When you move from one Microsoft Exchange service to another, such as from an internal Exchange server to Office365, and want to retain the current profile, you cannot remove the original Exchange account from your profile.
The primary account cannot be removed unless it is the only account in the profile. You must remove all other Exchange accounts before removing the primary account account.
Logically, making the new email account and its data file the default should work, but changing the defaults doesn't change the primary or principal account.
Primary Exchange Account
The primary Exchange account is the first account added to the profile. The primary account cannot be removed from a profile until all other Exchange accounts are removed from the profile (when the primary is removed, the next Exchange account added is considered the primary).
All other Exchange accounts added to a profile are considered secondary accounts.
The recommended method to change the primary account is to recreate the user’s profile and add the appropriate account first. However, there are two other options: edit the registry then remove the primary Exchange account from your profile or add a pst file to the profile, set it as default then remove the Exchange accounts.
Removing the Primary Account
You have three choices when you need to remove a primary account from your profile. You can make a new profile (recommended), remove all Exchange accounts from your profile then add the new account back, or remove a key from the registry so you can delete the primary account from the registry.
While making a new profile might be faster (and is the recommended method), there is a convoluted method you can use to change the primary account and keep the profile, retaining profile-specific settings.
Go to Control Panel, Mail and remove all of the Exchange accounts from the profile, removing the primary account last. You'll need to add a pst to the profile and set it as the default data file, then restart Outlook.
Close Outlook and return to the Control Panel, Mail applet and add the new account. (In my experience, the new account may not be listed in until you restart Outlook.)
Remember: the first account added to the profile is the primary account
Restart Outlook. Go to account settings and set the *.ost as default. You'll need to restart Outlook one more time to remove the *.pst from your profile.
I said it was convoluted, although it's not bad if you only have a couple of Exchange accounts... if you have a lot of Exchange accounts or the mailboxes you are keeping in the profile are huge, you can edit the registry to remove the 'primary' flag then delete the account. Editing the registry is generally the better option when the mailboxes will take a long time to re-sync (or you are on a metered connection) or if you have a lot of Exchange accounts in your profile.
Remove the primary account by editing the registry
You can edit the registry to remove the primary assignment, however it is not supported and not recommended by Microsoft. If you mess up, you will need to make a new profile, restore the profile key you exported, or use System Restore to go back to a previous restore point.
Close Outlook and open the registry editor.
Press Windows key + R to open the Run command then type regedit in the Run field and press Enter.
Tip: Export the profile key before editing, so you can recover your profile if you make a mistake.
In Outlook 2016, the profile key is at:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Profiles\profile-name
In Outlook 2013, the profile key is at:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\profile-name
To remove the Outlook 2010 primary account from the registry, go to the profile key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Windows Messaging SubSystem\Profile\profile-name
Export the profile key then search for and remove one (or both) of the registry keys related to primary account.
I searched the profile for 001f662b (or 001f6641 in Outlook 2016) as this value is used by each account. You'll find two keys containing this value for each account and you need to delete the second key that belongs to the primary account (you can delete both keys). Once I did this, I could delete the primary account from the profile.
To verify it's the correct account, either look at the alias in 001e660b (the alias is at the end of the data: /o=ExchangeLabs/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=74479d8714d3414c8502650cc962e1c6-maryc) or double click on other keys and look for the address. For example, in the screenshot below, the address is in 001f6641.
Note: you need to delete the entire key (on the left side), not just the registry value. The value helps you find the right key to delete.
Reminder from Jack in comments:
After you find and delete the two registry keys, go to Control Panel and click "Mail (Microsoft Outlook)".
From there go to "Email Accounts...", and set the account you want as Default.
In current versions of Outlook 2016/2019/Outlook 365 (subscription) you will not have the visual clues to identify the account. Search for 001f6641 and delete the first entry found, after verifying the key belongs to the primary account. Try removing the account from the profile (in Control Panel, Mail), if it fails, find the next key for the address and try again. (There are at least 3 keys for each Exchange account in the newer builds.)
Elida says
Thanks a million. This worked for me! You're a lifesaver!
