Remove obsolete email

Question

Remove obsolete email

Kristin Brown 0

I owned a domain for more than 20 years. It renewed every March and I spent the year between March 2024 and March 2025 moving off it completely. I no longer have access to it. The one place I cannot seem to kill the old profile is on Microsoft Windows. It is the default for login to my laptop, the default for every link I click. There is NO option anywhere that I can find, that let's me change the email. Ironically, I moved everything OFF of my domain that was hosted at Google and ON to an email @Outlook.com. By rather than reward my choice, Microsoft is "married" to the old obsolete email.

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3 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Hello Kristin,

If you go to Settings > Accounts > Your info, is the custom domain address listed here?

If so, Go to Settings > Accounts > Your info

Click on Sign in with local user instead. follow the steps and finish the rest.

(If you don't see the "sign in with a local account instead option, click on "Stop signing into Microsoft apps automatically" first, then relaunch this page. )

Restart the computer (Do Not skip)

Go to Settings > Accounts > Your info

Click on Sign in with Microsoft account instead. follow the steps and finish the rest. Sign in with the outlook.com address instead.

Restart the computer (Do Not skip)

See if it works.

Answer 2

Kristin Brown 0

I think this is the right answer but this whole process has been really, really difficult - because the original domain no longer exists. I haven't logged in or used the password associated with the domain in 2 years. Every step of the way, Microsoft wants dual factor authentication and I frankly don't know which account is which! I have only used a pin to log into "Windows" or my laptop. I have several very old passwords that I track "just in case" and none of them work. And now, I can't get BACK from having switched to "local" to "sign in with a Microsoft account" because it wants me to give it my "windows password one last time" and I have NO IDEA what my "windows password" is!

EmilyS726 272.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-17T13:01:06.0133333+00:00

Kristin, so you have successfully turned it into a local user, right? And you are now in the process of turning the local account into a new Microsoft account, correct?

If so, half the battle is done. The "Windows" password is not the old or new Microsoft account's password.

When you turned it into a local account, it asked you to set a password, do you remember what you set it to? That's the "local" account's password. If you didn't set it, you can leave it blank when asked, and hit enter. See if it goes through.
Kristin Brown 0 Reputation points

2026-09-18T15:36:27.29+00:00

I am stuck in the loop from hell. I don't remember being asked for a password. Blank doesn't work. Also, Microsoft is telling me that my login password for my primary email is not good - but at least it gives me a path to reset it. Microsoft hates me. I have only ever used a pin# on this computer because that is "recommended." My PIN works FINE but Microsoft won't let me switch back from LOCAL to a Microsoft account with a password that has NO reset option and apparently no backup email option... it is TORTURING me. If I ever had a password for this laptop, it was setup several years ago, never used, and tied to the email that I got rid of 2 years ago. Now that I'm local, it appears I will never, ever again, be linked to my Microsoft apps. PLEASE HELP.

Answer 3

I think this is the right answer but this whole process has been really, really difficult - because the original domain no longer exists. I haven't logged in or used the password associated with the domain in 2 years. Every step of the way, Microsoft wants dual factor authentication and I frankly don't know which account is which! I have only used a pin to log into "Windows" or my laptop. I have several very old passwords that I track "just in case" and none of them work. And now, I can't get BACK from having switched to "local" to "sign in with a Microsoft account" because it wants me to give it my "windows password one last time" and I have NO IDEA what my "windows password" is!