Step 1: Add a new email address or phone number
- Sign in to your Microsoft account.
- Select Your info at the top of the page.
- Select Manage how you sign in to Microsoft.
- You may be prompted to re-enter your password or enter a code we send to the email address or phone number listed in your account as security information. This lets us know the request is coming from you.
- Select either Add email or Add phone number. Note If you see the message “For security reasons, you need to verify your primary alias before you can add another alias” at the bottom of the page, you will need to either Verify your current primary alias or select Rename. If you select Rename, please go to the “How to rename an unverified primary alias” section
- If you selected Add email, follow these steps. Otherwise, go to step 7 to add a phone number.
- If you want to create a new email address to use, select Create a new email address and add it as an alias, and then follow the instructions.
- If you have a non-Microsoft email address (such as an @gmail.com or @yahoo.com email address) that you want to use, select Add an existing email address as a Microsoft account alias, and then click Add alias.
- When you add an existing email address, you'll be required to verify that you own that account. To the right of the alias you added, click Verify, and we'll send a message to that email address to get confirmation.
- When you receive the verification email, click the link provided to verify that you own the account.
- Note The email address that you enter can't already be in use as a Microsoft account alias.
- If you selected Add phone number, follow these steps:
- Select your country from the list.
- Enter the phone number you want to use, and then select Next.
- When you add a new phone number, we'll send a text message to that number to verify it. Enter the code in the text message, and then select Next.
Step 2: Set the new email address as your primary alias
After you add the new email address, you need to set it as your primary alias to have it displayed when you sign in to all devices and services. Here's how:
On the Manage your account aliases page, select Make primary under the email address you want as primary under Account alias.
Note Only email addresses can be used as primary aliases.
Log in to your Steam account to get help with your Steam games, contact Steam Support, request refunds, and more. Help is also available if you can't log in, need to. Log in to your Steam account to get help with your Steam games, contact Steam Support, request refunds, and more. Help is also available if you can't log in,.
Step 3: Remove the email address you no longer want to use to sign in
Note If you choose to remove an alias that uses a Microsoft domain such as @hotmail.com, @outlook.com, or @live.com, that alias will be completely deleted and will not be available to sign in to any Microsoft services.
To remove the email address you no longer use to sign in to your account, select Remove next to that alias on the Manage your account aliases page, and then follow the instructions provided.
Important Do not remove this email address if you still want to use it to send and receive email messages.
The thing about gaming names is that what seemed cool when you were 16 doesn’t quite have the same ring to it when you’re a little older. For platforms like Steam where we have been gaming since we were very young, names can mean a lot, or very little depending on your perspective. So if you’re bored, can you change your Steam account name?
The short answer to that is no but there is more to be said. You Steam account name is a number that cannot be changed. Your Steam profile name is the name your friends and other gamers see and this can be changed. To clarify, let’s cover a few of the things you can and cannot do with your Steam account.
Change your Steam account name
You cannot change your Steam account name. This is the numeric identifier tied to your account and cannot be changed under any circumstances. Exactly why is unknown but it is made clear in Steam’s T&Cs that it cannot be modified.
Change your Steam profile name
Your Steam profile name is different. This is the name that appears at the top of the page or in the top right. This is the name your friends see and will use to contact you in game. You can change this name.
- Log into Steam and select Friends from the top menu.
- Select your profile name in the popup box that appears.
- Type over your existing name to change it.
- Select OK at the bottom to save it.
Your new profile name should change dynamically and should be visible to others right away.
Can I Set up a new Steam account and transfer my games?
If you cannot create a new Steam account name, wouldn’t it be nice if you could set up a new account and transfer all your games? It would be nice but you cannot do it. Game licenses are single user licenses and are already assigned to your Steam account. You cannot merge accounts, which is what setting up a new account and transferring existing games is. You are stuck with what you have.
Deleting your Steam account
There is a big difference between uninstalling Steam and deleting your Steam account. Uninstalling just means freeing up a terabyte or so of hard disk space. Deleting your Steam account means exactly that. Deleting all of your account details, your licenses, your CD keys and everything to do with that account.
You may be able to set up a new Steam account name this way but you also lose access to all your games. You will lose access to all games bought through Steam and will not be able to reuse any CD keys purchased through the platform. Games you bought elsewhere but added to Steam should still be playable outside of Steam as the license was acquired elsewhere.
Finally, all of your community contributions, posts, discussions, mods and anything else will be deleted too. This really is a request of last resort which is why there is no automatic way of doing it. Account deletions are applied through a support ticket and is comprised of a couple of steps to verify the steps being taken.
Viewing data held by Steam
You can view everything Steam has on your by following this link. You can change some of the data held here and tune your Steam experience. You still cannot change your Steam account name but you can modify account details, your profile name, two-factor authentication and a ton of other stuff.
Going through the entire list takes a while but you would be surprised at some of the settings. That is especially true if your Steam account is as old as mine is!
Keeping your Steam account safe
Considering how important our Steam accounts are to us, it pays to keep it safe. Nothing is 100% secure but if you take a couple of practical steps you should be able to avoid the more prevalent issues that are around.
Make sure to enable Steam Guard two-factor authentication. This will send a code to your email or phone any time someone tries to login from an unauthorized computer or tries to make changes to your account.
Use a strong password on your Steam account. Using a passphrase rather than a single word is more effective as long as you can remember it. Only allow Steam to remember your login details if you’re the only one with access to your computer and obviously never share it.
Ignore emails from Steam that ask for details. Phishing for Steam accounts is huge so ignoring them all is best. If you are notified of something via an email, delete the mail but go check it out separately in Steam. If it is legit, you should be able to do whatever it is you need to do from within Steam.