Windows Live Custom Domain setup

Rilot · 9 Apr 2013 at 09:20

I'm trying to set up a Windows Live custom domain for my .co.uk domain but can't get it to work. My host (rilot.co.uk) is currently with Freeparking but their DNS control panel is awful and their support is useless (still no response to my ticket after 3 weeks).

Microsoft tell me to do this:

To set up mail and prove ownership of this domain, you must create an MX record through your domain registrar. Use the following settings:
DNS record type: MX
Host: rilot.co.uk
MX server: 56491fda3afea5449ea1ce5aeda54b.pamx1.hotmail.com
TTL: 3600 or 1 hour
Priority: 10 (or High priority)

And this:

If you would like to prove the ownership of domain and create users without setting up mail, you can use one of the following methods for up to 30 days. After 30 days, you will need to set up an MX record for mail routing as shown above.
If your domain registrar allows you to create TXT records, use these settings:
DNS record type: TXT
Host: rilot.co.uk
Value: v=msv1 t=56491fda3afea5449ea1ce5aeda54b

I've tried to set these through Freeparking's awful interface but try as I may, it's not working. Live.com just tells me my settings are wrong.

Can anyone help?

bremen1874 · 9 Apr 2013 at 11:09

Have you waited for the DNS changes to propagate? The could need to wait up to 48 hours in some cases.

Rilot · 9 Apr 2013 at 12:38

bremen1874 said:
Have you waited for the DNS changes to propagate? The could need to wait up to 48 hours in some cases.

Last time I updated it I waited nearly a week.

bremen1874 · 9 Apr 2013 at 12:48

Have you used online checkers such as mxtoolbox to check what's happening when you add the DNS entries?

Rilot · 9 Apr 2013 at 14:37

To be honest, I don't really know what I'm doing with this.

I ran a check with that mxtoolbox and it returned the following:

Type Domain Name Canonical Name TTL
CNAME rilot.co.uk 56491fda3afea5449ea1ce5aeda54b.pamx1.hotmail.com 24 hrs Blacklist Check SMTP Test

The MS instructions say to set the TTL to 1hr but there is no way to do this in Freeparking's control panel.

bremen1874 · 9 Apr 2013 at 15:08

You've created a CNAME entry not an MX. There's probably a specific area where you should be adding the MX. The TTL won't matter.

Rilot · 9 Apr 2013 at 15:15

I've added the address to the MX records piece, it then copied it to the rilot.co.uk root address.

I have in their interface:

Priority: 0 Sub Domain Alias: N/A FQDN: 56491fda3afea5449ea1ce5aeda54b.pamx1.hotmail.com
Priority: 10 Sub Domain Alias: N/A FQDN: 56491fda3afea5449ea1ce5aeda54b.msv1.invalid

Rilot · 9 Apr 2013 at 15:15

I've added the address to the MX records piece, it then copied it to the rilot.co.uk root address.

I have in their interface:

Priority: 0 Sub Domain Alias: N/A FQDN: 56491fda3afea5449ea1ce5aeda54b.pamx1.hotmail.com
Priority: 10 Sub Domain Alias: N/A FQDN: 56491fda3afea5449ea1ce5aeda54b.msv1.invalid

bremen1874 · 9 Apr 2013 at 15:40

Why are you copying it anywhere? Create the MX pointing to where MS have specified and leave it at that.

Rilot · 9 Apr 2013 at 15:48

That is what I have done. I didn't copy it anywhere. The Freeparking interface did it for me.
I've managed to remove it now.

Rilot · 9 Apr 2013 at 15:52

Right, I reset the Zone file to defaults and started again.
God knows why it wasn't working before but now it does.

Thanks for your help.