i removed my outlook alias and now it says 'email already taken' i need the alias released or restored

Hello

I need to know a few more details -

What is the email domain for the alias you removed - is it outlook.com, hotmail.com or third party?

You said you removed it, but you also said it was tied to your account, this is conflicting. Can you clarify what kind of account association this alias still have with your account?

You said you created an alias, can you sign in using this new alias you created though?

Removing an Outlook.com alias and then seeing “email already taken” means the address is still associated with a Microsoft account in the backend and cannot simply be re‑added as a new alias. What can be done depends on what exactly was removed:

1. If the removed address was an Outlook.com/Hotmail/Live/MSN alias

• When an alias from a Microsoft domain (for example @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @live.com, @msn.com) is removed, it is permanently deleted as an alias.
• It cannot be associated with any Microsoft account again, so it cannot be restored or “released” for reuse.
• This also means it cannot be added back as a sign‑in alias, and the error you see (“email already taken”) reflects that it is not available for reassignment.

In this case:

• Sign in using another alias on the same Microsoft account (for example another email address or phone number already listed on the account).
• Once signed in, go to Manage how you sign in to Microsoft and verify which aliases are available for sign‑in.
• If sign‑in is blocked for some aliases, use a different alias that is allowed for sign‑in as described in the “This username has been turned off” guidance.

2. If the removed address was a non‑Microsoft domain alias (for example Gmail)

• Removing a non‑Microsoft alias (like @gmail.com) usually makes it immediately available to be added as an alias on another Microsoft account.
• If the system reports “email already taken” when trying to add it, that means it is still associated with some Microsoft account.

In this case:

• Use the Forgot your username? flow on the Microsoft sign‑in page with that email address to discover which account it is tied to.
• After receiving the code at the primary alias of that account and entering it, a list of aliases that can be used to sign in is shown. Use one of those aliases to sign in.

3. If sign‑in is blocked for that alias

• If the message shown is “This username has been turned off for sign‑in. Try a different one.”, the alias has been blocked for sign‑in.
• Use the steps in the “This username has been turned off” article to:
  1. Run Forgot your username? with the blocked alias.
  2. Sign in with another alias that allows sign‑in.
  3. From there, manage aliases and sign‑in preferences.

4. Access to mail vs. sign‑in

• Even if mail still arrives at that address (for example because it is still a delivery address or forwarding target), that does not guarantee it is a valid sign‑in alias.
• If it was a Microsoft‑domain alias that was removed, it cannot be restored as a sign‑in identity; only remaining aliases on the account can be used to sign in.

If no remaining alias or phone number can be used to sign in, the only supported path is to use the standard account recovery and “forgot username” flows to regain access via another alias on the same account. A deleted Microsoft‑domain alias itself cannot be restored or released for sign‑in again.

References:

• Add or remove an email alias in Outlook.com
• How to fix "This username has been turned off" error
• Help with "phone number is already used" in a Microsoft account
• "Something went wrong" with error ADDriverStoreAccessNonLocalException
• Deleted hotmail email address from account - can I get it back? - Microsoft Q&A
• MSN email issues - Microsoft Q&A