change email address

Question

change email address

Thomas Fresquez 0

I need to change the email address for my microsoft account

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Hello Thomas Fresquez,

If you want to change the email address used to sign in to your existing Microsoft account, you can add the new address as an alias and then make it your primary alias:

Go to Manage how you sign in to Microsoft and sign in.
Select Add email.
Create a new Outlook.com address or add an existing email address.
Verify the new address if prompted.
Select Make primary next to the new alias.

This keeps the same account, password, OneDrive files, subscriptions, contacts, and settings.

Before removing the old address, confirm that you can sign in and receive email with the new one. Be especially careful when removing an Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live, or MSN address, as it may be permanently deleted and unavailable for reuse.

If you meant changing the email used for security codes rather than the account’s sign-in address, please clarify, as that requires a different setting. Thank you so much for your understanding.

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Answer 2

Add the new address as an alias of the existing Microsoft account, verify it, and then make it the primary alias so your subscriptions, storage, contacts, and settings remain with the same account.

Change the primary email address

Open Microsoft account alias settings and sign in.
Select Add email.
Choose either:
- Create a new Outlook.com email address and add it as an alias, or
- Add an existing email address as a Microsoft account alias.
Complete the verification process.
Back on Manage how you sign in to Microsoft, select Make primary beside the new address.[^1^](https://support.microsoft.com/outlook/something-went-wrong-with-error-addriverstoreaccessnonlocalexception#add-another-alias-to-your-account-and-make-it-the-primary-alias ""Something went wrong" with error ADDriverStoreAccessNonLocalException | Microsoft Support")

An alias is another address for the same Microsoft account. It retains the account’s password, contacts, OneDrive storage, subscriptions, and settings; it does not create or transfer these items to another account.^2^

Important restrictions

An address already associated with another Microsoft account cannot be added as an alias.
An existing @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @live.com, or @msn.com address generally cannot be imported from another account. Microsoft accounts cannot be merged.[^1^](https://support.microsoft.com/outlook/something-went-wrong-with-error-addriverstoreaccessnonlocalexception#add-another-alias-to-your-account-and-make-it-the-primary-alias ""Something went wrong" with error ADDriverStoreAccessNonLocalException | Microsoft Support")
Do not immediately remove the old address. First confirm that sign-in and email work with the new primary alias and update any third-party services that use the old address.
Removing a Microsoft-domain alias such as an @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, or @live.com address permanently deletes that address, and it cannot be reclaimed.^3^

Changing a recovery/security email is different: adding an address only as verification information does not change the account’s sign-in or primary email address. Use the alias settings above for that purpose.

If the account cannot be accessed, use Microsoft’s guided support tool from the account-change page. Support can help diagnose sign-in problems, but agents cannot directly change account details or issue password-reset links.^2^

References