
I followed your instructions and this is what I got in the end of the telnet session : “-ERR Hotmail said you must pay money to have WebDAV access” . Obviously, it won’t work for no money.
Now I wonder how to setup another mail account with Evolution other than hotmail. I’ve got one. What should I write in for server names in the configuring wizard? I tried with the server name to my knowledge but it didn’t work. Or should there be written some server ID?
I guess the most frequent words about Linux are “Thank you” and this is what makes it wonderful.
Here is one from me,
Thank you, Gavin
May 20th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Thanks !
June 29th, 2007 at 1:39 am
Worked like a charm! thanks.
June 29th, 2007 at 1:41 am
The guide worked like a charm! Now I can fully transfer to Ubuntu now. Thanks.
June 29th, 2007 at 1:42 am
The guide worked like a charm! Now I can fully transfer to Ubuntu. Thanks.
June 29th, 2007 at 1:42 am
The guide worked like a charm! With Outlook like email access, now I can fully transfer to Ubuntu. Thanks.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:20 am
Great howto! I was half heartedly searching how to set up evolution with my web mail accounts, and 20mins later I have an inbox with 50 mails from my gmail and hotmail accounts.
Thanks.
August 24th, 2007 at 3:01 am
I got all of the expected responses to all the instructions/commands, but when I click on Evolution’s Send/Receive, I get: “Failed to read a valid greeting from POP server 127.0.0.1″
I double checked everything and found no errors. Anyone have any suggestions?
August 27th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Worked like a charm, except, can not sent messages.
If I “press” sent/receive” i got the message :
Error while performing operation.
Could not send message: Broken pipe
Can you help me out here pls.
I can tell you that my wife will completely switch over to Ubuntu since -as she say- it is more logical than XP…….
August 28th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Iets is veranderd.
De broken pipe boodschap verschijnt alleen als het zend/ontvang proces wordt gecancelled en direct daarna “zend/ontvang” wordt ingedrukt.
Als het zend/ontvang proces rustig wordt afgewacht totdat het is beeindigd en er wordt dan een zend/ontvang aktie gedaan verschijnt het volgende:
Error while performing operation.
Could not execute /usr/sbin/sendmail: mail not sent.
Hoop dat dit helpt mijn probleem op te lossen….
Jan
August 29th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Works GREAT!! THANK YOU!
Anyone know if its possible to filter the mail downloaded from Hotmail so only mail from certain addresses is downloaded to my PC?
September 8th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
This works great and is nice and simple. Have got it to work with evolution on one computer but not on another - don’t know why. There are other mail programs that just as good if not better and they also work with this method:
Sylpheed
Sylpheed Claws
Sylpheed Claws GTK2
to name but a few. If it doesn’t seem to work in evolution, why not try another program.
September 15th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
AWESOME!!!
Worked Perfectly!!
September 18th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
After installing apache2 on *buntu, hotaway quits working. I get the following:
Error while performing operation.
Could not connect to 127.0.0.1: Connection refused
I assume that apache has set something that disallows running a pop3 service on *buntu?
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:45 pm
“Failed to read a valid greeting from POP server 127.0.0.1″
this is what I get after successfully running all the other commands
listed in the tutorial.
I have Hotmail access on my Windows drives no problem….
any suggestions….?
I’ve got all my GMail accounts set up and working on Evolution ,
the Hotmail accounts aren’t a BIG deal , but I would like to
have full access to all my accounts….(I have 2 Hotmail accounts)
Many thanks for your time.
Jeremy
September 24th, 2007 at 1:41 am
Further to previous post….
MY bad…..
there was a little spacing problem (ahem) when I added
the -r to the line…..
went back and corrected it and now all works as it should….
Sorry to have bothered you….LOL!
thanks
Jeremy
September 27th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Thanks for this how to. It works great for Debian Etch too,
Thanks, Lindylex
December 12th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Thanks a lot.
I just successfully receive hotmail by Evolution.
This article helps me a lot.
Thanks again.
December 12th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Legend.
Perfect.
Ta.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:10 am
HELP !!
…
i get this msg :
Unable to connect to POP server 127.0.0.1.
