Setting up my new Surface 3 - why is my MS Exchange acct not accepted as a Microsoft account?

[ALToronto]

The title pretty much says it. I still have a personal MS account, which I want to abandon. I have recently opened a paid MS Exchange account, with which I want to register my new Surface 3.

However, when I enter my Exchange hosted email and password, MS gives me an 'unknown email and/or password' message and I can't get past that screen. I really don't want to use the personal account, I no longer receive email on it and I have moved my calendar over as well. How can I make Exchange work?

 

[Brandon57]

A hosted Microsoft Exchange account is not a Microsoft account. A Microsoft account is what you use to login to outlook.com, onedrive.com, or other Microsoft sites. You could set up a local account on the computer and then sign in to Outlook or whatever email app you want that supports Microsoft Exchange. You will need a Microsoft account to get apps from the Windows Store or do a few other things like sync settings in Windows, but if you don't have a need or desire to use any of the apps in the Windows Store then you don't need to worry about having a Microsoft account.

 

[dudejoe]

Like Brandon stated, the paid MS Exchange is more like a domain that you are paying for. You should be able to sign it up as a Microsoft account, using signup.live.com and make sure to select use an excisting email if it doesn't auto pop that option

 

[ALToronto]

This is very frustrating. My biggest inconvenience with the two accounts is that the OneDrive storage on the Exchange account is not reachable from anywhere else. The file manager doesn't access it, my files and photos don't sync to it - what's the point of having a TB of storage when I can't use it without jumping through hoops?

One would think that paying for a premium account would result in better account management and integration, but instead it's a disjointed mess. Any suggestions on how to make it work? Am I missing something?

 

[philxor]

Yeah I've seen the same question posted on Microsoft's site and as of now there is no way to integrate the two. I believe there is a Windows 8 "Onedrive for Business" app which is separate, but the OS itself has no integration.

There used to be a hack where if you create another account, not even using a MS account, you could connect the user to Skydrive/Onedrive and then set the folder to be shared with your main user. When you login as the main user you could click on "Homegroup" and see the folder, then just create a quick link to it. You can also change the location where "photos, etc" are stored and for most programs just have to browse to the right storage.

 

[randall simon]

I agree it is frustrating, especially when the surface pro is promoted to a business community. I had an old Toshiba Portage running windows 7 pro, and could use it in and out of the office with ease. I thought the surface pro would be the best of both worlds, but I need to have two accounts: one with my Hotmail account so I can access all the apps, and one with our domain network so I can access documents on our server, I kind of feel ripped by this. I was thinking of replacing all the office PCs with surface and having staff benefit from going mobile, but this arrangement will just not work.

 

[ttsoldier]

I agree it is frustrating, especially when the surface pro is promoted to a business community. I had an old Toshiba Portage running windows 7 pro, and could use it in and out of the office with ease. I thought the surface pro would be the best of both worlds, but I need to have two accounts: one with my Hotmail account so I can access all the apps, and one with our domain network so I can access documents on our server, I kind of feel ripped by this. I was thinking of replacing all the office PCs with surface and having staff benefit from going mobile, but this arrangement will just not work.

If you are on a domain then your network administrator, through group policy and active directory will determine if you can access the store or not.

Either you are confused about what a domain is, or you have not been granted permission.

Please don't feel "ripped off" as it is no fault of Microsoft/Windows 10/The Surface Pro 4

 

[ALToronto]

If you are on a domain then your network administrator, through group policy and active directory will determine if you can access the store or not.

Either you are confused about what a domain is, or you have not been granted permission.

Please don't feel "ripped off" as it is no fault of Microsoft/Windows 10/The Surface Pro 4

I disagree. I'm the administrator of my business domain, and I have granted myself every possible permission (at least I think so - I'm not an IT professional), but I'm in the same position as randall simon, having to work with a personal MS account to log onto the tablet, and an Exchange account accessible only through the browser. Only email, contacts and calendar are accessible through the Surface apps and my phone. The Exchange OneDrive sits idle, as I can't access it through File Manager or my phone.

I've heard that Win10 Pro can allow direct login into the Exchange account, but I would still not be able to integrate my phone with it. Is there a solution that I'm not seeing?

 

[ttsoldier]

I disagree. I'm the administrator of my business domain, and I have granted myself every possible permission (at least I think so - I'm not an IT professional),

You must be joking right?

 

[ALToronto]

You must be joking right?

Why would I be joking? I'm a small business owner, and I manage my own website, email and phone. For a couple of years, I used a free Outlook.com account, connected to my personal MS ID, but it pulled my email from my domain host at 20-30 min intervals. I needed MS to host my email, so I signed up for the paid Exchange account. Unfortunately, even though the email is now instantaneous, the account integration is not there, and I'm not making full use of the features it offers.

A personal MS account doesn't offer hosted email that I can use, and a hosted Exchange account doesn't integrate well with my devices. Is there a solution for me?