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Windows 8 and MS Accounts

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  • R Offline
    R Offline
    Rob Grainger
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom ;-) have decided to encourage users to associate their Windows 8 login to a Microsoft Account. There is one massive downside here. My mother, while installing her new Win8 laptop, created a new Windows Live account (now renamed, yet again, to Microsoft Accounts) associated with her existing ISP email account. Now we'd like to change that to be a new "Outlook.com" email account, so she's not permanently tied to an ISP. Windows Live does not seem to allow changing the associated email address, or at least not as far as I can tell. Consequently, we can find no way of changing this. I foresee some problems... 1. An ISP could go bust, effectively breaking the system. 2. She may want to change ISP in future, but her MS account is tied to the ISP account. 3. Any Metro app purchases are tied to her MS account, so reinstalling with a new account means she's lost any investment in apps, along with settings etc. I've spent half a day struggling with this and come up a blank. Anyone got any suggestions? Failing that, how on earth am I supposed to get support from MS nowadays for this kind of issue? I cannot seem to find any support info through their web sites anymore. PS. I've tried the "Rename account" or "Change email account" options under Microsoft Account. These simply go to a page saying "The email address associated with your Microsoft account cannot be changed" message. Very helpful.

    W A R G I 7 Replies Last reply
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    • R Rob Grainger

      Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom ;-) have decided to encourage users to associate their Windows 8 login to a Microsoft Account. There is one massive downside here. My mother, while installing her new Win8 laptop, created a new Windows Live account (now renamed, yet again, to Microsoft Accounts) associated with her existing ISP email account. Now we'd like to change that to be a new "Outlook.com" email account, so she's not permanently tied to an ISP. Windows Live does not seem to allow changing the associated email address, or at least not as far as I can tell. Consequently, we can find no way of changing this. I foresee some problems... 1. An ISP could go bust, effectively breaking the system. 2. She may want to change ISP in future, but her MS account is tied to the ISP account. 3. Any Metro app purchases are tied to her MS account, so reinstalling with a new account means she's lost any investment in apps, along with settings etc. I've spent half a day struggling with this and come up a blank. Anyone got any suggestions? Failing that, how on earth am I supposed to get support from MS nowadays for this kind of issue? I cannot seem to find any support info through their web sites anymore. PS. I've tried the "Rename account" or "Change email account" options under Microsoft Account. These simply go to a page saying "The email address associated with your Microsoft account cannot be changed" message. Very helpful.

      W Offline
      W Offline
      wizardzz
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Failing that, how on earth am I supposed to get support from MS nowadays for this kind of issue? I cannot seem to find any support info through their web sites anymore. Maybe, in court? In all honesty, this sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

      Mike HankeyM R 2 Replies Last reply
      0
      • R Rob Grainger

        Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom ;-) have decided to encourage users to associate their Windows 8 login to a Microsoft Account. There is one massive downside here. My mother, while installing her new Win8 laptop, created a new Windows Live account (now renamed, yet again, to Microsoft Accounts) associated with her existing ISP email account. Now we'd like to change that to be a new "Outlook.com" email account, so she's not permanently tied to an ISP. Windows Live does not seem to allow changing the associated email address, or at least not as far as I can tell. Consequently, we can find no way of changing this. I foresee some problems... 1. An ISP could go bust, effectively breaking the system. 2. She may want to change ISP in future, but her MS account is tied to the ISP account. 3. Any Metro app purchases are tied to her MS account, so reinstalling with a new account means she's lost any investment in apps, along with settings etc. I've spent half a day struggling with this and come up a blank. Anyone got any suggestions? Failing that, how on earth am I supposed to get support from MS nowadays for this kind of issue? I cannot seem to find any support info through their web sites anymore. PS. I've tried the "Rename account" or "Change email account" options under Microsoft Account. These simply go to a page saying "The email address associated with your Microsoft account cannot be changed" message. Very helpful.

