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Outlook.com account split after trying to rename back to hotmail.com (same Unique ID for two mailboxes), all e-mails disappeared a month later

Anonymous
2012-10-29T14:20:41+00:00

Hi, few months ago, I renamed my hotmail.com account to outlook.com. Yesterday, I wanted to change it back to hotmail.com, so I followed the instructions found here in the forum.

However, after removing hotmail.com alias from my outlook.com account, my account was split into two accounts (i can login both), and now I have separate account for outlook.com and hotmail.com - they have separate mailboxes (hotmail.com is empty), but shared Skydrive and other settings (Facebook and LinkedIn connections, etc.).

Outlook.com account seems to be ok, but I cannot add my hotmail.com alias or rename it, because it already exists. The hotmail.com account seems to be somehow broken and I receive many error messages, e.g. when trying to link another account.

As the hotmail.com account is still somehow connected to my outlook.com account (SkyDrive, etc.), I'm a bit worried about deleting it and possibly losing my outlook.com account too.

(removed for security purpose) (removed for security purpose)

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks,

UPDATE: In personal details, I found out that my Unique ID is the same for both accounts. Yet I have 2 logins and 2 mailboxes. Personal details are also only accessible using Czech language - which might be the root of the problem, because I removed the alias with English language setting.

Ethano

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Account management, security, and privacy

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-11-28T15:15:24+00:00

    Hi Ethano CZ,

    I have checked the status of your issue and it is still being investigated by our experts. You will be notified for the update. Your patience is highly appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Shaira V.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-11-28T11:26:49+00:00

    Hi,

    Today I logged on using my outlook.com account and all my e-mails with 5-year history are gone - I see only a welcome message. Nothing else changed. Please help, I'm really confused!

    Thanks,

    Ethano

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-11-03T07:05:29+00:00

    Hi Ethano CZ,

    I do apologize for the inconvenience. I have escalated your concern to our Product Experts. Please check this post from time to time for updates.

    Thanks!

    Sherly R.

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-10-30T20:14:43+00:00

    Hi Ann,

    It’s not easy to explain what really happened, but I’ll try.

    Here is what I did:

    1. Wanted to rename my outlook.com account back to hotmail.com
    2. Logged in to outlook.com with outlook.com account
    3. Went to Microsoft Account > Notifications > Manage email preferences
    4. Removed hotmail.com alias in Other addresses
    5. Went to "Rename your e-mail address", wanted to change to hotmail.com address (previously deleted alias).
    6. Got error "There's a temporary problem with the service. Please try again. If you continue to get this message, try again later."
    7. Logged off
    8. Tried to log on using outlook.com account. > “That Microsoft account doesn't exist. Enter a different email address or get a new account.”
    9. Successfully logged in with the removed hotmail.com alias. Very strange.
    10. However the mailbox was empty, except for a welcome message from MS.
    11. After a while, I logged off and logged on successfully using outlook.com account.
    12. All my old e-mails was there.
    13. Since that, I am still able to login to hotmail.com mailbox.

    And where I am now:

    • Send e-mail to outlook.com account address > goes to outlook.com mailbox (2731 messages in this mailbox)
    • Send e-mail to hotmail.com account address > goes to hotmail.com mailbox (8 messages in this mailbox as up to now)
    • Log on using outlook.com account, go to Contacts, add a new contact > Log off and logon with hotmail.com account, go to Contacts, and the previously added contact is here (there are completely identical contacts for both accounts)
    • Log on using outlook.com account, go to Skydrive, delete a file > Log off and logon with hotmail.com account, go to Skydrive, and the file is deleted too (there are completely identical files for both accounts)
    • Log on using outlook.com account, go to Microsoft Account > Security > Linked accounts > Manage linked accounts > Add linked account
    • Trying to add hotmail.com account to linked accounts
    • I get this error message:  **You can't link ******@hotmail.com because the account is missing some required information. To fix the problem, log in to ****@hotmail.com and follow the instructions.
    • There are no instructions after i login to hotmail.com account
    • Log on using hotmail.com account, go to Microsoft Account > Security > Linked accounts > Manage linked accounts > Add linked account
    • We're unable to retrieve information for this section at this time. We're sorry for the inconvenience, please try again later.
    • Log on with outlook.com account, go to Microsoft Account > Overview > Edit personal info (I have to switch to Czech language before, otherwise I get some error message)
    • Check my Unique ID for this account: 0003xxxxxxxxxx5C
    • Log on with hotmail.com account, go to Microsoft Account > Overview > Edit personal info
    • Check my Unique ID for this account: 0003xxxxxxxxxx5C (exactly the same)

    Looks like some very complex split identity problem. The only thing I want is to set my hotmail.com address back as an alias, but it’s impossible now (The email address is already taken. Please choose another one.)

    Thank you very much (just for reading through this :)

    Ethano

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  5. Anonymous
    2012-10-30T18:34:45+00:00

    Hi Ethano CZ,

    To isolate your issue please provide us with the following for us to investigate your issue furhter:

    -The detailed steps you've taken and where the process fails:

    -The exact wording of the error you get at your end:

    Note: I've removed some important personal information from your post for security reasons.

    Thanks,

    Ann N.

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