One Account Required

Win 11 Ver22H2 (OS Build 22621 1105)

I have problem in that I have several accounts: me @ outlook.com, @ login.live.com wife plus a Hotmail a/c in Gmail.
Am 91 in care home and find different menus in MS confusing. Last time I tried got myself in a mess!
Assistance either here or direct from MS appreciated please.
rgds.

If you're trying to consolidate into a single account, you would need to redo all accounts (non email) to use the same email address. An alternative would be to setup a catch all forwarding rule in each account to which ever account you designate as your primary account.

Could you please give a little more detail about what it is you want to accomplish. Are you referring to multiple email accounts in Windows Mail but having only one user account on the computer...or on your computer do you have your user account and your wife has her own?

Thank you all for assistance. Having thought about problem I am satisfied to use either for signing in to Outlook. The Gmail with wretched hotmail.com I should be able to go through Gmail. Thought I had finished with hotmail!
I now have a problem with Edge in that my list of passwords is protected by my first name and a password that is for my computer. If I delete Edge and reinstall will I lose all my urls and their PWs?

@ess1 If my experience with my own family members is a guide, you need to make one little change at a time.

I suggest that you auto-forward your Gmail to Outlook. There is a setting in your Gmail account to do that. In my experience with Gmail, you need to disable IMAP and disable POP, too. To test whether or not you succeeded, you can send a test email from Outlook to Gmail which test email should arrive back at your Outlook inbox.

Then you can do the auto-forward with the other email accounts, one after the other, until you have to deal with Outlook only

Leave the Edge and other issues for now, take the little-step-by-little-step approach, test to verify before you take on the next little step

@Haydon and @neemobeer I'm scratching my head. How do You read that the OP wants to consolidate email accounts into one inbox from what has been posted?
Maybe he wants to use Windows mail and keep the accounts separate so he has his inbox and his wife has hers. If that is the case, it's a lot simpler to do than messing with forwarding.
OP, since we haven't heard back regarding specifics of your question, here's how to set up Windows mail having separate inboxes for each email account. All email will be in its own inbox.

ess1 said:

Thank you all for assistance. Having thought about problem I am satisfied to use either for signing in to Outlook.

Click to expand...

ess1 said:

If I delete Edge and reinstall will I lose all my urls and their PWs?

Click to expand...

You can add multiple emails for sign-in (gmail. hotmail), select the one you are using in Edge as a primary alias.

Setting up forwarding emails from gmail takes just one step.
Enable forwarding, pick an email and archive or delete emails.

@glasskuter and others, we (and that includes the OP) are all guessing. What appears to be clear is that the OP wants to simplify things (the title of the thread is 'One Account Required') but what is simple for X may not be simple for Y and vice versa.

So, we are all suggesting what each one of us consider 'simple'.

And, like always, there is a whole slew of suggestions that would confuse anyone, including the elderly OP.

That's why I emphasized that the OP tackle one little thing at a time.

Yeah, the OP could report back > we could hold his hands to do the next little thing, etc. until the OP solves the whole shebang.

Haydon said:

emphasized that the OP tackle one little thing at a time.

Click to expand...

We are in agreement on that.
Because the OP is elderly that's why I asked him to clarify what he wanted rather than me guess what he wanted. I felt it important to give info specifically for his needs rather than speculate and confuse him with answers that might not apply. He needs to know that he can have his inbox and his wife can have hers rather than having a unified inbox. (So if I was speculating, in his case that makes more sense to me.) But we don't know until he tells us.

I don't think that the OP (or anyone else, for that matter) knows what will suit him before trying it out. What is important is that he tries out one little thing of his own choosing, if that doesn't suit him, try out another little thing, etc.

glasskuter said:

I'm scratching my head. How do You read that the OP wants to consolidate email accounts into one inbox from what has been posted?

Click to expand...

I could be wrong but I think that's what they want to do.

Thank you all again. I appreciate your perseverance.

1. Am receiving email forwarded through a Gmail a/c to my1stname@outlook.com and 1stnameswifeme@log.in.etc.
2. As we are both in the care home the login.live a/c can be closed.
3. All family reside overseas and use their Gmail for Facetiming my wife who is in a separate area. My mobile receives request for non existent hotmail a/c
4. I have utilised Edge for mail and password control.
5. My problem is that when I try to view password/s (edge://settings/passwords) I have to enter a password for a/c DESKTOP-xxxxxx\first name.
I cannot find this password and require this to change etc.
6. I cannot use another a/c. Each time I try without success.

Regards ess1

OK Guys, I still can not say I completely understand the OP's situation but here's what I glean from breaking down what the OP posted. See if you guys agree with me. @ess1 Please correct me on the individual points I may have incorrect..

Point1 and 4 -He already has forwarding set up from one gmail account to 2 different email addresses, one Microsoft account and one to a web mail account. He accesses BOTH the accounts through webmail. He does not use the Windows mail app. He has forgotten his passwords to all his webmail accounts and is trying to recover the passwords stored in Edge

Points 5 and 6- . His computer password is also myfirstname@outlook.com. Since he doesn't know its password, Edge's security check is prohibiting him from viewing his saved passwords. His user account must either be a local account OR he has used netplwiz to automatically log in with his outlook account because he can still use his computer.

Point 2- If indeed his user account is his outlook.com address, he can not close this account or he won't be able to login to his computer at all as it stands now.

