Is there a way to get a gamer tag from an inactive account?

there is nothing to say the account that owns the gamertag is not in use, gamertags and microsoft accounts can be in use elsewhere on the system, if fully set to private you wont see any usage anyway. if the account is not used for 5 years will be closed and the tag may be freed. as an example i have another account i specifically use for one purpose, it has a custom gamertag too, no usage can be seen on it but i use the account still and have had that one for 18 years.

Ya be more creative with your spellings

Or wait till it's available

If a gamertag does not sign in for 5 years it is then freed up & made available.

Gamertags are used on other services,not just xbox live,so you have no way of knowing whether the tag is inactive or not.

All you can do is keep checking every so often to see if the tag you want becomes available.

There is no way to request a gamertag be freed up.

If the tag belongs to an inactive account would it not be available for lookup? Could that be why I'm having this issue? Also, if the account is inactive is there anyway for me to get the tag? Also, is there a way to search for inactive gamertags like
mine possibly is?

Damn it. The account has been inactive for at least 8 years.

When does Microsoft deem an account inactive long enough to warrant that "purge" of inactive gamer tags?