Win8 and XBOX Gamertag/Live ID Warning!

[xendrome]

Ok so I am posting this, just to give any of you a heads up if you are planning on doing what I wanted to do.

So, signed up for a new outlook.com profile, just to keep my Windows 8 Microsoft Account/Sync Settings on. Then I opened up "Games" thinking nothing of it.... Windows 8 then detected that I had no Gamer Profile on XBOX Live, so it automagically created one for me. At that point, I did some research because I want to bring my existing REAL Gamer Profile over to my Outlook account. Well this is not possible to do, at least easily.

The ONLY way to move an Gamer Profile over is to do it from the XBOX. No problem, I go to the XBOX and go into account settings and transfer gamer profile to another live ID. Well guess what, I can't move my gamer profile from my @hotmail.com address to @outlook.com because the @outlook.com address already has the auto-generated one that I didn't ask for associated with it.

Ok now I am getting angry, so I made a throwaway outlook.com profile, sign into the XBOX using the @outlook.com live ID, and go to transfer the auto-generated one to the throwaway outlook.com profile. "Sorry, you cannot move a newly created gamer profile in the first 30 days blah blah blah".... R U SERIOUS.... is basically where I am at.

So moral of the story kids, If you've created your shiny new login to use with Windows 8 and haven't moved your gamer profile to it yet.. DO NOT OPEN THE GAMES APP from the start screen until you do it.

I have to wait 30 days not to transfer it..... thanks MS....

[BajiRav]

There is an easier way (much easier if you don't have WP). Just rename your name@hotmail.com account to name@outlook.com. The change was instant and my Xbox now shows new ID without any additional setting.

The 30 day thing was known to be at least, YMMV.

[xendrome]

There is an easier way (much easier if you don't have WP). Just rename your name@hotmail.com account to name@outlook.com. The change was instant and my Xbox now shows new ID without any additional setting.

The 30 day thing was known to be at least, YMMV.

That would take care of it, IF you didn't open Windows 8 "Games" app and it creates a Gamer Profile automatically for your new account. If there is a Gamer Profile associated then it can't transfer to the new ID.

The fail here is that Windows 8 auto creates a Gamer Profile linked to your Microsoft Account with no prompts or confirmation.

[Calum Veteran]

Thanks for the heads up!

Similarly, I found out the other day that if you use a newly created Microsoft account for a Windows Phone and you haven't yet transferred your Xbox profile over to that account, downloading an app from the Windows Phone Marketplace will lead to an entirely new Xbox profile and gamertag being created for that account, without you being warned that will happen :angry: I haven't yet tried to correct this issue (although I was going to look into it this week), but I imagine I will have to wait 30 days to do so, like you do :/

It's terrible that Microsoft allowed this to even happen in one place, let alone two (that we know of).

Perhaps we should change the title of this thread to reflect that it's a problem with both Windows Phone and Windows (at least)? Or I could just create a new thread in the Windows Phone forum, actually :p (I'm not sure what's best, for the most people to be warned).

[Roger H. Veteran]

I got into the same issue when I created a new live.com email (old one was kinda "gansta" LOL) so i wanted something more professional. When I creted my new one though I accidentally clicked on Xbox.com link which auto generated one and for me which is basically where you are now.

Basically you need another new profile.

Actual Xbox account

New Account you want Xbox to move to

Dummy account

You move Xbox account to dummy account - then move New account (auto generated one) to "Actual Xbox account" or your old Live ID name then move it from the dummy to New account

So say example:

xenodrome@live.com - is your current

xenodrome@outlook.com - is the new one you want it to move to but can't since there's already a auto generated one.

xenodrome1@hotmail/gmail/live.com is your demo one that you'll make.

So when you log in you gotta do the switcharoo between those 3 like i mentioned above.

[George P Global Moderator]

Because I have WP device and don't feel like reseting it I just created a outlook.com alias for the address I wanted so no one else could snag it, i'm still using my original @live.com which is also my xbox gamertag ID etc. Maybe at some point I'll move it all over to one thing but not right now. Maybe when I get a new WP8 device and it's basically the same as doing a reset since nothing is on it and I have to reinstall apps etc.

[BajiRav]

That would take care of it, IF you didn't open Windows 8 "Games" app and it creates a Gamer Profile automatically for your new account. If there is a Gamer Profile associated then it can't transfer to the new ID.

