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Close your Microsoft account

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When you close your account with Microsoft, all information related to your account is deleted. This information includes subscriptions, licenses, payment methods, users, and user data.

Before you begin

Before you start this process, make sure to back up any data that you want to preserve.

You must be a Global or Billing admin to do the tasks in this article. For more information, see About admin roles.

Step 1: Delete users

Delete all users except for one global administrator. The global administrator completes the steps to close the account. Before you can delete the directory at the end of this process, you must delete all other users.

If users are synchronized from on-premises, first turn off sync, then delete the users in the cloud directory by using the Azure portal or Azure PowerShell cmdlets.

To delete users, see User management admin: Delete one or more users.

You can also use the Remove-MsolUser PowerShell cmdlet to delete users in bulk.

If your organization uses Active Directory that synchronizes with Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), delete the user account from Active Directory, instead. For instructions, see Bulk delete users in Azure Active Directory.

Step 2: Cancel all active subscriptions

  1. In the admin center, go to the Billing > Your products page.
  2. On the Products tab, find an active subscription. Select the three dots (more actions), then select Cancel subscription.
  3. In the Cancel subscription pane, choose a reason why you're canceling. Optionally, provide any feedback.
  4. Select Save.
  5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 to cancel all active subscriptions.

Step 3: Delete all disabled subscriptions

  1. In the admin center, go to the Billing > Your products page.
  2. On the Products tab, select a disabled subscription.
  3. On the subscription details page, in the Subscription and payment settings section, select Delete subscription.
  4. In the Delete subscription pane, select Delete subscription.
  5. In the Delete subscription dialog box, select Yes.
  6. For each disabled subscription, repeat steps 3 through 5 until all subscriptions are deleted.

Note

If you're unable to immediately delete a disabled subscription, contact support.

Step 4: Disable multi-factor authentication

  1. Sign in to the admin center with a Global administrator account. To verify what roles you have, see Check admin roles in your organization.
  2. Go to the Users > Active users page.
  3. Choose Multi-factor authentication.
  4. On the multi-factor authentication page, disable all accounts except for the global admin account that you're currently using.

You can also use PowerShell to disable multi-factor authentication for multiple users.

Step 5: Delete the directory in Azure Active Directory

  1. Sign in to the Azure AD admin center with a Global administrator account.
  2. Select Azure Active Directory.
  3. Switch to the organization that you want to delete.
  4. Select Delete tenant.
  5. If your organization fails one or more checks, you see a link to more information on how to pass the checks. After you pass all checks, select Delete to complete the process.

After you complete this final step, your account with Microsoft is closed and deleted.

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