If all the above is correct, resetting his outlook.com account password should be the solution. He should then be able to access view password/s (edge://settings/passwords) At the very least, he will be able to see his gmail mail when using the new password to login to outlook. com (login.live) If he is still unable to access the passwords stored in edge, he would need to also reset his passwords by selecting "forgot password" in both gmail and log.in. etc
reset password Microsoft- Reset a forgotten Microsoft account password - Microsoft Support

Am I understanding all these facts correctly?

At this point, I think that the OP needs someone sitting at his side on the computer for an afternoon. A local volunteer, maybe?

ess1 said:

Thank you all again. I appreciate your perseverance.

5. My problem is that when I try to view password/s (edge://settings/passwords) I have to enter a password for a/c DESKTOP-xxxxxx\first name.
I cannot find this password and require this to change etc.

Click to expand...

In order to view the passwords saved in Edge for a given PC, you would have to know the login (in this case the Microsoft account) password. This is obviously a design feature to keep passwords safe.

Regardless, you would need to provide the Microsoft account password (should be the same credentials used to log into the PC) to view the saved Passwords in Edge. For me, I log into my PC via facial recognition, so that works as well as a pin. However, this is STILL predicated on the Microsoft Account password.



More log in choices....

@Dru2 et al thanks.
N0. 6 I tried to change to my other 2 a/cslogin.live or me xxxx@ outlook without success. There must be a password for Edge that I have forgotten. Thank goodness I can open site/s through Edge. Dare I be facetious and hope that MS doesn't "improve" Edge.

@ess1 I truly think you do not understand that your Microsoft account username and password is the master controller of your computer. Without knowing its credentials you are pretty much helpless in changing or recovering anything. There are a number of scenarios that can and will happen in the future where you will be asked for the correct MS credentials. If you don't know them, you can't answer correctly. The consequences can include not only being able to change anything, but can range up to and including being locked out of your computer and any data on it.

I agree with @Haydon. Seek out a knowledgeable computer person to help you get Login credentials for your MS account and all your email accounts straightened out. By knowledgeable, I don't mean just someone who owns a computer, but someone who actually understands how it all works together. Someone who knows computers can simplify things for you immensely.

Best of luck to you, Sir.

ess1 said:

@Dru2 et al thanks.
N0. 6 I tried to change to my other 2 a/cslogin.live or me xxxx@ outlook without success. There must be a password for Edge that I have forgotten. Thank goodness I can open site/s through Edge.

Click to expand...

Your problem is you've not made clear what your issue is. You say you can't retrieve passwords from Edge, but then you talk about Outlook accounts and login credentials. This is rather confusing and why you can't get an adequate answer.

Please clarify what specifically is your issue. If you cannot do that, suggest you find someone in your local area for help.

ess1 said:

Dare I be facetious and hope that MS doesn't "improve" Edge.

Click to expand...

Not sure how you can call out Microsoft when you can't even describe your issue.

What this highlights is the incredible confusion that surrounds the 'Microsoft Account'. I'm an IT professional and even I have to think this through to get it clear. This is my understanding of 'how it works' and why it's confusing
1. Microsoft have the concept of a "Microsoft Account" and this is used for Windows Login (unless you use a 'local' account, which is harder and harder to achieve).
2. The same Microsoft account is used to control access to some Edge security features (like the password list). Even if you play tricks and get Windows to log you in without the password, you still need the MS Account password to access the Edge stuff.
3. Microsoft allow 'any valid email address' (pretty much) to be the "Microsoft Account". So you can have a gmail 'address' and use that as the 'MS account' (I use a 'yahoo' email address as my MS Account for obscure reasons). So even though it's a 'Microsoft Account', it doesn't have to be an '@outlook.com' or '@hotmail.com' address - it doesn't have to be a 'Microsoft' service.
4. And this is the real kicker for many - the PASSWORD associated with the MS Account can be different from the password associated with the underlying email address/account. So - in my case - I use 'me@yahoo.com' as my MS Account. In order to log in to Yahoo and get my mail, I enter password 'abcd' (the password established with Yahoo when I set up yahoo mail). But in order to log into the MS Account (which is also 'me@yahoo.com'), I enter password 'wxyz' (the password established with Microsoft).
5. If you get into issues with your MS Account, MS will send 'recovery' emails to the associated email address, which means you need to sign into (eg) Yahoo mail with the yahoo mail password to get the MS account recovery info!
6. By allowing face recognition and/or PIN entry, MS almost ENCOURAGES you to forget the actual password, since you only ever entered it ONCE at setup time.

Maybe, just maybe, if the OP can make sense of the above, he may have some insight into what he's trying to solve! But I wholeheartedly agree - seek out someone local who is trustworthy to help. Whoever helps you will be gaining access to your personal details which may indirectly give them access to your financial info (assuming that's stored on the PC).

Personally, I tend to avoid letting the browser (or other tool/client) from remembering my passwords because it indirectly leads to this type of situation. By having to enter the password each time, it forces you to remember / practice them! But I don't follow that religiously.

Good luck to the OP!

Edit To Add: the only part of the above that I'm not 100% sure about is #2; I don't use Edge to store passwords, so I don't know how Edge is securing access to such info; but based on OP's comments, it seems like Edge is prompting him for the MS Account credentials in order to access stored password info, so that makes sense.

Thank you all.
My son is coming over from KL this year and I will await visit. Here in care home is difficult (!). They wish everything to be "in house".

I am able to continue just using MS Edge etc. As an aside I am pestered by MS to renew 365 which I cancelled. I tried MS help and was offered a service of 7 days at £1 then £74 pm thereafter. I don't get free lunches for my wife and I having had to sell home etc so I know all about that.
Very sorry, rant over

keep well all thanks again,
ess1