How do I close a microsoft account i no longer have access to

Hello @Dr C M Uller,  

Thank you for reaching out to the Q&A forum! 

For your situation, please take note this point: 

• Additionally, if the account is managed by the university, you cannot delete it entirely from Microsoft systems yourself. 
• Only the university’s IT administrators have the authority to do so.

However, if you no longer use the account, disconnecting it from your device and apps is sufficient to prevent errors and notifications. Here are steps you can try follow: 

Note: Since I don’t know whether you're using Windows or macOS, I’ll start by providing instructions for Windows. If you're using macOS, please reply to let me know so I can guide you more accurately.

Step 1: Disconnect the organizational account from your device:  

If the work account is still linked to your personal computer, you can remove it as follows: 

• You can open the Settings app on your computer => select Account => choose Emails& Accounts.  
• On the right-hand side, find the organizational account you want to remove. Then, you click on the account => select Disconnect.  

• You may be prompted to confirm the removal of the account. If so, click on the "Yes" or "Remove" button to proceed.  

 After this step, the organizational account will be disconnected from your device and will no longer sync data or access resources. 

For reference: Manage User Accounts in Windows - Microsoft Support

Note: If this is a school-managed device, you may not be able to disconnect the account yourself. You’ll need to contact the university’s IT department for assistance. 

Step 2: Remove saved login credentials:   

• You can open the Credential Manager from the Control Panel, or search for it from the Start menu.  

• Then, you select either Windows Credentials or Generic Credentials.  
• You locate any entries related to your organizational account (e.g., *.onmicrosoft.com) and remove them.  

• Confirm the removal if prompted and restart your computer if necessary.  

This method helps ensure that your device no longer retains saved login information for the organizational account. 

Additionally, if you haven’t removed the account from Office apps yet, open Word, Excel, or Outlook, go to File => Account, and choose Sign out if the old account still appears. 

Once again, thank you again for raising this issue; it’s helped broaden my understanding. I hope you understand that I want to help as much as I can within the scope of this forum.     

Looking forward to hearing from you! 

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