Microsoft trying to recover wrong email?

Question

Microsoft trying to recover wrong email?

Abject_Cow4235 20

I'm trying to recover an old email account that I forgot the password to and the only way I can get in the through the password recovery. So I went through all the steps and entered all the info I could which wasn't much and my recovery was denied but in the denial email it has a different email that it thinks I'm trying to recover!

It's like "what email are you trying to recover" ******@outlook.com then it's like "Your're recovery account request for ******@live.com was denied"

That's not the email I told it I was trying to recover! That's the other email I can't get into. X'D Its not even important I just really wanted to see some old stuff but I don't understand at all why it thinks I want in the other email Untitled-1

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Hornblower409 14,900

@Abject_Cow4235 said

the denial email it has a different email that it thinks I'm trying to recover!

If you setup an outlook.com alias for your live.com account, that might be what is causing the mixup. i.e. They are just different IDs for the same account. But without access to the account there is no way to see exactly what aliases exist, if any.

What does the Account Sign-In Helper say about each of the two IDs? It won't tell you if they are connected, but if it offers different suggestions for how to recover each one, that would be a clue that they are separate accounts.

In a Private/Incognito browser session, open: https://aka.ms/sign-in-helper
Scroll down to "Choose how you normally sign in, then enter your details"
Click "With an email address"
Enter your email address and click [OK]

That's the other email I can't get into

If Microsoft really has screwed up and has the accounts linked, when they should not be, there is really not much you can do about it. Microsoft Account Security is an fully automated process. Microsoft Support Agents can't see your security info or give you any data about any possible linkage.

One other possible - Submit an Account Reinstatement Form. It won't help you unlock your account, but I'm curious to see if you get the same rejection email mix up.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/concern/accountreinstatement

Abject_Cow4235 20 Reputation points

2026-08-17T20:22:46.8233333+00:00

You know you might be right. I vaguely remember looking into alias's but I didn't think I had actually done it. The sign in helper says the outlook one doesn't exist, and the second one says there's no problems with it. But when I proceed it takes me to the same place I was before where I wasn't able to remember enough to recover it.
Hornblower409 14,900 Reputation points

2026-08-18T01:04:25.4366667+00:00

@Abject_Cow4235 said

[Account Sign-In Helper say] the second one ... there's no problems with it. But when I proceed it takes me to the same place I was before

I assume the "same place" is the Account Recovery Form.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/help-with-the-microsoft-account-recovery-form-b19c02d1-a782-dee6-93c3-dc8113b20c42

where I wasn't able to remember enough to recover it.

The Account Recovery Form is an automated process and many, many people can't seem to make it work. The only advice from Microsoft is:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/account-recovery-unsuccessful-dc56c3e3-dff0-4ed5-8edb-60290eea6b53

Long shot, but if you can complete one verification step for your account (e.g. code via email), but can't access any of the other verification methods, and have repeatedly failed the Account Recovery process, or can't use Account Recovery because your account has Two-step Verification (2FA, MFA), then you can try to request that all the verification methods be replaced.

This will put your account in a 30 day "Pending Request" state. You will have limited access to the account during this period or no access at all if the account has Two-step Verification enabled.

See the Answer by "Hornblower409 Jun 25 2026" in
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5920985/how-to-fix-we-will-send-a-verification-code-to-(mo