Alias won't verify

Question

I no longer have access to the email account that is my primary for Microsoft. I have another email account listed but Microsoft will not verify it so that I can make it my primary and remove the old email account.

Answer 1

Hello,

When you said it wouldn't verify - can you be more specific, did it give you any error message if so, what is it? Otherwise, can you describe the difficulty you ran into?

Also, for this new alias, is it an outlook.com alias, or a third party email address?

Answer 2

To change the primary alias when there is no access to the current primary email, the additional email address must first be added and verified as an alias on the Microsoft account, then set as primary.

Follow these steps:

1. Go to the Microsoft account "how you sign in" page: Edit account info and sign in.
2. Under Account aliases, check whether the new email address is already listed:
   • If it is not listed, select Add email and add that address as an alias, then complete the verification steps that are sent to that address.
   • If it is listed but not verified, use the verification option shown there (for example, resend the verification email) and complete the verification from the inbox of that alias.
3. Once the new email alias shows as verified, in Account aliases select Make primary next to that email address.
4. After it becomes the primary alias, the old email address can be removed by selecting Remove next to it, if desired.

If verification emails are not arriving to the secondary address, add a different email address or phone number as a new alias and verify that instead, then make it primary. VOIP numbers cannot be used, and organizations may restrict using their email addresses as aliases.

If sign-in or alias changes still cannot be completed, use the guided support tool mentioned in the account article to troubleshoot sign-in and alias issues.

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References:

• How to add an email address or phone number to your Microsoft account
• Change the email address or phone number for your Microsoft account
• Add or remove an email alias in Outlook.com
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