I want to remake a deactivated account but it both doesnt exist but is taken?

Hello, my friend hasnt been on her hotmail account for a few years, however recently has come to the point that one of her accounts linked to her hotmail needs its password reset. She tried logging in and discovered that the account doesnt exist (Not suprising since microsoft deactivates inactivate accounts) However the annoying part started when she went to remake the account thinking that the emails would go to the new one just like they would the old. It said that the name was taken. I then figured that this meant that somone else had created an account with that name since it was deactivated and tried sending an email to the account asking for assistance, only to get a return email saying it couldnt be delivered and upon trying to sign in, still, the account apparently does not exist. How can I get her hotmail address back so that she can get this password reset sorted out?