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Can't connect on Teams with my personal Microsoft account

Manon Mathé 20 Reputation points
2026-05-02T16:28:00.89+00:00

Hi,

I'm trying to connect on Teams, which I've used many times before, but for the first time on this phone (app newly downloaded).

I'm having 2 issues, which I'm assuming are linked:

  1. When entering my email address on the Teams app, I get an error pop-up message saying "Looks like you're not using Teams yet. Check you have been invited by the org you're trying to sign in to. You can also set up Teams for your org by selecting Create New Account"
  2. If I click on "Create new account", I am redirected to a browser page. When entering my email address, I get an error message saying "That email belongs to a reserved domain. Please try with a different email address." and I can't go forward to enter my password. I'm not even sure if it means I'm trying to create a whole new Microsoft account or just a Teams account...

Anyway, this is my one and only personal email address (on the domain @hotmail.fr). I've never used it professionnaly so I don't know why the first error message mentions being invited by an org. How do I fix this?

Thanks for anyone willing to help!!

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Answer accepted by question author

  1. Q&A Assist
    2026-05-02T16:28:16.99+00:00
    AI generated content. This question contains an answer created with AI from Q&A Assist. Learn more

    The behavior comes from how Microsoft Teams distinguishes between:

    • Personal Microsoft accounts used with Teams Free
    • Work or school accounts that belong to an organization tenant

    The messages seen indicate two things:

    1. The Teams mobile app is trying to sign in as if this were a work/school (organization) account, so it expects an invitation from an organization or an existing org tenant.
    2. When selecting Create new account in the browser, the backend detects that the email domain is treated as reserved in that flow, so it blocks creating an org-based Teams tenant with that address.

    To use Teams with a personal Hotmail address, the correct path is to use Microsoft Teams Free with a personal Microsoft account, not to create or join an organization tenant.

    Actionable steps:

    1. Confirm that the Hotmail address is a personal Microsoft account and can sign in elsewhere (for example, Outlook.com, OneDrive, or Xbox). If it works there, it is a valid Microsoft account.
    2. Install or open Microsoft Teams Free and sign in specifically as a personal account:
      • Follow the guidance in “Get a free version of Microsoft Teams (for work, school, or friends and family)”: to use Microsoft Teams Free, sign in with a personal Microsoft account such as Hotmail.
      • If the app offers a choice between work/school and personal, choose the personal option.
    3. If already signed into Teams on the phone with the wrong account type, sign out completely and sign back in as a personal user:
      • Open the Teams app.
      • Tap the profile picture or More.
      • Under Accounts and Orgs, select the current account and choose Settings → Sign out, then confirm.
      • Start Teams again and sign in following the Sign in to Microsoft Teams Free for the first time with an existing Microsoft account steps.
    4. If still seeing the “not using Teams yet / invited by org” message, avoid the Create new account path for organizations and instead:
      • Use the Teams Free sign-in flow described in the Teams Free documentation.

    If there is also a separate work or school account on the device, ensure that the Hotmail personal account is selected when signing in or switching accounts, as described in the Teams Free guidance.

    References:

    1 person found this answer helpful.

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