When setting up a new 365 account, how do I change the domain name and remove the .onmicrosoft extension??

Question

When setting up a new 365 account, how do I change the domain name and remove the .onmicrosoft extension??

Scott Riley 0

New domain name

When setting up a new 365 account, how do I change the domain name to my current registrar's and remove the .onmicrosoft extension so that my email delivery stays the same? In other words, I don't want my email to change.

2 answers

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Answer 1

EmilyS726 211.5K Independent Advisor

Hello

So I gather you have the Microsoft 365 Business account and you currently have the option to create username with onmicrosoft.com domain only?

If so, you need to add your own domain to Microsoft 365 first. Here is the instruction: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/setup/add-domain?view=o365-worldwide

Once the domain is added, you log into Admin center https://admin.microsoft.com

Go to Users > Active Users, select yours, in the account tab, under Alias section, you can change username, and assign your own domain from the dropdown, and make it primary alias. You do the same when you create new user as well.

Scott Riley 0 Reputation points

2026-02-07T01:44:25.0933333+00:00

Thank you. Where can I find Microsoft MX records?
Scott Riley 0 Reputation points

2026-02-07T01:49:24.6233333+00:00

Where can I find Microsoft MX records?
EmilyS726 211.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-02-07T02:36:31.5566667+00:00

who did you register your domain with?
Scott Riley 0 Reputation points

2026-02-07T22:04:24.47+00:00

HostGator
Scott Riley 0 Reputation points

2026-02-07T22:09:47.05+00:00

In other words, how do I update the MX records at my registrar to point to 365?
Scott Riley 0 Reputation points

2026-02-07T22:11:18.8033333+00:00

Step 4. below
EmilyS726 211.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-02-07T22:11:26.69+00:00

Thanks.

When you went to Admin Center > Settings > Domains, do you see your domain already listed? If not, you need to add it first, and add the TXT and CNAME records provided during this process to your DNS with HostGator.

Once that's all verified, you will find your domain listed on this page now in Admin Center, select it, click on Manage DNS, and when you proceed to the nest step, scroll down and you will find MX Record to click on, the MX record will be shown to you then.

It is typically in this format:

xxx-com.mail.protection.outlook.com where xxx-com is your domain name.

Answer 2

To change the domain name in Microsoft 365 and remove the .onmicrosoft.com extension, you will need to follow these steps:

Add Your Custom Domain: Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center, navigate to Settings > Domains, and select Add domain. Follow the prompts to verify that you own the domain you want to use.
Update User Email Addresses: After adding the new domain, go to Users > Active users. Select each user whose email address you want to change and edit their username to use the new domain.
Sign Out and Sign Back In: After changing the email addresses, users should sign out of Microsoft 365 and then sign back in with their new email addresses.
Email Delivery: Ensure that you have updated the MX records for your domain at your domain registrar to point to Microsoft 365. This step is crucial to ensure that email delivery remains uninterrupted.

Note that while you cannot remove the .onmicrosoft.com domain, you can set your custom domain as the primary one for email communication.

References:

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When setting up a new 365 account, how do I change the domain name and remove the .onmicrosoft extension??

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