Existing account email address being retired

Question

Existing account email address being retired

Mike B 20

My existing MS account username is a comcast.net username. Comcast is no longer supporting email and has other issues looming, consequently I have migrated to two other Outlook.com accounts. I want to change my comcast.net email on my MS account to one of the new Outlook.com emails, but it seems impossible. How do I solve this issue?

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Answer accepted by question author

SD - IA 178.7K Independent Advisor

Hi,

I will help you with this.

have migrated to two other Outlook.com accounts.

Do you mean you created a separate Microsoft account with these addresses?

You can manage the Email aliases here:
https://account.live.com/names/manage

Add an existing email:

https://account.live.com/AddAssocId

If you want to add those two addresses to this Comcast email MS account, it will not work I am afraid, as long as the accounts are different.

I look forward to hearing from you to get the results of the troubleshooting.

Mike B 20 Reputation points

2026-09-02T22:38:07.3333333+00:00

Yes. My MS account (and all MS subscriptions) was originally set up with the comcast email, which I used for everyday emails. Later I needed a "work" email and so I created an Outlook email account, which I believe MS views as a separate account. This year, I became aware that Comcast was getting out the business and so I created a second Outlook email for everyday (non-work) emails, thereby apparently creating a third MS account. Now I ideally want to transition all my MS subscriptions (MS365 etc.) away from the Comcast email to one of the new Outlook emails. Thus my main goal is to transition my MS subscription and historical purchases etc. to one of the new Outlook accounts and somehow break my MS relationship dependency on what will become a defunct Comcast email. I'd really like to avoid having to create a third outlook account as an alternative to Comcast within the existing setup.
Mike B 20 Reputation points

2026-09-02T22:41:22.8966667+00:00

Ok but how do I transition my MS relationship (subscriptions, history, purchases etc.) to a new email and away from the Comcast email?
SD - IA 178.7K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-03T03:14:41.71+00:00

Thanks, Mike. In most cases, you cannot do that on your own, or at all, under Microsoft policy. It will get too messy if Microsoft support at the back end is able to move some of the subscriptions to your new phone.

May I know why you are not adding an email address to the one which has subscriptions? This is a better approach.

As far as the two accounts are concerned, you can set up an auto-forward so that you receive an email at that address that you get at the one that has subscriptions, which I assume is the comcast one.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Mike B 20 Reputation points

2026-09-02T22:38:07.3333333+00:00

Yes. My MS account (and all MS subscriptions) was originally set up with the comcast email, which I used for everyday emails. Later I needed a "work" email and so I created an Outlook email account, which I believe MS views as a separate account. This year, I became aware that Comcast was getting out the business and so I created a second Outlook email for everyday (non-work) emails, thereby apparently creating a third MS account. Now I ideally want to transition all my MS subscriptions (MS365 etc.) away from the Comcast email to one of the new Outlook emails. Thus my main goal is to transition my MS subscription and historical purchases etc. to one of the new Outlook accounts and somehow break my MS relationship dependency on what will become a defunct Comcast email. I'd really like to avoid having to create a third outlook account as an alternative to Comcast within the existing setup.
Mike B 20 Reputation points

2026-09-02T22:41:22.8966667+00:00

Ok but how do I transition my MS relationship (subscriptions, history, purchases etc.) to a new email and away from the Comcast email?
SD - IA 178.7K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-03T03:14:41.71+00:00

Thanks, Mike. In most cases, you cannot do that on your own, or at all, under Microsoft policy. It will get too messy if Microsoft support at the back end is able to move some of the subscriptions to your new phone.

May I know why you are not adding an email address to the one which has subscriptions? This is a better approach.

As far as the two accounts are concerned, you can set up an auto-forward so that you receive an email at that address that you get at the one that has subscriptions, which I assume is the comcast one.

Answer 1

An existing @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @live.com, or @msn.com address cannot be added as an alias to another Microsoft account if it is already its own Microsoft account. That is why replacing the current comcast.net sign-in with one of the newer Outlook.com accounts fails.

Supported options:

Sign in to Manage how you sign in and select Add email.
Add either:
- a new Outlook.com email address and create it as an alias for the existing Microsoft account, or
- a non-Microsoft email address that is not already tied to another Microsoft account.
After adding it, set it as primary.
If no longer needed, remove the old comcast.net alias.

Important limits:

Aliases share the same Microsoft account, password, contacts, subscriptions, storage, and settings.
Existing Outlook.com addresses that already belong to another Microsoft account cannot be moved into this account.
Microsoft does not support merging two Microsoft accounts.

If the goal is to keep the current Microsoft account, subscriptions, and data, the practical path is to create a new Outlook.com alias on the existing account and make it primary.

If the goal is to use one of the already-created Outlook.com accounts instead, that is a different Microsoft account and cannot be merged into the current one.

References: