gmail mail account is my MS account?

[WPCentral Question]

Hi all,

A few years ago I bought my son an Xbox and when I did I needed to create a microsoft account. At the time, the directions for xbox indicated that you could use any existing account. I had a gmail account, so I signed up for the xbox account using my gmail account.

Afterwards, I tried a windows phone 7.5 and I used the same gmail account for my microsoft account. Since then I had to switch carriers (from att to sprint) and I lost my windows phone.

It has been a few years, and I don't remember how this all works. When I log into my microsoft account using xxxx@gmail.com, I use a different password than what I use when I log into my gmail account. The microsoft contains all my gmail emails (unread). I am assuming I had link the MS account to the gmail account at some point, but I don't remember how I did this???

Fast forward to know, I want to try a windows 8 phone on sprint, and I don't know if I should make a new MS account or use the old gmail account?

If somebody could help me remember what the heck I did a few years ago I would appreciate. I really don't like having my gmail account tied to my MS account...

Thanks

 

[jargonz]

It looks like you need to change the e-mail address associated with your Xbox Gamertag. I needed to do the same last year. When Microsoft launched Outlook.com, I immediately signed up for an Outlook.com e-mail address. But my Gamertag was tied to my old Hotmail address. After consulting the Xbox support site, I was able to change the e-mail address associated with my Gamertag from my Hotmail address to my Outlook.com address using the following procedure:

• Sign up for a Microsoft e-mail address (*.outlook.com). (NOTE: Do NOT create a Gamertag for this address. If you did, you would need to delete that Gamertag and wait 30 days for the new e-mail address to be able to accept another Gamertag.)
• Start the Xbox and let it log into your old account.
• Navigate the Xbox settings to find the option to change the e-mail address of your Xbox account. Select that option.
• When prompted, provide the new e-mail address (*.outlook.com) and corresponding password.

After I did that procedure, all my purchased apps, games and music transferred to my Outlook.com account.