Logging into a Email address that was hosted on a private SMTP/Emailing server

As part of a development project I once did, I along with the other developers were assigned email addresses that were hosted on a private mail server.

I have a game whose activation is tied to that email address. Unfortunately, neither the project nor the private mail server exist any longer and I can't update the email address for the game without access to the old address in order to receive verification emails.

Is it possible to login to an email account once the mail server is no longer online/accessible?

Solution 1:

Without overwhelming you with information that will be hard to assimilate, the domain name drives the problem-space.

If the domain is currently registered, and you have good people skills, the current owner might temporarily forward the old project email address you were using to your current email address to allow you to complete the verification.

If the domain is no longer registered, you could find a cheap host and register the domain and then forward any email yourself.

If the original owner from the days of the development project decided not to extend the email server because of cost, they may have backed up the account including any emails that you received when you registered the game. Depending on the type of hosting / mail server it could be very easy to extract your mailbox and send it to you.

Solution 2:

As Anaksunaman stated - not unless you can get control of the DNS for the domain.

Email works by using DNS to work out which server to deliver mail to. First it looks for specified Mail eXchange records if it doesnt find these it looks for an OP address assiciated with the domain. If neither of these are set up email is typically not delivered [on the wider internet]