# microsoft act. - why does pw work SOMETIMES and not at other



## robroy6 (Mar 1, 2011)

I know this makes no sense whatsoever - but here goes.



I'm sure the microsoft act. pw is valid - iwas prompted for it to access this community site and here i am. Here's what doesn't make any sense: I'm supposed to already have an account. whenever i open the win 10 start menu and click on "mail", i get a big blue dialog box with the word "mail" in the upper left and the word "accounts" in the center. under this it says 

+ add account. my only option is to click "add account" which opens a new screen - "choose an account" with several options ( microsoft account, outlook.com, exchange, google, etc etc). I want to access my microsoft act. to read my mail so I click on the icon for that. the next screen asks me "pls reenter your PW. i do so (same pw i used to access this comm. site ) and click

"sign in". the next screen is always the "something went wrong" screen with the error code

0x801901f4 error code . i searched this error code pulled up a few hits but still wasn't able to

resolve this issue. i don't know if this is a pw issue, corrupt file or what - however i can go to a microsoft act. sign in screen, enter my credentials and i can access my ms act.



to put it another way - how should i access my mail account - it's obviously not thru the start menu.



any help GREATLY app

roger


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

This site is not Microsoft site so it uses a totally different password.

What is the last part of your email address, ie. @outlook.com, @live.com, etc?

If you go to www.outlook.com, can you sign in with that exact email and password?


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## robroy6 (Mar 1, 2011)

Triple6 said:


> This site is not


Don't mean to sound dense - but what "site" are you ref to ?
if i go to www.outlook.com - it doesn't ask me to sign in. it opens a screen: outlook mail (preview). just beneath this it says: "search mail &people, to the right of that: "+ New.
i don't have a clue as to what my email add is in outlook . however if i click the +New (as ab0ve) it opens up a form (like you would use to compose an email). At the very top of the form, there is "From [email protected]. i'm thinking this may be my email add - i can send emails from it but can't receive emails sent to this add. they come back, undelivered. maybe there's more i need to do to complete the setup ?
tks 4 reply - app you're taking the time
roger
PS i came about this win10 as part of the freebee prog microsoft was offering to anyone with an eligible win7


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

This one, the one you are on, www.techguy.org, this is what you said:



robroy6 said:


> I'm sure the microsoft act. pw is valid - iwas prompted for it to access this community site and here i am.
> to put it another way - how should i access my mail account - it's obviously not thru the start menu.


If you don't know what your email address is then how are you trying to sign in?


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## robroy6 (Mar 1, 2011)

as stated in my last reply, when i clicked: "www.outlook.com" i wasn't asked for credentials - it just opened to the screen i described to you


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Ok, but what email address are you trying to add into the Mail app?


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## robroy6 (Mar 1, 2011)

hi Triple6 - many tks for your patience in bearing with a *******
appearently we're not even on the same page. here's where i am now - i think i have a microsoft acct because whenever i go to: login.live.com. and enter my credentials, i get this page (see screen shot 3) . from the icons at the top of the page (in screen shot), there is an icon/link for outlook.com . whenever i click it, i get the page you see in screenshot 4. with this page open if i click the +New, it opens up the page in screenshot 5 . looking on this page, behind the word "From", there is "[email protected]." i'm assuming this is my email address (beginning with the word "outlook" ) . if i do have an email act with the above address, why can't i recv mail there ? whenever i send mail to that add, it comes back. ( see screenshots 1 & 2. )

i guess all of this boils down to 2 main issues:
(1) if i do in fact have legit microsoft & outlook accts. set up - why then can't i access them by: start menu > mail >
(whenever i try this, i get the dialog box in screenshot 6 (prompting me to add an account) if i do click " + Add 
Account, it brings me to the screen shown in screenshot 7. maybe it's not possible to access you microsoft or 
outlook accts. via the start menu.
(2) why can't i recv mail at outlook email add mentioned above ?

IF YOU'VE MADE IT THIS FAR *THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE.*
robroy


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Do you remember where you got that email address from? Seems like a temporary account which may not be eligible to be used for email. Your first screenshot shows you have a Gmail account, why not just use that? Or you can create a proper email account at www.outlook.com


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## robroy6 (Mar 1, 2011)

not sure where add came from - it was there the first time i opened outlook and clicked +New. the reason i don't think it's a temp account (see screen shot 8) is because there's too many options (make a purchase, change my profile) from screen shots 1 & 2, can you understand why i can't recv mail - i don't know how to set up a mail account ( i thought i already had) - but apparently something else needs to be done


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

If you look at the screenshots you posted it clearly shows that the actual email account in use there is your Gmail account. That Gmail account is a real email address that you can use. That Gmail account was used to create a Microsoft account, a Microsoft account can be created with another provider's email address but a Microsoft account doesn't necessarily mean have an Outlook.com email address. So in your case you used a Gmail email address to create a Microsoft Account. If you want to use email use your Gmail email account.


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## robroy6 (Mar 1, 2011)

tks 4 reply Triple6 - so what you're saying is the only viable email acount that's set up to recv mail is the gmail acct. ?
i guess what i really need to know is how to set up the mail app whereby i can go to one site and check all 3 of my mail boxes. i tried to google this, got a couple of hits, one wasn't helpful and the other i didn't understand. do you know of a site (link) where i could go that would explain how to set up the mail app (or at least outlook mail)


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

There is no website to do that or that I would trust to do that. You could set up an email client on the PC with all the accounts, you will need to know the email account info such as passwords and such. The Windows 10 Mail app supports multiple accounts so you could use that, just click the Add Account and add the Gmail email account and the other two accounts you have. I still don't think you have a Outlook email account. If you don't really use all three email accounts all the time you could just set two of them to forward email to the the one you use the most, then you only have to check the one account on the web.


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## TonyB25 (Jan 1, 1970)

You can use your Gmail account to access all your other email accounts.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Yes, Tony is right, seems you can with Gmail: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/21289?hl=en


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