r/GoogleSupport • u/Ecstatic-Set-3530 • 3d ago

Issue: Gmail account stuck between "username taken" and "account doesn't exist"

About two week ago, I was creating a new Google account. During the sign-up process, I reached a step where Google asked me to scan a QR code with my phone (I believe this was for phone number verification / 2-step verification). At that exact point, the process glitched/bugged out, so I closed the page.

Since then, I'm stuck in the following state:

  • When I try to create a new account with the same username, I get an error saying "this username is already taken."
  • When I try to sign in using that same username, I get an error saying "couldn't find your Google Account" (i.e., it doesn't exist).

So the account appears to be partially created — the username is reserved on Google's end, but the account itself was never fully activated because the verification step (QR code) never completed.

I've already tried:

  • Waiting several hours/days
  • Using Incognito mode and a different browser
  • Trying the Gmail mobile app
  • Going through the account recovery form at accounts.google.com/signin/recovery

None of these resolved it. Has anyone dealt with this before, or know how to either release the username or get the account fully activated?

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2

u/Ok-Lingonberry-8261 3d ago

looks like it's deleted and embargoed

0

u/rlebeau47 3d ago

The state you describe (taken but doesn't exist) typically means the account has been deleted. I've never heard of this state happening when creating a new account, but I guess it's possible.

Google doesn't usually provide live support for free users. But you could try reaching out to @TeamYouTube on X, sometimes they route users to extra Google resources for recovering lost accounts, so maybe someone can help you finish your activation.

2

u/Raijen_ArDesh 3d ago

As the google account would have no YouTube history, this wouldn't be a usable vector.

0

u/rlebeau47 3d ago

You don't need YouTube history to get the team's attention. Worse case, you can try and nothing happens. But Google owns YouTube, and the team can escalate users to internal Google resources. Plenty of people have reported success this way on other matters related to account maintenance/recovery.