Make Hotmail your homepage in Internet Explorer 9 / 8 / 7 / 6
By making your Windows Live Hotmail inbox your homepage in Internet Explorer 9, 8, 7, or 6, you will directly and automatically be logged in to your account to check your emails whenever you open your browser. This page explains how to set Hotmail as your homepage, but make sure that read "Hotmail sign in automatically" to allow you to have your emails as homepage, not the login screen! The process is the same for all three latest versions of Microsoft's web browser, but we will also include some instructions on how to add your Hotmail inbox to your home tabs (your emails as one of several homepages).
Change your homepage to Hotmail in Internet Explorer
Follow these steps to use Hotmail as your homepage: (or add Hotmail to your current homepage tabs ↓ )
- First, copy the URL (web address) of the page in Windows Live Hotmail you want to set as your IE homepage: this can be your inbox, the Windows Live home screen, or any other email folder you have created in your Hotmail account. This will save you a click by bringing you right away to the page you want to look at, and not the sign in screen (you will skip login!)
- Then, press Alt+T to show the Tools menu, and choose "Internet Options" (in some versions of Internet Explorer, it will simply say "Options").
- The Options dialog will open, with the "General" tab automatically selected: click on the "Use Current" button to use the current page or one of the tabs currently open as homepage:
Note: if IE shows multiple lines in the "Home Page" text box, just remove all URLs (web addresses) except for your Hotmail inbox. - Click OK to apply the new homepage setting and return to Internet Explorer.
- The next time you open Internet Explorer, it will automatically open your Hotmail inbox and emails; now and then, for your protection, Windows Live Hotmail will show the sign in screen, or request to confirm your password before login, just to confirm your identity. (You will also see the Hotmail sign in form if you have recently cleared your cookies.)
- This is all it takes to add Hotmail as homepage in Internet Explorer 8, IE 7, or IE 6 (in fact, the very same procedure also works in Internet Explorer 5.5 and 5).
Add Hotmail as a homepage tab (home tab) in Internet Explorer 8 or IE7
The latest versions of Internet Explorer allow you to have several homepages at the same time, and you can Windows Live Hotmail as one of your multiple home tabs (homepage).
- To add your Hotmail inbox or the sign in screen as home tab, click on the "Home" button in the command bar, as shown on the screenshot below:
Tip - in IE9 (the current version), just right-click on the "Home" icon and choose "Add or change homepage" from the menu:
- Select "Add or Change Home Page" from the dropdown menu.
- Then, in the dialog that opened, you can either select "Use this webpage as your only home page" (to make Hotmail your only home tab), or "Add this webpage to your home page tabs" to add Hotmail as one of your multiple homepages that launch when IE opens.
- Finally, click on the "Yes" button to save your new homepage settings.
Tip: Don't forget that you can automatically sign in to Hotmail - use this setting to make Internet Explorer go directly to your inbox as homepage.
New Hotmail, MSN Hotmail, Windows Live Hotmail & Live email are all referring to the same free webmail service offered by Microsoft and Windows Live Team (works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X). Microsoft Corporation, Apple, and other companies own the copyright or trademark to these and other terms mentioned.