        A Offline
        A Offline
        Adam R Harris
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        Ok, i have/had pretty much the exact same issue except i was testing out Win8 and i associated it with an old account that i dont use anymore. Long story short i didnt want to do that any more and faced the same issue you had. You are not going to like this but here i go. You can only change the email address associated with an id from a xbox ... yup that's right you have to use an xbox. Also you can only make a change to the account every 30 days. So if your mom just set it up she is going to have to wait 30 days before she can transfer her account to another email address. Oh yea linking your profile to an xbox counts as a change so you will have to wait 30 days *after* you add that profile to your xbox before you can actually change it. After all that the process is pretty simple, just log into your xbox on that account then open then system menu and somewhere in there (cant remember exactly where) is the option to change your email address.

        Don't comment your code - it was hard to write, it should be hard to read!

        R 1 Reply Last reply
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        • W wizardzz

          Failing that, how on earth am I supposed to get support from MS nowadays for this kind of issue? I cannot seem to find any support info through their web sites anymore. Maybe, in court? In all honesty, this sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

          Mike HankeyM Offline
          Mike HankeyM Offline
          Mike Hankey
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          wizardzz wrote:

          Maybe, in court? In all honesty, this sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

          I agree and it will be interesting to see how long it takes before it happens.

          VS2010/Atmel Studio 6.0 ToDo Manager Extension
          Version 3.0 now available. There is no place like 127.0.0.1

          1 Reply Last reply
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          • A Adam R Harris

            Ok, i have/had pretty much the exact same issue except i was testing out Win8 and i associated it with an old account that i dont use anymore. Long story short i didnt want to do that any more and faced the same issue you had. You are not going to like this but here i go. You can only change the email address associated with an id from a xbox ... yup that's right you have to use an xbox. Also you can only make a change to the account every 30 days. So if your mom just set it up she is going to have to wait 30 days before she can transfer her account to another email address. Oh yea linking your profile to an xbox counts as a change so you will have to wait 30 days *after* you add that profile to your xbox before you can actually change it. After all that the process is pretty simple, just log into your xbox on that account then open then system menu and somewhere in there (cant remember exactly where) is the option to change your email address.

            Don't comment your code - it was hard to write, it should be hard to read!

            R Offline
            R Offline
            Rob Grainger
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            I don't have an XBox, so that options out. My Mother, at 72 is unlikely to get one either. PS. You were right, I don't like this.

            A 1 Reply Last reply
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            • R Rob Grainger

              I don't have an XBox, so that options out. My Mother, at 72 is unlikely to get one either. PS. You were right, I don't like this.

              A Offline
              A Offline
              Adam R Harris
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              Which puts you in a boat up a certain creek with a lot of other people without paddles. I really hope MS figures this out because i see this being a common problem.

              Don't comment your code - it was hard to write, it should be hard to read!

              M 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • W wizardzz

                Failing that, how on earth am I supposed to get support from MS nowadays for this kind of issue? I cannot seem to find any support info through their web sites anymore. Maybe, in court? In all honesty, this sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

                R Offline
                R Offline
                Rob Grainger
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                I will definitely report it as an issue - if I can find anywhere to so. I may also decide to report it as an anti-trust issue in the EU.

                1 Reply Last reply
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                • R Rob Grainger

                  Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom ;-) have decided to encourage users to associate their Windows 8 login to a Microsoft Account. There is one massive downside here. My mother, while installing her new Win8 laptop, created a new Windows Live account (now renamed, yet again, to Microsoft Accounts) associated with her existing ISP email account. Now we'd like to change that to be a new "Outlook.com" email account, so she's not permanently tied to an ISP. Windows Live does not seem to allow changing the associated email address, or at least not as far as I can tell. Consequently, we can find no way of changing this. I foresee some problems... 1. An ISP could go bust, effectively breaking the system. 2. She may want to change ISP in future, but her MS account is tied to the ISP account. 3. Any Metro app purchases are tied to her MS account, so reinstalling with a new account means she's lost any investment in apps, along with settings etc. I've spent half a day struggling with this and come up a blank. Anyone got any suggestions? Failing that, how on earth am I supposed to get support from MS nowadays for this kind of issue? I cannot seem to find any support info through their web sites anymore. PS. I've tried the "Rename account" or "Change email account" options under Microsoft Account. These simply go to a page saying "The email address associated with your Microsoft account cannot be changed" message. Very helpful.