Fritz Wuethrich says
It worked like a charm ... had to research a bit at which exact level I had to delete the key ... but once that was done .... uiiishhhh done!
Thanks a tone for sharing your expertise and have a great year ahead!
Greetings from Switzerland, Zurich
Bruce Morris says
As usual, you are a life saver. Why does Microsoft make things difficult? I changed my default account, and also re-ordered the appearance of the accounts, but that still didn't get me where I needed to go. Deleting the registry keys worked (I hope - I haven't added the account I deleted back yet.) I'm "retired" now, but over the course of my career, this blog has helped me countless times and probably saved me hundreds of hours. It is so generous of you to share your time this way. Can I send you flowers? A Starbucks card?
Diane Poremsky says
>>
Can I send you flowers? A Starbucks card?
>>
You can... but it is not necessary. :) Just glad to be of assistance.
Harry says
Thanks for this. Deleting the reg keys worked!
Rob W says
Diane, I cannot thank you enough for this. I had put up with this headache for years after committing the cardinal sin of setting up our company joint calendar account before setting up my personal account. I have been cursed ever since, as we moved away from the joint calendar account and I've been unable to delete it. Until now! Thank you for helping us all navigate around the nightmare corridors of horrible programming Microsoft seems to find everlasting joy in cursing us to navigate. I can't wait until we can all stop using their garbage and let their tower of atrocities crumble into the earth.
Anyways, bless you.
Tess says
Sorry, novice here...If I remove all exchange accounts, then re-add the accounts, adding the one I want as primary first, will my folders and emails show up as/where they currently are?
Diane Poremsky says
The folders will sync back down. The Favorites list - iof you use it - may need to be recreated as those settings are stored in the default mailbox.
Tess says
Thanks so much Diane!
Lauren says
Thank you thank you thank you! I had to find three keys, but once I found them all, I was able to delete the "primary" or old, outlook account. Thank you!
johann says
king, baba, thank you
Kudakwashe Gwaindepi says
worked like a charm. thanks
Junior Jimenez says
Finally i solve that freaking issue with outlook!
Thank you very much for sharing this information!!
Jai says
Hi
I had two account in my outlook and I wanted to delete the older one (primary). But I was getting a popup "The Primary account cannot be deleted unless it is the only account in your profile..." SO I followed the second method which is "Remove the primary account by editing the registry" and deleted three keys(I verified account before deleting same as you mentioned). I completely missed your Tips: Export the profile key before editing, so you can recover...
No I am unable to open the outlook it display a popup "Outlook cannot log on. Verify you are connected to the network... The Microsoft Information Exchange service in your profile is missing required information. Modify your Profile to ensure that you are using correct Microsoft Information Exchange service"
Next popup: System Resources are critically Low. Close some Window.
Next popup: Cannot start MS Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window. The set of folder cannot be opened. The information store could not be opened.
Is there a way I can restore the profile that I deleted associated to one the account (I did not export before deleting them). Any other way to resolve it?
Rick Eveleigh says
Brilliant, used the registry method. Thanks!!
Cyberflow says
Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu very much
Jack says
The article should add:
After you find and delete the two registry keys you go to Control Panel and click "Mail (Microsoft Outlook)".
From there go to "Email Accounts...", and set the account you want as Default.
Once I did this Outlook crashed on start-up every time. This is the extrra bit you need to get it working again:
Under "Email Accounts..." click on Data Files, and find the new primary account set as default above, then set that as the Default Data File.
This repaired Outlook for me and now the Primary Profile is gone!
Jonathan says
And if you are unable to set the data file as the default data file (if it gives you the error "Attempt to log on to exchange failed") you can try selecting the data file in the list and clicking the "settings" button. Go to the advanced tab and uncheck "Use Cached Exchange Mode". Apply this, then close all windows. Reopen the data file menu. Now you should be able to mark it as default. I had this issue, and this final step solved the problem for me.
After you start Outlook and verify that everything works as expected, feel free to re-check the setting again. It will continue to work.
Prasaja says
Thank you so much for this additional step. Really save me!!
