Forgot email but have access to recovery email

Hello, thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

Using the recovery email address, you can only view a partial hint of your Microsoft account email address.

Forgotten your Microsoft account username

First, check whether you recognize the full email address from the partial hint shown on the recovery page.

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If you still cannot remember the email address you used to sign in, see if you are signed in with this account on your Windows PC or any Microsoft services such as Office apps, OneDrive, or Outlook.

You can also ask your friends, family, or colleagues to check whether they have received any emails from you. They may be able to share the exact email address those messages came from.

If that doesn’t help, check whether your credentials for live.com (or other Microsoft domains) are saved in a password manager, such as Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, or another browser’s password manager. There, you may be able to locate the full username associated with your Microsoft account.

Yes. Since the recovery email is available but the full Microsoft account address is not, the process is:

1. Look up the Microsoft account username
   • Use the official guidance to look up the Microsoft account associated with the recovery email. Follow the steps in “Forgotten your Microsoft account username” from the article referenced under “Look up your Microsoft account.” This helps retrieve or confirm the Outlook/Hotmail address tied to that recovery email.
2. If the username is not recognized
   • If, after lookup, the username is still “not recognized” or you see messages like “We couldn't find an account with that username” or “account doesn't exist,” use the Sign-in Helper tool:
     • Go to the Sign-in Helper (linked as https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2214157 in the documentation) and follow the prompts to locate and recover the account.
3. Reset the password once the username is known
   • When the correct email address is identified, reset the password:
     • Go to Recover your account (https://account.live.com/password/reset as linked in the documentation) and enter the recovered email address.
     • Choose where to receive the security code (recovery email).
     • Enter the code, then set a new password. The old/guessed password is not required if the reset succeeds.
4. If normal reset fails or security info is unfamiliar
   • If the reset flow shows recovery options that are not recognized, or the usual methods fail, use the Sign-in Helper again as instructed in the recovery guidance.
   • If still blocked, fill out the Microsoft account recovery form (linked in the docs as “Help with the Microsoft account recovery form”). Before filling it out:
     • Ensure access to a working contact email (can be any account, including a new Outlook.com address).
     • Gather as much information as possible about the account: old passwords, approximate creation date, contacts, exact subject lines of recent emails, and any Microsoft services used (Outlook/Hotmail, Xbox, Skype, etc.).
     • Answer as many questions as possible; wrong answers do not count against the request.
   • Microsoft will review the form and respond to the contact email, typically within 24 hours.
5. If two-step verification was enabled and no methods are accessible
   • If two-step verification was turned on for that account and none of the verification methods (phone, alternate email, authenticator app) are accessible anymore, support agents cannot override security or send manual reset links. In that case, the automated recovery form is the only available path, and if it fails, the account cannot be recovered.
6. If the account has been inactive for over two years
   • If the account has not been signed into for more than two years, it may have been deleted and cannot be reopened.

The transaction and card information cannot be used directly with Microsoft support to recover a personal Outlook.com/Microsoft account; only the automated tools and the recovery form are supported for identity verification.

References:

• I can't sign in to my Microsoft account
• Help with the Microsoft account recovery form
• My username and password have stopped working