The fail here is that Windows 8 auto creates a Gamer Profile linked to your Microsoft Account with no prompts or confirmation.

I think you misunderstood me :) It is too late for you to do this but instead of creating a new Outlook.com profile and then switching your Xbox profile from old hotmail to new outlook address - you could have just renamed the hotmail account to an outlook account. It doesn't create any new profile, just renames your email address (and old one keeps working on as an alias).

[xendrome]

Basically you need another new profile.

Actual Xbox account

New Account you want Xbox to move to

Dummy account

You move Xbox account to dummy account - then move New account (auto generated one) to "Actual Xbox account" or your old Live ID name then move it from the dummy to New account

'

Exactly that is what I did, but I can't move the New auto-generated account to the Dummy account, in the first 30 days.... :(

[Detection]

I wanted to change my gamertag associated with my main email address but discovered not only do I have to pay for the privilege, I have to own an XBOX too.... which I don't

[BajiRav]

To clarify what I am saying here,

I had one_weird_id@hotmail.com created in 1998 that I was using with my Windows 8, Windows Phone and Xbox profile.

I then renamed it to my_name@outlook.com.

My account is still just one my_name@outlook.com that is now connected to all Windows 8/Phone/Xbox. (only had to reset Windows Phone).

The old address one_weird_id@hotmail.com now acts as an alias to the same account.

This obviously doesn't work if you created a new @outlook.com id instead of renaming your existing one.

[Calum Veteran]

I wanted to change my gamertag associated with my main email address but discovered not only do I have to pay for the privilege, I have to own an XBOX too.... which I don't

That was highly iritating to me when I wanted to change the account associated with my Zune account, a year or two before I got an Xbox. I think it's dreadful that one has to have an Xbox just to change the Microsoft account that is associated with the gamertag/profile.

It's always concerned me that that is the only way to change the Microsoft account associated with the profile, as I'm concerned that they'll remove that ability at some point :/

[George P Global Moderator]

Not everyone has multiple live IDs, I have 4 for example, this "problem" is on the minor side. I've used my current xbox/WP live ID to log into Windows 8, and I think i'll do the same going forward. The only thing stopping me from changing it over to a Outlook.com is that I don't feel like reseting my phone and grabbing all my apps over. When I get a new one that won't be the case though. When I changed my xbox gamertag live ID to a new one it told me you couldn't change it again for 12 months! So yeah, when you do move it over to your new ID keep that in mind.

[Calum Veteran]

To clarify what I am saying here,

I had one_weird_id@hotmail.com created in 1998 that I was using with my Windows 8, Windows Phone and Xbox profile.

I then renamed it to my_name@outlook.com.

My account is still just one my_name@outlook.com that is now connected to all Windows 8/Phone/Xbox. (only had to reset Windows Phone).

The old address one_weird_id@hotmail.com now acts as an alias to the same account.

This obviously doesn't work if you created a new @outlook.com id instead of renaming your existing one.

This solution also isn't possible if one is using an email address that isn't one Microsoft provides (e.g. an email address of one's domain name), as far as I'm aware (but I could be wrong).

It's a good idea, though, for those who can do what you suggest :)

[PGHammer]

There is an easier way (much easier if you don't have WP). Just rename your name@hotmail.com account to name@outlook.com. The change was instant and my Xbox now shows new ID without any additional setting.

The 30 day thing was known to be at least, YMMV.

Same here - I had a passport.com ID (dates back to 2000) that was already tied to XBLA; moving over to outlook.com transferred everything for me (I have no Windows Phone, which is the only *known* issue).

There ARE times when paranoia causes more problems than it solves.

[PGHammer]

Not everyone has multiple live IDs, I have 4 for example, this "problem" is on the minor side. I've used my current xbox/WP live ID to log into Windows 8, and I think i'll do the same going forward. The only thing stopping me from changing it over to a Outlook.com is that I don't feel like reseting my phone and grabbing all my apps over. When I get a new one that won't be the case though. When I changed my xbox gamertag live ID to a new one it told me you couldn't change it again for 12 months! So yeah, when you do move it over to your new ID keep that in mind.