Error sending password: -ERR Unable to find folder inbox on remote server
Please enter the POP password for lemeshias@hotmail.com on host 127.0.0.1
April 10th, 2008 at 4:27 am
It works with Sylpheed on Debian Etch (PPC iBook), but takes around ten seconds to authenticate each time I check my Hotmail account. For comparison, both authentication and retrieval are almost instantaneous with my mail.ru account (POP3), and two .edu IMAP accounts.
Mind you, it’s not too big a concern–it’s great to be able to check my hotmail in Sylpheed–but the main reason I use Sylpheed to begin with is because it’s lightning-fast.
Thanks for a very useful and easy-to-follow how-to!
April 13th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Thanks, worked great !
I did have to remove Cyrus because it was using the same port.
After that, it worked great !
Thanks a bunch.
BTW, I’m running hotway with Evolution on a PPC with Ubuntu Hardy Beta
~s
April 19th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Perfect ..
It worked with MSN as well .. mail @ msn . com
April 26th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
thanks man, works like a charm!
April 27th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Thanks a ton..!!!
This worked like a charm… The 2nd round of drinks is on me
April 29th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Very easy to follow instructions. Worked perfectly, thanks!
Is there anyway to also access / download user-created folders in the hotmail account other than inbox drafts and sent?
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Works like a charm for me, down with windows!
note: i have to type the first 3 instructions in root console for it to work, and make sure you close all synaptic update wizard
cheers mate!!
-linux newbie
June 9th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
hi all,
i followed all the instructions above, but i keep on getting this msg when i send/receive
“Unable to connect to pop server 127.0.0.1.
Error sending password: -ERR Unable to find folder inbox on remote server”
I’m new to ubuntu, please help me and tell me what to do in detail..
thanx
June 9th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Those having “Could not connect to 127.0.0.1: Connection refused” should make sure that inetutils-inetd is installed. I had to do the following for the instructions to work:
sudo apt-get install inetutils-inetd
Jay
June 10th, 2008 at 12:34 am
that was the second step i made after the update as mentioned above, please I’m newbie to linux, please help me !
June 10th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I’ve done the commands all over again, everything went fine but when i press send/receive i got this message again
“Unable to connect to POP server 127.0.0.1.
Error sending password: -ERR Unable to find folder inbox on remote server
Please enter the POP password for *******@hotmail.com on host 127.0.0.1″
any idea how this can be fixed?! please help me to fix this.
June 16th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Thank you! That tutorial was awesome, thanks. Made it so much easier to make the linux jump to find out that evolution could in fact download my email the same way outlook did.
June 28th, 2008 at 3:24 am
This works perfectly, you rock dude
July 13th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I’ve the same error as Guss.
“Unable to connect to POP server 127.0.0.1.
Error sending password: -ERR Unable to find folder inbox on remote server
Please enter the POP password for *******@hotmail.com on host 127.0.0.1″
I’m able to sned messages but cannot receive them for some reason. Any help is appericiated.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Great post, it almost works perfectly… only the inbox is downloaded, not the user created folders within hotmail. Anyone know how to resolve this?
July 25th, 2008 at 2:02 am
Hey,
i just made the switch to ubuntu aswell and i followed these instructions - it seemed to work but it is saying that i have to pay for webdav service is there anywa around this ?
July 28th, 2008 at 12:36 am
It works perfect for me. However, does anyone know how to make it work with another POP server. I have a email that I connect to via POP. Now that I have installed this it is saying it is unable to connect to my other pop server. Any help will be greatly appreciated
August 30th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Thanks worked great. I believe this only works if you have a paid service.
September 1st, 2008 at 2:40 am
Wow. Just installed Ubuntu for the first time and i am so impressed. Great community and i wanted to try using evolution for my hotmail acct that i use for personal. Didnt think i could get it to work but your guide was perfectly detailed. Thank you so much from a Ubuntu virgin.
Peter.
September 10th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
heya
followed all the instructions but still cannot even click on the send/receive button because it is grayed out.
cannot send or receive any messages..
any suggestions on how to get evolution up and running with hotmail?
ta
September 12th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Hey Dude! im a first time linux user, i always wanted to get it on my machine and i finaly got my wish! Tahnks for your help, it worked excellent!
Thanks to all of you guys for helping out the new ubuntu/linux users.
Peace out.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Nope not working for me.
Get the same error as a few of the folks above, asking for my password over and over again.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
N.B I’m on @hotmail.co.uk if that makes any difference.
Thanks
October 4th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Works with lycos mail as well.
Thanks for the howto