                  R Offline
                  R Offline
                  Rod Kemp
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  It looks like it's no longer possible[^] to change the default email address, though I did change from an ISP based login to a hotmail login about a year ago, so I don't know why they changed it. :sigh: My suggestion, though it's not ideal, is to create an alias on the live account and use it as the address for all emails and treat the current ISP based sign in like a username, then change all the notification options to use the alias.

                  People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs

                  G R 2 Replies Last reply
                  0
                  • R Rod Kemp

                    It looks like it's no longer possible[^] to change the default email address, though I did change from an ISP based login to a hotmail login about a year ago, so I don't know why they changed it. :sigh: My suggestion, though it's not ideal, is to create an alias on the live account and use it as the address for all emails and treat the current ISP based sign in like a username, then change all the notification options to use the alias.

                    People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs

                    G Offline
                    G Offline
                    Gary R Wheeler
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    Rod Kemp wrote:

                    create an alias on the live account and use it as the address for all emails and treat the current ISP based sign in like a username, then change all the notification options to use the alias

                    But I thought crossing the streams was BAD, Rod?

                    Software Zen: delete this;

                    B 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • G Gary R Wheeler

                      Rod Kemp wrote:

                      create an alias on the live account and use it as the address for all emails and treat the current ISP based sign in like a username, then change all the notification options to use the alias

                      But I thought crossing the streams was BAD, Rod?

                      Software Zen: delete this;

                      B Offline
                      B Offline
                      Brisingr Aerowing
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      :laugh: "Who ya gonna call?"

                      Bob Dole

                      The internet is a great way to get on the net.

                      :doh: 2.0.82.7292 SP6a

                      1 Reply Last reply
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                      • R Rob Grainger

                        Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom ;-) have decided to encourage users to associate their Windows 8 login to a Microsoft Account. There is one massive downside here. My mother, while installing her new Win8 laptop, created a new Windows Live account (now renamed, yet again, to Microsoft Accounts) associated with her existing ISP email account. Now we'd like to change that to be a new "Outlook.com" email account, so she's not permanently tied to an ISP. Windows Live does not seem to allow changing the associated email address, or at least not as far as I can tell. Consequently, we can find no way of changing this. I foresee some problems... 1. An ISP could go bust, effectively breaking the system. 2. She may want to change ISP in future, but her MS account is tied to the ISP account. 3. Any Metro app purchases are tied to her MS account, so reinstalling with a new account means she's lost any investment in apps, along with settings etc. I've spent half a day struggling with this and come up a blank. Anyone got any suggestions? Failing that, how on earth am I supposed to get support from MS nowadays for this kind of issue? I cannot seem to find any support info through their web sites anymore. PS. I've tried the "Rename account" or "Change email account" options under Microsoft Account. These simply go to a page saying "The email address associated with your Microsoft account cannot be changed" message. Very helpful.

                        G Offline
                        G Offline
                        Ger Hayden
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        10 months ago O2 ceased their o2.ie mail service...

                        Ger

                        R 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • R Rod Kemp

                          It looks like it's no longer possible[^] to change the default email address, though I did change from an ISP based login to a hotmail login about a year ago, so I don't know why they changed it. :sigh: My suggestion, though it's not ideal, is to create an alias on the live account and use it as the address for all emails and treat the current ISP based sign in like a username, then change all the notification options to use the alias.

                          People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs

                          R Offline
                          R Offline
                          Rob Grainger
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          Thanks, can I encourage users/readers to flag this as "I have this issue", and ideally leave a comment objecting to the Win8 repercussions of this awful decision, so that MS may feel the need to act fast to resolve this horrible mess.

                          P 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • G Ger Hayden

                            10 months ago O2 ceased their o2.ie mail service...

