Deleting an old Xbox Account with no access

Thank you for taking the time to post this on the Xbox Forums. We understand that you are inquiring about how to delete an old account you no longer have access to, to claim the Gamertag of that Xbox Profile.

Keep in mind that even though an email may no longer exist, if it is still the primary alias of your account, it works similar to a username, and you will need to use that to sign into your account.

As stated in the Microsoft Service Agreement "You must use your Microsoft account to keep it active. This means you must sign in at least once in a two-year
period to keep your Microsoft account, and associated Services, active. You must sign into the Xbox Services at least once in a five-year period to keep the gamertag associated with your Microsoft account."

Additionally, if further expands on what occurs when your account is deleted; "If your Microsoft account is closed, a few things happen. First, your right to use the Microsoft account to access the Services stops immediately. Second, we’ll delete Data
or Your Content associated with your Microsoft account or will otherwise disassociate it from you and your Microsoft account. Third, you may lose access to products you’ve acquired. Fourth, we may temporarily prevent creation of an account associated with
the email address you provided."

In other words, if it has been some time since you last logged into your account, it is very likely that you will no longer have access to that account.

Furthermore, deleting an account, do not guarantee that you will be able to claim that Gamertag on that account, as when you change a Gamertag, it is not recycled. As per this article,
the last time a bunch of Gamertags that were not in use were release was back in 2016.

There is however, a new Gamertag system that you can learn more about in the
Gamertag update FAQ.

I hope this was able to clear up any confusion this might have caused.

Hi Tire,

Long story short, all Xbox Gamertags are stored on Xbox's servers permanently, and there is no way to delete it. If you can't remember the email associated with your old account, regrettably, there is nothing we can suggest. It is the user's responsibility
to retain all account information.

Best,

L

And another question. Why does it tell me "On 10/28/2013, we'll delete your old security info" and "Once this is deleted, you'll be able to verify your account with info you have access to. If you didn't make the updates, or if you still have access to
the above info." What does "info you have access to" mean? I have access to both my account and my alternate account. Why is it forcing me to delete my old security info? Why the hell are they doing this?

do not delete the Microsoft account you want to change the primary alias then delete the old email address you no longer have access to

If you don't access an account in a determined amount of time it will be deleted but the GT could be still on the servers somewhere. You can change the email associated with a Xbox GT but you have to access that account again in order to do it. This year
MS did a cleanup on old accounts without recent logins so the bad news is that account has been already deleted