Conflict between Microsoft personal and work account (same email address)

Question

Has this issue every been solved? I just copied the question that has over 500 people saying the same thing . I am having this issue like everyone else .

I no longer see the option on what account to log into Work or Personal but both have license numbers for software i purchased . I do I.T. for 2 small businesses and like a dope i just kept purchasing Office suite from the store . In the past i had a different password for work and personal and that's how i could tell them apart . Now i no longer have that option . Recently i had to reinstall Office 2019 and since they removed the product keys i had to get support to deal with it and that's when i ran into the issues because they made me add an alias which i never had before .

I spent over an hour with support and they are telling me its only one account but i know 100 percent they are incorrect . I'm not sure how to resolve this issue or who i need to speak to . But its frustrating to say the least . Now I'm concerned that i am going to have issues and be held responsible for software i purchased and install for 2 completely separate companies... If anyone can help i would really appreciate being pointed in the right direction ... If i go to microsoft.com i can log in no problem but when i try to get support and use the sign in helper it tell me my account doesn't exist even when i do the one with the verifier that makes you key in numbers and letter to make sure your not a bot . It shows up like the email doesn't exist . Im so frustrated with Microsoft and the way the support is handled .

Answer 1

Did you try logging in using a private browser? That should bring up the work or personal option - unless you deleted the work address from the personal account, then you use the outlook.com alias you added to the account.

On both accounts I had multiple purchases of office 2016 and 2019 << If you used the same address on two accounts, the personal account would have the perpetual office licenses, the work account would be subscriptions. The exception is if you have volume licenses, but that is a different portal.

Can you log into myaccount.microsoft.com? That is the portal for work accounts.

Answer 2

Hi, I'm Diane and I'm happy to help you today.

Microsoft does not support having the same address in Microsoft 365 Work or School and as a Microsoft account, but it can happen if the Microsoft account was created before moving the email to Microsoft 365.

The solution is to remove the work account from the Microsoft Account - add an outlook.com alias and set it as primary.

If your mailbox is not hosted in a Microsoft 365 Work account, did you use it to set up Teams, forms, visual studio or another business service?

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

-- Diane

Give back to the community. Help the next person with this problem by indicating whether this answer solved your problem. Click Yes or No at the bottom.

Answer 3

Thank you for the reply .. The accounts were created in 2015/2016 …

Used 1 email account and I had 2 passwords one for work and a different one for personal.

On both accounts I had multiple purchases of office 2016 and 2019 …

Unfortunately now when I log in I am only either seeing the work or the personal … I am assuming the work because I had a purchase of Tech support for 499 dollars …

I can log into Microsoft if I go to Microsoft .com but I recently had to do a reinstall of office 2019 .. when I ran into the problem with activation I got support … The person helping me on Saturday created an Alia’s on the account …

Today I had 2 users unable to use office 2016 .. Specifically outlook and excel .. because it was popping up as unlicensed . I spent over 1 hr chatting with support but I couldn’t get her to understand my problem … Obviously whatever was changed on my account saturday caused this problem .. luckily I was in the office today and was able to get them both reactivated but I have a dozen users .. what happens if I am not there or on vacation.. this becomes an issue for me .. So I need my account fixed .. the option to log into work or personal is no longer available to me .. and I don’t know why I can log in via internet but when I try from the activate page I can’t …

I took screen shots .. on one I can still see the product numbers from some of my office 2016 purchases … On the other I can see the software but can’t get to the product keys … and some of the purchase dates are incorrect ..

I didn’t have the time to continue with support because all she wanted to do was solve the issue of activating the software … I need the issue with my account fixed so I don’t have this issue again … specially if I am on vacation or just out when it happens … Outlook and excel make up 50 percent of what my office staff use … I’m a very small business and can’t really afford to pay someone to not work for hours or days because I wasn’t there to fix the software on a computer I provide …

I really hope this makes sense . And I hope there is something that can be done for me without me being on the phone or chat for hours … my plan is to go into the office on Saturday and get support so if I need to check and double check each workstation with support I can and I have the time to do so … I’m not sure why this started to happen after support had me create the Alia’s but I know for sure that’s what caused this issue … and it’s not fair that it lands on me to spend time and money to fix it properly …

Thanks for your reply

Answer 4

Just to make a Point i am log into the account now in order to post this question . It really makes no sense . I copied this question and that one had over 500 people saying they have the same issue . It was last posted to in JAN of 2023 . Since i have not really had the need to deal with anything that would require me to log into my Microsoft account i am hoping i did not miss the boat .

I do know support mentioned the 2 accounts to me and He had me add an alias , I need the correct access to both accounts and all the purchased software in both . All they had to do was email us USERS "useless eaters" and change the email address on one or the other .

But instead i don't know what they did or why i no longer get the option to choose when I log in . But again i haven't logged in since maybe pre pandemic.