Tony says
This was very helpful and worked exactly as described. I ended up having to search and wipe a few keys that matched 001f6641 and contained the account in question but once those were cleaned up I was able to set a different a different account as primary and delete the bad account.
Billy Shears says
thank you for this great article ....
Robert Wilson says
Thank you so much, was going mental, used the Control Panel method and worked so easily
Ryan says
Damn good article, ran across this recently and couldn't believe this was even a thing.
Jay says
When I made it all the way to the Outlook profiles by way of regedit, there was only one folder with the primary account I wanted to delete. I exported it to my desktop first then deleted it. I restarted the computer and Outlook crashes. I went back to regedit and imported the folder (key?) and it went right back to how it was before I deleted it. I restarted the computer and Outlook still crashes....
Diane Poremsky says
I've seen few reports of Outlook crashing - unrelated to editing the registry. Try making a new profile and see if it crashes.
These are the steps to create a new profile in Outlook 2016 and newer -
To open outlook with the /manageprofiles switch:
Ray says
Working like a charm! Thanks!
I using the delete registry method. : )
Doug Kimzey says
Deleting a non-primary account is something that should have been caught in basic testing. Microsoft has a very real quality problem.
Diane Poremsky says
It was intentional.
T.K. says
Thank you so much this was really helpful and it worked. I am so happy that even super computer illiterate person like me managed :)
Buli Xu says
Thank you for the instruction!
Ken Fioretti says
I ran this and got the "The set of folders could not be opened" error.
I went back to the Outlook Control Panel and set the Default Data File and everything worked fine.
Diane Poremsky says
That's because you removed the default data file - in which case you do need to set a new default data file.
mc mc says
I tried the registry method. (searched up 001f6641 and spotted/deleted those keys with my email address listed in its contents). Outlook couldn't start with "the set of folders could not be opened". Perhaps something changed?
Diane Poremsky says
Can you open Control panel > Mail and delete that account?
Which version and build of Outlook are you using? I'll test it and see if they changed something.
Ken Fioretti says
Open the Outlook Control Panel and set the Default Data File. This will solve the error.
Diane Poremsky says
That won't change the primary account, only change the default data file.
ANDRE LIMA says
Crazy how, MS put you in such a ridiculous position for such a simple thing.
You cannot remove.
Why?
It's primary.
When, where, do I change that?
IDK, default is not primary!
I just want to remove an email account. Just that.
Impossible.
This is why MS I only use because of work.
Stupid piece of garbage.
Ryan says
Hello, Diane I was originally trying to export my emails to a file so I could put them on a new computer but i did it wrong and it somehow created a outlook data file in the left pane (that is now recieveing all my new incoming emails). I tried setting my original one back to default but all new emails still go to the new datafile in the left pane. Seems my original main account now has a (1) next to it is still in left pane but not recieving new emails. Please help.
Diane Poremsky says
It looks like you added a new account rather than Exported. Unless its a POP account and you actually changed the delivery location in the Account Settings.
Jerick says
what if I accidentally deleted the whole folder.
the mail in control panel is missing already is there a way to restore them?
Diane Poremsky says
If the Mail applet is not in control panel, you might have the Microsoft store version - look in File, Office Account for the information. It will say click to run or windows store.
Vincent Reggiannini says
Microsoft literally makes me want to not use a computer ever again.
Diane Poremsky says
They have a way of doing that, don't they?
wow says
Nobody created a free sw on github to do this old school trick ?
Diane Poremsky says
No, not that I'm aware of.
JS Wong says
The registry trick worked wonders! I have a few work and business related accounts with tens of gigs of data each, so removing the Outlook accounts and adding them back later wasn't really an option. However, I had to search for "001f6641" in the Office 16.0 keys sequentially and view the binary data to see that I have the email address of the primary account that simply can't be deleted. After deleting that key, it was smooth sailing removing the mail and outlook data files.
THANK YOU!!
