Microsoft to discontinue DeltaSync (for Windows Live Mail)

A good friend of mine got the following email today:

Important information about your email service

Dear user,
In a few weeks, we will be making some changes to our email services that might impact your @outlook.com, @hotmail, @live, or @msn email account. Those changes will prevent your email from being delivered to the Windows Live Mail 2012 application you use.
In order to continue using Windows Live Mail 2012 to send and receive email for your account, you need to install the latest update published here.
If you use Windows Live Mail 2012 on Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, we recommend that you switch to the built in Mail app in Windows to stay connected and get the latest feature updates on Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.
Windows Live Essentials 2009 and 2011 are not supported anymore, and you will need to update to Windows 8/8.1 or Windows 10 and use the Mail app, or use www.outlook.com. To learn more about the Mail app, please click here.
We also recommend all Windows Live Mail users on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 to upgrade to Windows 10 and use the built in Mail application to stay connected and get the latest feature updates.
We suggest saving this email so you can refer to it later.
Thanks for your understanding and continued use.

Sincerely,
The Outlook team

Although not officially mentioned in the message, Windows Live Mail 2012 uses the DeltaSync protocol to send and receive email for Outlook.com/Hotmail accounts, so it can be assumed that they are discontinuing this protocol. Prior to DeltaSync’s creation, Outlook Express used WebDAV, which itself was shut down in 2009.

With the patch linked in the email, KB3093594, Microsoft seems to have elected to continue to support Live Mail 2012 by replacing the DeltaSync protocol with Exchange ActiveSync.

However…
As much as I can tell, after installing this patch, Live Mail will no longer work on Windows 10. Live Mail opens up, but within seconds it crashes:

Windows_Live_Mail_2015-12-11_19-55-26 Additionally, the Exchange ActiveSync support is extremely rudimentary and fixes none of the existing issues with mail notifications.

I’ve continued and elaborated my discoveries, as well as how to revert the patch on my next post.

Posted on December 11, 2015, in Live Mail, Outlook.com. Bookmark the permalink. 13 Comments.

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K J Evans | December 13, 2015 at 7:35 am

So will POP3 and IMAP still work for Hotmail and Live accounts?

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- Jonathan | December 13, 2015 at 10:05 pm
  
  Absolutely. Naturally, you’ll have to make a whole new account (the ‘Manually configure server settings’ option is needed here) and choose the type you prefer.
  
  In the case of POP (which has to be enabled in the Outlook.com options first), you will only be getting your Inbox mail (if mail goes to the Junk folder, you’ll never see it). IMAP works pretty well although in my experience, you have to re-configure the Junk mail folder in the Live Mail settings to go to the right place.
  
  POP3 is found at pop-mail.outlook.com, port 995; IMAP at imap-mail.outlook.com, port 993; SMTP at smtp-mail.outlook.com, port 587. All with TLS/SSL enabled.
  
  Microsoft also has slightly more detailed info for this.
  
  Reply
- Jim Woollison | December 17, 2015 at 3:26 am
  
  That’s how I set up the account originally. Mysteriously it got changed to Deltasync…When it stops working I will go back and change it. Thank you Jonathan for an informative and easy to read explanation.
  
  Reply
Karen Langill | January 2, 2016 at 1:22 pm

When will this take effect?

Reply
yaroyo | May 31, 2016 at 11:27 am

And voila the last information about WLM !
I think only you can make a “WLM Reviver”, dear Jonathan
Save us from this disaster…
__________________________________________
05.05.2016

Action required for users of Windows Live Mail 2012

Dear User,

The new Outlo‍ok‍.‍com delivers an exciting set of new experiences across web, phone, and desktop.

Windows Live Mail 2012 does not support the synchronization used by the new Outl‍ook‍.‍com.

When account upgrades begin at the end of June, you will no longer be able to receive email sent to your Out‍look‍.‍com account in Windows Live Mail 2012.

You can always access your email by logging into Out‍look‍.‍com from any web browser, and you will continue to have access to all your data that is currently in Windows Live Mail 2012.

We recommend that you switch to the Mail app in Windows to‍day.

The Mail app is built in to Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10.
To begin using it, simply launch the app and add your Out‍look‍.‍com account.

Please take action before Ju‍ne 30th, 2016, which is when we’ll begin upgrading accounts.
If you have more questions, please find answers to common FAQs in this help article, or you can contact Microsoft support.

Microsoft

Reply
Alec Collins | July 31, 2016 at 9:44 am

Does this explain why my Father is having trouble with Outlook right now?

Reply
giancaro2002 | August 15, 2016 at 11:09 pm

se puede usar para celular?

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Paul Weber | September 14, 2016 at 4:07 pm

I am trying to get rid of WLM. I have the 2011 version. I can enter my email address when using this but I lost the password and can’t seem to find out how to retrieve it. The first time delta sync appeared I accidentally hit a send button without realizing that this WLM was permanent.

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