Locked out of my Outlook account

Not sure if this is on-topic for this site, but thought I'd give it a go in case anyone can help.

I have an outlook.com email which I've been using for years, never changed the password or anything (OK, not the best idea, but it's the way it is). I use Thunderbird on Windows 11 to access this account, along with a few others.

Just today, Thunderbird started giving errors that it couldn't log in with this account. I went to outlook.com to try and log in there, and after a huge struggle with it, managed to change my password.

However, it then insisted on adding a related email. I tried to use the one I'd had associated with it before (same name but @gmail.com instead of @outlook.com), but it told me I couldn't as that was already a Microsoft account.

After going round in circles for some time, I finally gave up and chose the option to create a new outlook address.

Now when I try to log in to the original outlook.com address, it logs me in to the new one, and I can't persuade it to log me in to the original.

It seems that it's added the new email as an alias for the old one, as I can see if I try to change the alias...



However, logging in with the original credentials takes me to a new empty account, not the original.

I tried to remove the alias, but it won't let me, as it gives the following message...



Is there anything I can do, or have I lost access to the old one?

Thanks for any help you can give.

I hadn't checked mine in awhile but doing so required getting a code and entering it then it worked as it should.

Berton said:

I hadn't checked mine in awhile but doing so required getting a code and entering it then it worked as it should.

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Yeah, any time this has happened to me in the past I had the same thing. No idea why I had such trouble this time, but now I'm locked out and don't know what to do.

I got locked out of my outlook.com account by trying the new Outlook then reverting to original. I deleted it and created a new gmail account.
I have 2 gmail accounts I use in Thunderbird.

In the section, where it says “Add email address” you can’t add the original address (so that you have two) and then make that the main alias?

So in “Account Alias” Click Add Email Address” Add your original one which should show as a secondary, change it to the primary so that the new one you created becomes the secondary.

Apologies if you have already tried this and were unsuccessful.

Have you tried reset password? If you forgot, you can usually change your password to login.

antspants said:

In the section, where it says “Add email address” you can’t add the original address (so that you have two) and then make that the main alias?

Click to expand...

No, it won't let me. Doesn't matter if I try either box, I get the same message...

antspants said:

So in “Account Alias” Click Add Email Address” Add your original one which should show as a secondary, change it to the primary so that the new one you created becomes the secondary.

Apologies if you have already tried this and were unsuccessful.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion, but as you can see, I can't add the original email.

Any other ideas?

NormanF said:

Have you tried reset password? If you forgot, you can usually change your password to login.

Click to expand...

Yes, that's where this whole sorry story began. Any attempt to log in, either from Thunderbird or from a browser claimed that my password was wrong (even though I hadn't changed it), and when I tried to change it, outlook insisted on me adding an alias.

I can log in with both the original email and the alias, but either way it shows me a fresh account, not the original

MrYossu said:

No, it won't let me. Doesn't matter if I try either box, I get the same message...

View attachment 88702



Thanks for the suggestion, but as you can see, I can't add the original email.

Any other ideas?

Click to expand...

You would need to put it in “add an existing email address” not create a new. Especially that it already exists… that doesn’t work either?

antspants said:

You would need to put it in “add an existing email address” not create a new. Especially that it already exists… that doesn’t work either?

Click to expand...

Nope, tried both, and got the same message...



Thanks anyway, any other ideas?

Probably Microsoft support.
Or find the email retrieval process. I’m pretty sure there used to be one.

antspants said:

Probably Microsoft support.

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Ha ha ha ha

Oh dear, you shouldn't do that to me without warning! Fancy suggesting that Microsoft would support something as minor as being completely locked out of your account.

I did try and get some support, but never found a way to get any.

antspants said:

Or find the email retrieval process. I’m pretty sure there used to be one.

Click to expand...

I have looked around for things like this, but only found articles about not being able to sign in (which isn't strictly true as I can sign in, just can't see the primary account) or how to recover a hacked account.

However, I did just find an account recovery form, so will see if that gets me anywhere.

Thanks again

MrYossu said:

However, I did just find an account recovery form, so will see if that gets me anywhere.

Thanks again

Click to expand...

Yes. And that would be Microsoft Support. Cheers.

MrYossu said:

I did try and get some support, but never found a way to get any.

Click to expand...

Buy MS 365 Basic for a month, it is worth $2, but you will get an excellent support.
I had a problem and we spent an hour trying to figure it out, it was caused by "space".

MrYossu said:

However, I did just find an account recovery form, so will see if that gets me anywhere.

Click to expand...

That depends what recovery methods you have. You should have a recovery code, optionally: PIN, SMS, emails, authenticator.

antspants said:

Yes. And that would be Microsoft Support. Cheers.

Click to expand...

Took me a while to find it though

TairikuOkami said:

Buy MS 365 Basic for a month, it is worth $2, but you will get an excellent support.
I had a problem and we spent an hour trying to figure it out, it was caused by "space".

Click to expand...

Hmm, that's a clever idea, will look into it.

TairikuOkami said:

That depends what recovery methods you have. You should have a recovery code, optionally: PIN, SMS, emails, authenticator.

Click to expand...

I tried the form, but they rejected my request saying I hadn't supplied enough info. Trouble was, the only info they asked for that would identify the account was the addresses and subject lines of some recent sent emails. However, I haven't used this account for sending emails for quite a few years. I only use it for incoming emails, so couldn't give them the info.

Maybe I'll see if MS365 gives any support.

Thanks again