Can't access Outlook.com with Microsoft account with @cornell.edu email address

Anonymous
2012-10-29T18:45:38+00:00

I've had a Passport / Live Id / Microsoft account for many, many years.  I have all my Microsoft-related context associated with this account, including a Windows Phone.  This account's main email address is an @cornell.edu email address.

Some time ago, I went to Outlook.com with this live id and created a bunch of email aliases, thinking that I might switch my primary email address to an @outlook.com one at some point in time.

Recently, I've been unable to access Outlook.com.  I get the following error:

This account can't be used to access Outlook.com

You're currently signed in with an Office 365 email account, which can't be used with Outlook.com. Please clickhereto sign out of your Office 365 account, then use another Microsoft account to sign in to Outlook.com (for example, your hotmail.com, live.com, or msn.com account).

I have no relationship to Office365.  However, I suspect that the cause is that the actual Cornell U recently signed up for that service for its email domain, and for some bizarre reason that rendered my own (alumni) cornell.edu account unusable with Outlook.com.

I'm also unable to access my Contacts through the web (I see the same error).  My WP7 devices and Win8 desktop can still use Live contacts, so I assume the API still works.  It's a weird mess.

One of the solutions I considered doing was to switch my live id to my outlook.com alias.  However, since I'm now unable to access the Outlook.com interface, I'm unsure as to how to do that.  If I go to https://account.live.com/ChangeId.aspx, the only domain options I get are live.com and hotmail.com.  If I enter an outlook.com alias as a "different address", it says:

You can't use @outlook.com in your Microsoft account email address. Please try a different email address.

Suggestions?

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Account management, security, and privacy

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-05-16T14:20:01+00:00

    Hi mfeingol,

    I sent a reply in the private message area. To view it, please sign in using a Microsoft account and click  Private Messages tab across All Replies.

    Thank you.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-05-07T21:43:04+00:00

    Hi,

    I apologize for the delayed response.

    @ erunama:

    I understand how much you want this issue to be resolved. We are aware of the issue and we are currently working on to fix it. I recommend that you visit the link provided below to know how to prevent receiving the error message when accessing your account:

    Error "You're currently signed in with an Office 365 email account, which can't be used with Outlook.com".

    @ mfeingol:

    Please be informed that your issue has been escalated to our Escalation Engineer.

    Kindly check this thread from time to time for updates. Your patience is highly appreciated.

    Thank you.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-05-02T22:35:12+00:00

    For what it's worth there's another thread along these lines:  http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windowslive/forum/mail-email/error-youre-currently-signed-in-with-an-office-365/5269939d-76ab-4ef4-bd9f-8ec6a771152f

    It's now 17 pages long.  As far as I can tell, nothing no non-trivial problems have been solved yet.

    I've provided fiddler traces to MSFT support twice already, once on each thread.  I keep being told that people are looking into them, but so far all I've gotten back is questions.  Questions which wouldn't be necessary that had the support staff actually read my emails and understood the problem.

    I've been told to contact university support a few times, and I've be asked to log into a number of variations on http://something.hotmail.office365.university.edu/microsoft/outlook/bpos/whatever.  All without success, of course.  Although it continues to amuse me how something as superficially simple as an enterprise email service could be presented to end users with such a diverse complex of interfaces.  It's like some kind of cruel experiment.

    I think we're going to need an insider to help us solve this issue, because the odds that this specific problem will make its way through support to the front lines of Office 365 product development seem to be fairly slim.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-05-02T22:12:10+00:00

    Hi mfeingol,

     

    Our Support Specialists are still investigating your account regarding your issue. Once we receive any updates from them we will post it to this thread for us to inform you.

     

    Regarding renaming of account, yes, it is currently not available. The Engineering team is aware of the problem and working to fix it. At this time, we don’t have a date when the feature will be restored.

     

    Thank you.

    Is there any update on this problem?  I have been experiencing the same issue as the original post.  My Microsoft Account is associated with my former college email address.  That university has since signed up for Office365.  My email address is just a forwarding address now, it is not actually hosted by the university, so there is no backing Office365 account.  But, for some reason, outlook.com is detecting it as an Office365 address due to the domain name.

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-03-10T20:49:17+00:00

    We only got this working by using mail.office365.com/domainname

    It didn't say that in the help info, so it created some confusion

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