Exactly. My passport.com (old) ID already was usable with Hotmail - I simply didn't use it for anything mail-related. (Any e-mail I request or expect from Microsoft goes to my ISP-based e-mail account, which I added in 2000 - that has NOT changed with the lateral to outlook.com of my passport.com ID and Hotmail account.) The same passport.com ID was also the core of my XBLA account and gamertag (which is the default, actually) - multiple Live IDs I chalk up to paranoia. (There was a LOT of it revolving around the Passport service.)

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Have any of you called customer service about this?

[Calum Veteran]

Have any of you called customer service about this?

I haven't yet, no, as I was hoping to see whether I could sort out the problem, using my Xbox, first. Thanks for the suggestion, though :) I'll look into calling Customer Service if I am unable to correct the issue myself.

My post in this thread was more a warning to others, so that they don't end up with the same problem. Windows Phone doesn't tell the user it will assign them a Gamertag of PlayerXXXXXXXXX and the profile that comes with it, when informing them it will set them up for the Windows Phone Marketplace. That behaviour doesn't seem to make sense to me, so hopefully, if we can somehow inform Microsoft of the problem, it can be changed.

[Shane Nokes]

I haven't yet, no, as I was hoping to see whether I could sort out the problem, using my Xbox, first. Thanks for the suggestion, though :) I'll look into calling Customer Service if I am unable to correct the issue myself.

My post in this thread was more a warning to others, so that they don't end up with the same problem. Windows Phone doesn't tell the user it will assign them a Gamertag of PlayerXXXXXXXXX and the profile that comes with it, when informing them it will set them up for the Windows Phone Marketplace. That behaviour doesn't seem to make sense to me, so hopefully, if we can somehow inform Microsoft of the problem, it can be changed.

It assigns the user a 'temporary' name. Users are allowed one free Gamertag change. So if it's a case where these users have never had a Gamertag/Zune Tag before then this just makes one for the phone.

The user then should be able to later change that Gamertag/Zune Tag.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

glad I saw this first, as opposed to biting the bullet and diving into shallow waters head first. Not making me have any love for 8, I can tell you that much! You'd think they'd have ironed out those little bugs like that before 8 hit RTM, but that's what happens when you keep everything internally. Stuff like this slips through. Learn your lesson yet, Microsoft?

[Calum Veteran]

It assigns the user a 'temporary' name. Users are allowed one free Gamertag change. So if it's a case where these users have never had a Gamertag/Zune Tag before then this just makes one for the phone.

The user then should be able to later change that Gamertag/Zune Tag.

Thanks for mentioning that (in case any members were misled by my post). I'm aware of that because Windows Phone helpfully told me that the Gamertag they gave me can be changed. My problem is not the name of the tag they assigned me; my problem is that I already have a Gamertag/profile that I was hoping to associate with this new Microsoft account (thus, I cannot change this Gamertag they've assigned me to be the exact Gamertag of the Xbox profile I actually use). If I had known that setting up the Windows Phone Marketplace with this account would have created an Xbox profile, I wouldn't have attempted to download any apps until I'd switched the Microsoft account that is associated with the Xbox profile I actually use. But unfortunately, Windows Phone did not tell me it would do this and it wasn't obvious it would (nothing indicated that it would) :/

Hopefully I should be able to still use this new Microsoft account of mine with the Xbox profile I actually use, by changing things around on my Xbox (perhaps you might know whether I can, please?), even if I do have to wait 30 days, but as I mention, my post here is just to inform others so that they don't end up experiencing this issue.

I'm curious to know why the Windows Phone team felt that they shouldn't inform us that setting up Marketplace would assign us a Gamertag/create an Xbox profile for us. I'm also interested as to why they don't allow users to enter the Gamertag they desire while setting it up on their phone, and?more usefully, in certain circumstances?why they don't allow us to assign the Microsoft account we're using on the phone to an Xbox profile that is currently linked to another Microsoft account we have).

[xendrome]

Exactly Calum, it's stupid the only solution I found today was make a dummy account, transfer the auto generated gamertagto the dummy account, then transfer your real gamertag to the new account you want to use, but you have to way 30 days to move a new account... which is stupid.

