Recover hotmail account

[SherlockHolmess]

Posting here for traffic - sorry!
I did post in tech but no one’s answered.

Someone’s hacked my email account. When I tried to change the password it’s taking me through security (obviously) but the phone number is an old one from when I lived in another country and I don’t have the authenticator app.

I’ve tried the recovery form about 8 times now and I’m not getting anywhere. It seems I just can’t remember the right information. You can only try twice per day.

Can I download the authenticator app now? That’s seems a bit bonkers but would it work?

Or does anyone have any other ideas?
I’m a bit desperate now. I’m organising a wedding amongst some other stressful life events/situations and EVERYTHING is by email. It’s really bloody shit timing!

Unfortunately a Hotmail/Outlook account is practically impossible to recover, even if you have the original phone number and email, recovery codes plus a back up email it's a struggle, they also lock your account for a month and it's ridiculous.

Any chance you have an alternative email account to use and you can just write off the Microsoft account? That's what I'd do, it's really not worth the hassle.

I’ve had this email account for over 20 years and absolutely everything is tied to it.
All of my accounts for everything else use this email address. It’s going to be an absolute nightmare to change everything.