How To Find My Windows Live Id

Desire to go a whole new Alive ID and start fresh with Microsoft? Hither's how to transfer your account.

Microsoft's Live ID (soon to be renamed "Microsoft Account") is the cardinal to all things from Redmond these days. Whether it's your Xbox 360, SkyDrive, Live Mail, Zune Laissez passer, App Hub account, Messenger or Windows Phone, your Alive ID is at the heart.

The question is what if you want to change your Live ID?

Here we don't mean switching merely on the phone, which unfortunately requires a difficult-reset (and no, we don't have a work effectually for that, pitiful). Instead, we're talking about what if you take an one-time Hotmail.com email account and you desire a new Live.com one instead? Maybe y'all're non happy with your current user name or like us, yous have used your Hotmail account since 2002 as a glorified spam experiment.

We'll walk you lot through the process of getting a new Live ID and making certain all your other services back-propagate to reverberate the alter keeping all of your services intact.

Read on after the intermission for our guide...

Why change?

To begin with, some of you may exist wondering why you would want to modify your Live ID in the first identify. Nosotros'll give y'all our reason.

We've had our Hotmail business relationship since 2002 which pre-dated even Google's Gmail (introduced in 2004). Back in the day, Hotmail.com was peachy for registering with sites, buying things, etc. but not for your "existent" electronic mail. Instead, we had our ISP email accounts for that and our Hotmail quickly became our "junk email" account, our throw away if you will.

That was fine for many years equally Hotmail was pretty weak for most of the 2000s as Gmail stole the limelight. So a funny thing happened: Windows Phone seven. All suddenly your Hotmail account was your Alive ID business relationship and it was the key for using a Windows Phone 7 device. We still didn't utilise Hotmail though, so we ignored it. And it got more spammed.

Now in 2012, betwixt SkyDrive, Alive Mail, Windows Phone Marketplace, App Hub, Messenger and our growing dislike with all things Google, we decided to give upwards on Gmail.

That and Hotmail/Live Mail got skillful. Like existent good. So we wanted dorsum into Microsoft's cloud.

Only our Hotmail business relationship was lame, it was broken. It was full of spam, had the antiquated Hotmail.com address and bluntly we just don't like our username. Our second trouble is Hotmail users can't change their Live ID in the settings (don't think we haven't tried).

So nosotros desire a new Live ID. We desire to showtime from scratch (and not only modify our email address).

Simply what happens to our Xbox 360 account? What most our $15 a month Zune Laissez passer (with free x song credit)? Our App Hub account? And those apps…sure, you accept bought apps for Windows Phone, just we've spent well over $600. Surely we're not going to start over and lose all of that, are we?

That's our reason and our business. You may have yours. Whatever it may exist, let's move on to getting that switch.

Switching your Live ID

Function I - First, check if you lot tin can change your Live ID manually. That will exist the easiest method though nosotros have to warn you lot, original Hotmail accounts tin't do this.

Go to https://account.live.com and sign in
Where your Live ID is listed (commencement line), select "Modify"
If y'all're allowed to change it, and so by all ways, you're nearly done! No need to proceed.

If y'all are told you cannot brand the alter similar in the paradigm in a higher place, then you take our problem. Keep reading on for the set up.

Part Two - This is where it gets tricky. Co-ordinate to the Windows Phone FAQ (opens in new tab), if you change your Live ID on your telephone, yous'll take to hard-reset the telephone and you'll lose your apps.

More importantly, they annotation

"If you buy apps, games, music, or videos using ane Windows Live ID, you won't be able to utilize those same things with your new Windows Live ID. You'll need to purchase them or download them once more."

Ouch. But all is not lost and at that place is a way to change your Live ID, keep your accounts and your app purchases. Simply caveat: yous will need an Xbox 360.

First, on your PC go to www.alive.com

Create a new Live ID account of your choice. We went with a Live.com over Hotmail.com

Log on to your Xbox 360

Become to Settings --> Account
Scroll to "Your Information"
Select "Windows Live ID"
Select Change Windows Alive ID
Answer "Yes" to you already have a new Windows Alive ID
Follow the prompts for associating your Xbox 360 business relationship with the new Live ID

You're done.

What just happened?

For some reason, you cannot change your Live ID through the web merely yous can change it on the Xbox 360.

More importantly, what will happen over the side by side thirty-60 minutes is your Zune Pass volition transfer over to your new business relationship as will your previous Windows Telephone app purchases. Also our App Hub even transferred. Y'all'll then desire to sign into Zune Desktop too with your new account.

What comes side by side though is the ugly part: y'all still need to hard-reset your Windows Telephone. In that location'southward no style around that, distressing.

Once you do though, enter in your new Windows Live ID and yous should exist able to download your previously purchased apps, have your licenses for your Zune songs, etc.

Every bit far as we've been able to discern you can only change your Live ID and have it roll to your other accounts through the Xbox 360. We could not practise information technology through our Zune business relationship, Windows Phone business relationship and definitely not our Hotmail.com account.

Summary

If you want to change your Live ID, choice out a new permanent electronic mail address and start fresh in the Microsoft "cloud" organization, and then you'll want to create that new Live ID and transfer it on your Xbox 360 account.

Doing so volition insure that all your music and apps get passed to the new account as well equally keeping your Xbox Gamer account and stats.

In short, nosotros lost aught in doing this and it was actually very easy once we figured out Microsoft'southward ridiculous system.

Only downside was we don't have 25GB of storage on SkyDrive as that was only a limited offer for older accounts. So we have to settle for 7GB for at present.

But hey, we accept a swanky new Live ID, a not-embarrassing email business relationship that is clean and spam costless and we're now happily using all of Microsoft's cloud services total-time.

We're also ready for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 in the fall.

Daniel Rubino is the Executive Editor of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been roofing Microsoft here since 2007, back when this site was called WMExperts (and after Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Microsoft Surface, laptops, side by side-gen computing, and arguing with people on the internet.

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/guide-how-get-new-live-id-and-keep-all-your-windows-phone-app-purchases

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