                            Ger

                            R Offline
                            R Offline
                            Rob Grainger
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            Exactly why I anticipate this being an issue. It's one thing when your Windows Live account goes down though, another altogether when its tied to your Win 8 login.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • R Rob Grainger

                              Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom ;-) have decided to encourage users to associate their Windows 8 login to a Microsoft Account. There is one massive downside here. My mother, while installing her new Win8 laptop, created a new Windows Live account (now renamed, yet again, to Microsoft Accounts) associated with her existing ISP email account. Now we'd like to change that to be a new "Outlook.com" email account, so she's not permanently tied to an ISP. Windows Live does not seem to allow changing the associated email address, or at least not as far as I can tell. Consequently, we can find no way of changing this. I foresee some problems... 1. An ISP could go bust, effectively breaking the system. 2. She may want to change ISP in future, but her MS account is tied to the ISP account. 3. Any Metro app purchases are tied to her MS account, so reinstalling with a new account means she's lost any investment in apps, along with settings etc. I've spent half a day struggling with this and come up a blank. Anyone got any suggestions? Failing that, how on earth am I supposed to get support from MS nowadays for this kind of issue? I cannot seem to find any support info through their web sites anymore. PS. I've tried the "Rename account" or "Change email account" options under Microsoft Account. These simply go to a page saying "The email address associated with your Microsoft account cannot be changed" message. Very helpful.

                              I Offline
                              I Offline
                              Iain Clarke Warrior Programmer
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              I wanted to change the country on my profile (it was the only field I'd filled in), and it was the one field that was fixed... But I clicked on a help / contact button on their website, and had a live chat with a MS chap within a minute, and he seemed pretty switched on and helpful. Maybe you can't change this directly, but the behind the scenes folk can? I too have my misgivings about this linkage, but it's easily fixed by having your own domain. You can let your Mum have her own email address there if you like? mem@robgrainger.co.uk? Iain. Iain.

                              I am one of "those foreigners coming over here and stealing our jobs". Yay me!

                              R 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • I Iain Clarke Warrior Programmer

                                I wanted to change the country on my profile (it was the only field I'd filled in), and it was the one field that was fixed... But I clicked on a help / contact button on their website, and had a live chat with a MS chap within a minute, and he seemed pretty switched on and helpful. Maybe you can't change this directly, but the behind the scenes folk can? I too have my misgivings about this linkage, but it's easily fixed by having your own domain. You can let your Mum have her own email address there if you like? mem@robgrainger.co.uk? Iain. Iain.

                                I am one of "those foreigners coming over here and stealing our jobs". Yay me!

                                R Offline
                                R Offline
                                Rob Grainger
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                Having my own domain won't help as there's no way to tie it to the Microsoft account once it has been created.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • R Rob Grainger

                                  Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom ;-) have decided to encourage users to associate their Windows 8 login to a Microsoft Account. There is one massive downside here. My mother, while installing her new Win8 laptop, created a new Windows Live account (now renamed, yet again, to Microsoft Accounts) associated with her existing ISP email account. Now we'd like to change that to be a new "Outlook.com" email account, so she's not permanently tied to an ISP. Windows Live does not seem to allow changing the associated email address, or at least not as far as I can tell. Consequently, we can find no way of changing this. I foresee some problems... 1. An ISP could go bust, effectively breaking the system. 2. She may want to change ISP in future, but her MS account is tied to the ISP account. 3. Any Metro app purchases are tied to her MS account, so reinstalling with a new account means she's lost any investment in apps, along with settings etc. I've spent half a day struggling with this and come up a blank. Anyone got any suggestions? Failing that, how on earth am I supposed to get support from MS nowadays for this kind of issue? I cannot seem to find any support info through their web sites anymore. PS. I've tried the "Rename account" or "Change email account" options under Microsoft Account. These simply go to a page saying "The email address associated with your Microsoft account cannot be changed" message. Very helpful.

                                  7 Offline
                                  7 Offline
                                  77465
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  It may be a new Microsoft idea or a temporary condition or a Microsoft reaction to the "mediacenter key" Windows 8 installation hack and the like. Right now there is the "rename account" link just below the email that reports "the email account cannot be changed". It is too illogical to be permanent. Anyway, the right thing to do is to use a Microsoft Mail (Hotmail?) for the Microsoft Account. It will not go away prior to Microsoft and Windows 8. It is always possible to do that, but all bonuses like additional Sky Drive space will be lost. In the beta Windows times I have configured several Windows 8 machines. Now I have exactly one real Windows 8 machine and my language settings still occasionally change on their own. The worst inconvenience is that programs either see or not the Ctrl+Shift+0 shortcut.

                                  R J 2 Replies Last reply
                                  0
                                  • 7 77465

                                    It may be a new Microsoft idea or a temporary condition or a Microsoft reaction to the "mediacenter key" Windows 8 installation hack and the like. Right now there is the "rename account" link just below the email that reports "the email account cannot be changed". It is too illogical to be permanent. Anyway, the right thing to do is to use a Microsoft Mail (Hotmail?) for the Microsoft Account. It will not go away prior to Microsoft and Windows 8. It is always possible to do that, but all bonuses like additional Sky Drive space will be lost. In the beta Windows times I have configured several Windows 8 machines. Now I have exactly one real Windows 8 machine and my language settings still occasionally change on their own. The worst inconvenience is that programs either see or not the Ctrl+Shift+0 shortcut.

                                    R Offline
                                    R Offline
                                    Rob Grainger
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    That's fine, but I don't want to have to reinstall her laptop just to change the associated account. That seems to be the only option at present.

                                    M 1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • R Rob Grainger

                                      That's fine, but I don't want to have to reinstall her laptop just to change the associated account. That seems to be the only option at present.

                                      M Offline
                                      M Offline
                                      MikeD 2
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      in user accounts you can add another account, the option looks to allow you to add a microsoft account although I haven't tried it through to completion and the option may only be there because the PC i saw this on was configured with a Local account. I did try a microsoft account but I didn't want to run my local applications as an email address as they log things to a server using the windows user name. So I then added a local account and deleted my microsoft account This doesn't help if your mother has been using the appstore etc but it may help if the account is still new enough to be mostly unused

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • 7 77465

                                        It may be a new Microsoft idea or a temporary condition or a Microsoft reaction to the "mediacenter key" Windows 8 installation hack and the like. Right now there is the "rename account" link just below the email that reports "the email account cannot be changed". It is too illogical to be permanent. Anyway, the right thing to do is to use a Microsoft Mail (Hotmail?) for the Microsoft Account. It will not go away prior to Microsoft and Windows 8. It is always possible to do that, but all bonuses like additional Sky Drive space will be lost. In the beta Windows times I have configured several Windows 8 machines. Now I have exactly one real Windows 8 machine and my language settings still occasionally change on their own. The worst inconvenience is that programs either see or not the Ctrl+Shift+0 shortcut.

                                        J Offline
                                        J Offline
                                        Josh_T
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        I recently tackled this and found that it's a known issue that email addresses or liveIDs can't be changed right now. I've used my own domain for years now, while that domain isn't working, and they send the email to my current email account.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • R Rob Grainger

                                          Thanks, can I encourage users/readers to flag this as "I have this issue", and ideally leave a comment objecting to the Win8 repercussions of this awful decision, so that MS may feel the need to act fast to resolve this horrible mess.

                                          P Offline
                                          P Offline
                                          patbob
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          I know from experience that this has been broken for at least 10 months, probably longer. I ended up just making a new account. I think its safe to say they consider this to be a non-problem and don't have any intention of ever fixing it.

                                          Rob Grainger wrote:

                                          can I encourage users/readers to flag this as "I have this issue"

                                          Anyone have a link? I'd be happy to waste a little time registering as also having the "problem" if someone thinks it'll help.

                                          We can program with only 1's, but if all you've got are zeros, you've got nothing.

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