I lost my Microsoft account years ago. I still get emails from Microsoft stating that there's suspicious activity on the account. I got two just yesterday.
Despite that, despite still having access to the email the account is on, I cannot recover the Microsoft account. Despite Microsoft notifying me that the account is still, years later to this day, being abused, cannot use any form of recovery. I cannot access the account with help from support or even after visiting a brick-and-mortar store.
It's one big reason that I've long since refused to purchase anything more from Microsoft and have ditched Windows.
>Despite that, despite still having access to the email the account is on, I cannot recover the Microsoft account. Despite Microsoft notifying me that the account is still, years later to this day, being abused, cannot use any form of recovery. I cannot access the account with help from support or even after visiting a brick-and-mortar store.
This happened to me. I was briefly a contractor at MSFT and was able to escalate the issue -- after a few years, these accounts get automatically deleted. It's likely that your account is completely wiped and no longer exists.
> It's likely that your account is completely wiped and no longer exists.
If that's the case then why do I get emails notifying me that unusual sign-in activity is occurring? And, why am I unable to create a new account with the same email?
Protonmail is the best beacause it does not require backup emmail or SMS, just the username and password and 2fa being optional (but you must have the password), which is how it should be. So many people have gotten hacked through phones and or recovery emails.
Despite that, despite still having access to the email the account is on, I cannot recover the Microsoft account. Despite Microsoft notifying me that the account is still, years later to this day, being abused, cannot use any form of recovery. I cannot access the account with help from support or even after visiting a brick-and-mortar store.
It's one big reason that I've long since refused to purchase anything more from Microsoft and have ditched Windows.
Good luck recovering your stuff.