Windows Live Mail on Windows 8 for POP Accounts (Historical)

This article is retained as a historical Windows 8 guide. It originally explained how to install Windows Live Mail from Windows Essentials when the built-in Windows 8 Mail app did not meet a user’s POP-mail needs.

That installation path is no longer current.

What the original 2013 guide did

At the time, Microsoft offered the Windows Essentials suite as an official download. A Windows 8 user could run its installer, choose which programs to install, select Windows Live Mail, and then configure a POP3 email account in the desktop application.

That was useful for mail providers that offered POP access but did not support the account configuration expected by the original Windows 8 Mail app.

Windows Essentials is no longer available

Microsoft ended support for Windows Essentials 2012 on January 10, 2017 and no longer provides it for download. The suite included Windows Live Mail, Movie Maker, Photo Gallery, Writer, Family Safety, and other applications.

Microsoft specifically warns that websites offering old Windows Essentials components are not providing sanctioned Microsoft downloads. Do not download Windows Live Mail from random third-party archives simply to follow the old steps in this article.

What to do instead

For an actively used email account, choose a currently supported mail application that supports the protocols required by your provider. Where available, prefer the provider’s current IMAP or Exchange-style configuration over POP because it generally keeps server and device state synchronized more completely.

If Windows Live Mail is already installed on an old Windows 8 PC, it may still open, but neither the application nor the operating system receives normal Microsoft support. Back up important local mail before migrating.

Official references

• Microsoft, Support for Windows Essentials apps: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/support-for-windows-essentials-apps
• Microsoft Windows lifecycle status: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/updates-lifecycle/what-does-it-mean-if-windows-isn-t-supported