[Shane Nokes]

Thanks for mentioning that (in case any members were misled by my post). I'm aware of that because Windows Phone helpfully told me that the Gamertag they gave me can be changed. My problem is not the name of the tag they assigned me; my problem is that I already have a Gamertag/profile that I was hoping to associate with this new Microsoft account (thus, I cannot change this Gamertag they've assigned me to be the exact Gamertag of the Xbox profile I actually use). If I had known that setting up the Windows Phone Marketplace with this account would have created an Xbox profile, I wouldn't have attempted to download any apps until I'd switched the Microsoft account that is associated with the Xbox profile I actually use. But unfortunately, Windows Phone did not tell me it would do this and it wasn't obvious it would (nothing indicated that it would) :/

Hopefully I should be able to still use this new Microsoft account of mine with the Xbox profile I actually use, by changing things around on my Xbox (perhaps you might know whether I can, please?), even if I do have to wait 30 days, but as I mention, my post here is just to inform others so that they don't end up experiencing this issue.

I'm curious to know why the Windows Phone team felt that they shouldn't inform us that setting up Marketplace would assign us a Gamertag/create an Xbox profile for us. I'm also interested as to why they don't allow users to enter the Gamertag they desire while setting it up on their phone, and?more usefully, in certain circumstances?why they don't allow us to assign the Microsoft account we're using on the phone to an Xbox profile that is currently linked to another Microsoft account we have).

So here's the details on how this works. If what I'm saying is confusing please do let me know, but I'll try to be as clear as possible :)

So let's say you created a Microsoft Account (Formerly Windows Live ID), and a Gamertag/Zune Tag was assigned to it automatically for some reason.

In order to fix this situation so you can use an existing Gamertag/Zune Tag there's a couple things you need to do. There's a couple ways to go about it.

Situation 1: This has occurred and you happen to have a spare Microsoft Account that is more than 30 days old WITHOUT a Gamertag/Zune Tag associated:

1. Sign in to the new account that accidentally had the Gamertag/Zune Tag assigned to it on an Xbox 360 console.

2. Go to Settings, select Account, and then select Account Security.

3. Select Change Microsoft Account (it may still say Windows Live ID).

4. Enter the password for the Microsoft Account that is currently associated with your gamertag, and then select Sign in.

5. Enter the email address and the password for the new Microsoft Account that you want to associate with your gamertag, and then select Sign in.

6. Select Yes, change to change the Microsoft Account associated with your Xbox LIVE account.

This will free up the new Microsoft Account you've made so that your old Gamertag can be transferred to it, using the same method above. However, you still have to wait 30 days in order to do so.

If you do not have a spare Microsoft Account to transfer the accidentally made Gamertag/Zune Tag to you will need to create one. This however has the unfortunate issue of creating a 60 day wait.

That wait is due to the fact that you cannot transfer Gamertags/Zune Tags to an account that is less than 30 days old.

So you have to wait the 30 days to transfer to the spare Microsoft Account, and then 30 more days in order to transfer the Gamertag to the existing Microsoft Account you want to use since a Gamertag was just transferred off of it.

I had to do this earlier this year, and did not have a spare Microsoft Account to work with that didn't have a Gamertag/Zune Tag associated with it. So I had to wait the 60 days just like everyone else. The reason why it is setup this way is mostly related to internal policy matters that I can't discuss. Suffice it to say it's intentional, and not a technological barrier. It's there for a good reason, and it's rare that a normal legitimate customer runs into this issue, very rare.

Exactly Calum, it's stupid the only solution I found today was make a dummy account, transfer the auto generated gamertagto the dummy account, then transfer your real gamertag to the new account you want to use, but you have to way 30 days to move a new account... which is stupid.

Are you saying that you were able to transfer an existing Gamertag to a new Microsoft Account immediately after creating the Microsoft Account?

Matters may have changed from the information I provided in my earlier post then. Transferring to a Microsoft Account less than 30 days old was not supported as of about 2 months ago when I performed this same task, which is why I ask.

This may make matters easier for those in this situation if this is the case. :)

[professortim]

My situation is similar - I DO NOT own an XBox. I upgraded from Win 8 to Win 8.1 and now when I open games the PC I am signed into XBOX as EmployedNote726. I never created an account and don't want one. I can't figure out how to sign out and can't figure out how to delete this account. Any hints? Thanks.

[McKay]

Holy thread revival batman!

[FiB3R]

I'm glad it got revived, saved the the trouble of searching for it in the near future (y)

Has anything changed since then?