Linda says
Is there any impact on leaving the old account? We merged with another company so there is a new O365 email account along with the original O365 account in one Outlook profile. The orignal O365 account is the primary account that can't be removed. The original O365 subscription will end in a month's time. My question is will this impact the user in any way by leaving the old account? Doesn't sound like it according to this thread, but would like to triple check.
Diane Poremsky says
The only issue is the user will get log in prompts - they will need to cancel the login and it will work, but it gets annoying.
Rosemary says
The posted instructions for removing the profile in the registry key were clear, however, I did not follow them correctly. After finding and confirming a SMTP was the right profile, I only removed the key 001f6641, not the value (folder)! In going back now, I have no idea which value should be removed as I already removed the key. Outlook opens with error messages so clearly it's been corrupted. Please advise. Thanks.
Diane Poremsky says
It would be easier at this point to create a new profile, but you can search for 001f3001 - that key has the email address. When you find the primary account, delete the key.
Sébastien Richer says
The 1st method worked for me, had an old deleted 365 account stuck there, sheeeeeshhhh!
Thanks a bunch!
Kris says
The registry method worked for me in Outlook 2019/365, though I found the directions confusing. To clarify them:
I had a number of instances of the 001f6641 key value, but only one with the SMTP:email@ddress.com format, and deleting just that one key did the trick.
Florian says
Thank you for the instructions, that's more clear than the original post indeed! It didn't work directly for me though. I had several instances of 001f6641 linked to the email address that I wanted to delete, I deleted all of them. Outlook then refused to start, an error message prompted saying that folders were missing. I then went to Control Panel/Mails, and removed my account from the mail tab and data tab (as suggested by another comment). Outlook then successfully worked.
Outlook3650 says
This is it.
Thank You so much. Like tswatek below the Exchange account took over. In my case I had 3 entries with the email I wanted to delete. I deleted all 3. Restarted Outlook and its done. Thanks Again! Clear and Effective.
JOreg1234 says
Hi!
I deleted only the registry entries (due to confusing guidance). How to find the folder (registry key) they were in, as I didn't write them down? Need to still delete the complete keys due to not able to remove the primary account.
Diane Poremsky says
Searching for this value - 001f6610 - the value data will contain the data file name. If it's for the address you are trying to remove, it's the right one. If the value 001f6641 is in the key, you won't need to look at the 001f6610 value data = since you deleted it.
B Tr says
No need to go into the registry files! I just figured it out. In outlook, you go to edit accounts under account settings. Under email, you must change the default email account to one that is NOT the one you're trying to remove. Then go to the next tab titled "data", you must also make sure the account you're trying to remove is NOT the primary data account. Select the new primary account. Once the data files have copied over (this will happen in the background), you can then remove the email account that was considered "primary". Much easier to do it this way and without accidentally changing a registry file and destroying your computer.
Diane Poremsky says
Are you using more than 1 Exchange account? Your steps work when there are not more than 1 exchange accounts in the profile.
Shirley says
How do I gotta remove It unknown email addresses from my mail account?
Diane Poremsky says
An early Outlook 2016 build was the last that I confirmed that it worked.
Diane Poremsky says
Oh... it worked this morning. I had to delete 3 keys that contained the primary account's address - including this one. (In a later test, deleting the first key containing the address worked. will need to update the article.)
Jay H says
Thanks for the great guidance. I set up a new profile then added the exchange accounts back in. Worked like a charm.
tswatek says
I'm having the same issue. I have 3 personal accts (2 gmail, 1 yahoo) that I've had for years. In May '17, I joined "Company A" that used Exchange. When I added that email to Outlook, by default it took over and became my primary email and the default for email, calendar, contacts, etc... (I didn't choose that, it just happened).
Fast fwd to Nov '18, when I left "Company A" and joined "Company B" (also uses Exchange) with a 1 mo overlap. So, in Nov I added my "Company B" email to my Outlook 365 app. Then, about a mo later, I tried to remove "Company A" email and got the same message you posted about not being able to remove the "primary acct in Exchange".
Outlook regularly prompts me to sign into the old non-existent acct for "Company A", it still tries to default to my old "Company A" address book, and that I get nervous that Outlook may eventually have undesirable consequences for leaving that old acct in Outlook.
