Microsoft (Outlook.com and Microsoft 365) · permanent error
550 5.1.241: recipient is a send-only HVE account
The message was addressed to an HVE account, which can only send and has no mailbox to receive mail.
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- Permanent (5xx)
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At a glance
- Code
- 550 5.1.241
- Temporary or permanent
- PermanentRefused for good: the message comes back to the sender, and resending it gets the same answer.
- Who has to act
- The recipient's side. Their mail admin has to change something; you can tell them.
- What the server says
550 5.1.241 The message can't be delivered because the recipient is an HVE account.
What it means
HVE accounts exist to send. They have no associated mailbox, so mail addressed to one, such as a reply to an automated notification, bounces with 550 5.1.241. If recipients are expected to answer messages sent by an HVE account, Microsoft's advice is to configure a ReplyTo address for the account so that responses are delivered to a different mailbox.
Common causes
- Someone replied to a message sent from an HVE account.
- The HVE account's address was used as a contact address.
How to fix it
- 01Senders: write to the organization's regular contact address instead.
- 02Admins: set a ReplyTo address on the HVE account that points to a monitored mailbox.
- 03Avoid publishing HVE account addresses as contact points.
Sources
What this page rests on, checked on 20 Oct 2026. The explanation is ours; the reply text is the server's.
- Email nondelivery reports and SMTP errors in Exchange Onlinelearn.microsoft.com
Related codes
Further reading
All 111 Microsoft codesEvery code in the wikiPaste your own bounce