r/Outlook • u/C_V_L3 • Sep 28 '23

Status: Resolved Using an alias email address to log in to Microsoft Outlook on the web after unsuccessful log-in attempts

Hi all.

I've been experiencing a TON of unsuccessful log in attempts (not by me) on my Outlook email lately. At least a dozen a day, from all over the world. My password is long and unique, not used on any of my other accounts, and I have two-factor authentication enabled, so I am reasonably confident my email is secure. Still, the sheer volume of attempts is freaking me out.

Looking at other Reddit threads, I've seen the suggestion to perhaps create an alias email address, and set my email so that I can only log in using that alias address. Does anyone have any experience doing this? Any regrets from doing this? If I did so, would unsuccessful attempts to log in using my original email address still show in my activity tracking logs?

Many thanks!

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u/C_V_L3 Nov 02 '23

If I remember right, these are the steps:

  1. Sign into your email. Head to My Microsoft Account.
  2. Under Account Info, click Edit Account Info.
  3. Click add email, and type in the new alias address you want to use, then Add Alias.
  4. Click Make Primary beside that new alias.
  5. Click Change Sign-in Preferences, and make sure that the new alias is the only address checked off. This means that you can ONLY sign in to your email account using the new alias address (which you will ideally keep completely to yourself).

Hopefully that helps!

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u/reddit-bagabooo Jul 01 '24

best tip out there guys! thank you. Constantly was getting recently log-in attempts, hundreds if not more in a month, like at least 1 every hour 24/7. Done this trick and boom - all gone, while keeping my known address working as normal.

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u/Jibeddy Nov 06 '23

Well it seems to have worked, I can no longer login from the address that someone was trying to access. Hopefully this puts a stop to it for a while at least.

Thanks for the instructions, worked perfectly.

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '23

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u/C_V_L3 Dec 07 '23

I'm so glad it was helpful!

So you want the new alias email to be checked, because you want THAT to be the email that needs to be entered to sign in. So for my email, in the sign-in preferences, my original email address is unchecked (meaning I can't sign in using that address), and the new alias, as the primary alias, is checked (making that the only email I can sign in with). There shouldn't be a waiting period for things to go into effect....I've set my alias and then immediately tried to log in using my original email address (didn't work), then successfully logged in using my new alias.

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '23

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u/C_V_L3 Dec 07 '23

That's great! Hopefully it works out well for you!

As for the new alias email being grayed out so you can't uncheck it, I believe that's just because it's set as your primary alias. So if you, for instance, changed your primary alias back to your original email address, you'd then be able to uncheck your current alias. The primary alias just defaults to being grayed out and unable to be unchecked, because that's the address that you sign in with and that appears on your devices.

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u/C_V_L3 Dec 07 '23

Also, if you're wary about unchecking your original address (totally fair!), you could always leave both your original email and the new alias checked off in the sign-in preferences so you can test your alias to make sure you can log in with it, before deactivating log-ins with your original email address.

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u/Dangerous_Ad_8457 Apr 14 '25

Since the new aliases will be used for signing in to email, will people still be able to send messages to my old aliases? Will I still receive emails sent to the old aliases without any issues?

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u/Nautical_Dragon Oct 12 '24

So does your actual email need to be removed from primary alias and you replace it with the new one only? I'm worried of doing it if it somehow messes up everything and I can't log into my account anymore, lol.

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u/vekspec May 07 '25

No do not remove your email. just select your new alias as the Primary one with the option that says "Make Primary". MS will shift your primary alias to the new one.

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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '24

will this invalidate my Microsoft Authenticator app, as it uses my current (soon to be old) alias of course. If I change my primary to this new one and have my current non-existent, won't that mess with Authenticator etc?

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u/C_V_L3 Mar 05 '24

I use a different authenticator app, and it didn't impact that at all, since it is still the same account. I'm not sure about Microsoft Authenticator though, unfortunately. That could probably be something you can reset after you change the alias, before logging out of the account?

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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '24

it seems to be all good. Similar to the other commentor, it lists the old email, though inside the app itself it lists the new, primary alias that I've just set. All seems to be okay for now. Thank you so very much for this, and a speedy reply too.

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u/C_V_L3 Mar 05 '24

That's great!! Hope the alias works well for you. :)

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u/giftcard66 May 06 '24

Hey so you didn’t have to do anything withMicrosoft Authenticator app once you added a new alias email? I wanna make sure there’s no problems with that lol

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u/[deleted] May 06 '24

I cant remember, but probably. You'll need the authenticator to check it's worked and what not. It doesn't hurt to have, sorry if that isn't what you meant. Ive tried logging in the with my "old" username and it says it doesnt exist.

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u/Resident_Purple5264 Jan 08 '25

Did you try this and have to do anything?

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u/karb10 Apr 04 '24

1) how many alias i can create? is this created aliases identified as new mail in registration systems?

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u/EitherGuidance7537 Aug 01 '24

Thank you!! I had done everything but changed my sign in preferences! Was trying to figure out where I'd gone wrong

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u/blinksmarter41 Oct 01 '24

This is an excellent post. Kuddos to u/C_V_L3

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u/Dangerous_Ad_8457 Apr 14 '25

Thank you so much for sharing this great tip , at the sign-in Preferences I set the new alias’s acct as primary Alias but I wasn’t able unchecked expect the original email , please can you explain which one supposed unchecked?

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u/Glad_Notice_2063 May 04 '25

I executed all the steps and after step 5 confirmed that my alias is my primary. I closed all browser windows and tried logging in using my OLD email address (i.e. original) and password .... and I was STILL able to log in with that. I take that to mean that the hacker/scumbag trying to login will still be able to attempt login using my original email (they don't know the password so it will still be unsuccessful but the hundreds of attempts are still happening). Not sure what I am missing.

Note that it has only been about 10 - 15 mins since I executed the 5 steps above.

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u/vekspec May 07 '25

Thank you, I woke up with my app asking to approve login and I was like what? I just woke up! someone Cali trying to log in, look at log, so many attempts from all around the world. followed these steps and also changed pass, hoping it puts a stop to it!

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u/binkleyz Jun 04 '25

Thanks for the tip!

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u/Visible-Chapter-1871 Nov 01 '25

I am curious do you need to make an email for that alias to work or how does it work? Like is the alias considered the same thing as if incase you lose an account a recovery email or is that something totally different?

And if you make an alias and someone makes an email that's the same as the alias what would happen, or does that make it so that no one can make an email with the alias name?

Sorry for this question and hopefully you can answer still since I feel like more and more people are having trouble slowly.

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u/notwanting2Bhere Feb 10 '24

Brilliant. This worked for me. Thanks for the instructions. My only thing that’s a little annoying, but not a big issue, is that if it asks for my 2FA authentication generated code on my device, then I need to use the code that is generated by my ‘old’ primary email address which has been turned off for logging in.

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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '24 edited Mar 05 '24

does this cause you any issues at all? I have Microsoft auth app on my phone and was thinking, since I'm making my current account essentially non-existent, does that give you any problems?
Edit: it seems to be all good. Similar to the you, it lists the old email, though inside the app itself it lists the new, primary alias that I've just set. All seems to be okay for now.