Microsoft does not recognize my email address

Question

microsoft does not recognize my email address when logging in to my microsoft account during initial set up on a new dell laptap computer

Answer 1

My current computer allows me to log into my microsoft account. My new Dell laptop will not allow me to log into my microsoft account. What should I do?

Answer 2

I did step one. It accepted my email and I was able to log in successfully. Went back to my new Dell laptop and entered the same email address and received the message: "That Microsoft account doesn't exist. Enter a different account or get a new one." However the email is valid and the account does exist. What do I do now?

Answer 3

When a Microsoft account email address is not recognized during sign-in on a new device, it usually means either the email is not a Microsoft account, is typed incorrectly, or the account has been closed.

Follow these steps to check and resolve the issue:

1. Confirm whether the email is a Microsoft account
   • Go to https://account.microsoft.com.
   • Enter the email address and continue.
   • If the message says "We couldn't find an account with that username" or "That Microsoft account doesn't exist", then this email is not currently a Microsoft account.
     • Check spelling of the name and domain (for example, rachel vs rachael, and .com vs .co.uk).
     • If it still is not found, the account may have been closed.
   • If a password prompt appears, then the email is a valid Microsoft account and the issue is likely with the password.
2. If the email is a Microsoft account but sign-in fails
   • Go again to https://account.microsoft.com and select Forgot password?.
   • Follow the steps to reset the password using the available security info (email, phone, etc.).
3. If the email is not a Microsoft account
   • Either:
     • Use a different email address that is recognized as a Microsoft account, or
     • Create a new Microsoft account using the email address of choice during Windows/Microsoft 365 setup.
4. If the account might be closed
   • If the email used to work as a Microsoft account but now shows as not found, review the guidance under check if your Microsoft account is closed from the article in the references.

Once the email is confirmed as a valid Microsoft account and the password works at https://account.microsoft.com, use the same email and password to sign in on the Dell laptop during setup.

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References:

• How to check if your email address is a Microsoft account
• My username and password have stopped working