I created a new Outlook.com email address instead of renaming existing. How can I free up the new account?

I had created new outlook address and wanted to merge old live account.  this procedure was scary (since you have to hit delete), but it was successful - I now have outlook address with all my grandfathered live services - zune pass, 25GB sky, and all apps.  Now, just have to reset phone.

I've found a solution. 

Please be sure to create testing account to verify below steps before applying to your real account.

Assumptions: you have both account@hotmail and account@outlook email accounts, and account@outlook was NOT previously made as alias and deleted

Step 1. <gmail> apply for accountXXX@gmail in gmail (or other email supplier)

Step 2. <outlook> Login account@outlook, click "your name" at top-right of the browser, and choose "account settings", and then click "Update email address", and change your email account to accountXXX@gmail

Step 3. <gmail> in gmail, open the new verification email, click the url, and login your outlook using accountXXX@gmail account

Step 4. <outlook> It will prompt that you are ready to use your new account. DO NOT CLOSE THIS WINDOW, AND DO NOT LOGIN AGAIN. You will find your name at the top-right of the browser, click your name and choose "Account settings", and "close account" immediately.

NOTE: if you login again after verifying accountXXX@gmail, the old account@outlook will be made as alias of  accountXXX@gmail, and previous work will be wasted.

Step 5. <outlook> login account@hotmail, click the gear and choose "more mail settings", and then click "Create a outlook alias". You will find that account@outlook can be added to your account as alias.

Please to noted, when I used testing accounts to verify previous steps, I failed in the following 2 cases

1. account@outlook was previously deleted as alias, due to previous solution to wait 30 days to free alias...
2. In Step 4, logged in again, and account@outlook was made as alias after login... I'm not sure if making account@outlook the primary address and start all over again from step 1 would help or not.

I can confirm that this worked with me using fake test accounts. I will be trying this fix using my real accounts later. However, instead of creating an alias in step 5, I renamed the old @hotmail account to the @outlook account. The original @hotmail account was made into an alias under the @outlook account.

I've found a solution. 

Please be sure to create testing account to verify below steps before applying to your real account.

Assumptions: you have both account@hotmail and account@outlook email accounts, and account@outlook was NOT previously made as alias and deleted

Description: to free the @outlook email account, you can rename ("Update email address") it to another email address (e.g. @gmail), and then close the updated email account. But it seems to be a bug in MS email service, not sure when it will be fixed.

Step 1. <gmail> apply for accountXXX@gmail in gmail (or other email supplier)

Step 2. <outlook> Login account@outlook, click "your name" at top-right of the browser, and choose "account settings", and then click "Update email address", and change your email account to accountXXX@gmail

Step 3. <gmail> in gmail, open the new verification email, click the url, and login your outlook using accountXXX@gmail account

Step 4. <outlook> It will prompt that you are ready to use your new account. DO NOT CLOSE THIS WINDOW, AND DO NOT LOGIN AGAIN. You will find your name at top-right of the browser, click your name and choose "Account settings", and "close account" immediately.

NOTE: if you login again after verifying accountXXX@gmail, the old account@outlook will be made as alias of  accountXXX@gmail, and previous work will be wasted.

Step 5. <outlook> login account@hotmail, click the gear icon and choose "more mail settings". And then, click "Create a outlook alias" (keep @hotmail as login account) or "Rename your email address" (use @outlook as login account afterwards, and @hotmail will be made alias), you will find that account@outlook can be used.

Step 6. <gmail> terminate accountXXX@gmail account in gmail, and do not waste google resources...

Please to noted, when I used testing accounts to verify previous steps, I failed in the following 2 cases

1. account@outlook was previously deleted as alias, due to previous solution to wait 30 days to free alias...
2. In Step 4, logged in again, and account@outlook was made as alias after login... I'm not sure if making the @outlook the login address and start all over again from step 1 would help or not. [NOTE: to change @outlook from alias to login address, it has to be deleted from the alias list, and "rename" accountXXX@gmail to the deleted @outlook name.]

Brilliant! This worked perfectly, thank you so much!

A shame Microsoft couldn't come up with a simpler solution (nor figure out this workaround for us), you are a life saver! :)

I've found a solution. 

Please be sure to create testing account to verify below steps before applying to your real account.

Assumptions: you have both account@hotmail and account@outlook email accounts, and account@outlook was NOT previously made as alias and deleted

Description: to free the @outlook email account, you can rename ("Update email address") it to another email address (e.g. @gmail), and then close the updated email account. But it seems to be a bug in MS email service, not sure when it will be fixed.

Step 1. <gmail> apply for accountXXX@gmail in gmail (or other email supplier)

Step 2. <outlook> Login account@outlook, click "your name" at top-right of the browser, and choose "account settings", and then click "Update email address", and change your email account to accountXXX@gmail

Step 3. <gmail> in gmail, open the new verification email, click the url, and login your outlook using accountXXX@gmail account

Step 4. <outlook> It will prompt that you are ready to use your new account. DO NOT CLOSE THIS WINDOW, AND DO NOT LOGIN AGAIN. You will find your name at top-right of the browser, click your name and choose "Account settings", and "close account" immediately.

NOTE: if you login again after verifying accountXXX@gmail, the old account@outlook will be made as alias of  accountXXX@gmail, and previous work will be wasted.

Step 5. <outlook> login account@hotmail, click the gear icon and choose "more mail settings". And then, click "Create a outlook alias" (keep @hotmail as login account) or "Rename your email address" (use @outlook as login account afterwards, and @hotmail will be made alias), you will find that account@outlook can be used.

Step 6. <gmail> terminate accountXXX@gmail account in gmail, and do not waste google resources...

Please to noted, when I used testing accounts to verify previous steps, I failed in the following 2 cases

1. account@outlook was previously deleted as alias, due to previous solution to wait 30 days to free alias...
2. In Step 4, logged in again, and account@outlook was made as alias after login... I'm not sure if making the @outlook the login address and start all over again from step 1 would help or not. [NOTE: to change @outlook from alias to login address, it has to be deleted from the alias list, and "rename" accountXXX@gmail to the deleted @outlook name.]

This is a great reply, thanks for reporting your findings. Sadly in my case, and following the advice of Microsoft representatives earlier in this thread, I'd already changed my outlook.com account into an alias so I will have to wait the 30 days and hope for the best. Obviously others have, and will, benefit from this though, so great work.

However, and I suspect I will echo many of the users here, I have to say that Microsoft's responses have been extremely poor regarding this problem. First they said it wasn't possible and you'd have to wait 270 days, next, they decided that you could do it if you swap the account to an alias then delete it and then it would only take 30 days. Finally, it took a user to discover a way that it can be done, by jumping through a number of hoops, and admittedly only under certain conditions. Nevertheless, the account can be freed immediately.

The fact that it is possible under certain conditions to close an account immediately, and that they either weren't aware this was possible, or were choosing not to make the method known, is bizarre. If it's possible to close an account immediately under some circumstances, why isn't it an option for the user at any point after account creation? This is very inconsistent, and leaves me, and the many others who've reported this problem, extremely frustrated.

This kind of decision-making drives me crazy. Clearly we're not asking the Earth since the functionality is already in place if you can follow sss_ms' instructions. Just roll it out to make it possible at any point!