Bottom line, I want it gone, but I don't trust myself editing the registry - especially after reading so many comments from ppl that tried and had other issues.
I don't mind doing it the longer way, which seems like it may be the MS recommended way. If I'm not mistaken from your post, I have to choose one of the below processes:
Method 1
1) Make a new profile (ut-ohh, already lost me... how do I do this and how do I preserve all my emails, contacts, calendars, etc...?)
2) Remove all Exchange accounts from your profile (that would be "Company B", followed by "Company A")
3) Add the new account back ("Company B"),
Or...
Method 2
1) Go to Control Panel, Mail and remove all of the Exchange accounts from the profile, removing the primary account last.
2) You'll need to add a pst to the profile and set it as the default data file, then restart Outlook.
3) Close Outlook and return to the Control Panel, Mail applet and add the new account. (In my experience, the new account may not be listed in until you restart Outlook.)
4) Restart Outlook. Go to account settings and set the *.ost as default. You'll need to restart Outlook one more time to remove the *.pst from your profile.
I just need some guidance. I don't care how it's done - I just don't want to lose any emails, contacts, or calendar events. What's my best choice?
(side note...Diane, you've helped me with other Outlook challenges over the yrs, so I was relieved to see you're the author behind this relevant article.)
Diane Poremsky says
Either method is basically the same - but with method 2, you don't lose settings specific to the profile.
Do you need copies of anything in the primary mailbox?
If you need anything in the primary mailbox (the one you are removing) export it to a pst.
Everything is stored on the server, so you wont lose anything.
Pricess says
Hi,
I got the same error message when trying to remove one email account. It says I cant remove the it since its a primary. I follow the registry fix however when I check the registry entry its using a different email account( the one that it set as primary on outlook)
any ideas why? i really need to delete the email account
Diane Poremsky says
Is the value only in the account? It should be in every account in the profile.
kevin eaton says
Hi Diane, hope you are well.
I'm trying to remove primary exchange account in Outlook (office pro plus 2013). the value 001f662b you mention is present in many more than 2 keys in the same account folder....any thoughts please?
Diane Poremsky says
You should only have that value in 2 keys - per account - and it should not be duplicated with a key.
Each mailbox has two registry keys and that key should be in both keys. You need to identify which accounts the keys belong to and delete the values in the primary account's keys.
But... you can just take your chances and - if you mess up you'll need a new profile, which is the recommend way to solve the problem anyway.
Squeak says
Never mind. Found 'Profile B'. Deleted it the registry stuff but it still won't let me delete the profile in Outlook...
Squeak says
I get the "primary account cannot be removed..." message when I try and delete 'Profile B'. I do the regedit and see 'Profile A' which I obviously don't want to delete as this is my current one.
It appears Profile A is my primary account, but it still won't let me delete 'Profile B'.
Any idea what's going on here? How do I remove this?
Diane Poremsky says
What is your version and build of outlook? The reg hack doesn't work in newer builds.
Giles Davis says
Diane
What version is the last one that the hack works on?
Giles
Diane Poremsky says
An early 2016 version for the easy way (which showed the account name right in the registry editor) - but its working again - its just harder to find the correct key as you need to open the value to see if it's for the correct account.
ruby says
seriously, why is it this difficult to remove a primary account. I started my new job and the person who worked here before me isn't here anymore. So now my email/account can't be the primary account... unless I delete them both? Even tho my job already created me a new email... like they seriously couldn't make our life easy?? Billion dollar company and can't manage to let us switch primary accounts and delete old ones... I mean did they not think??
Diane Poremsky says
The primary designation here applies to internal settings- it will not prevent you from adding your account to a profile and setting your account as the default for mail and data file - if you need to keep the previous users mailbox in your profile.
If you don't need their account in your profile, you should make a new profile.
dorm says
who says i should create a new profile before deleting the old one? Can this a***** be more arrogant?
Diane Poremsky says
Many people think you can only have one profile and delete it then discover the problem was not solved or they lost calendar and contacts. It's not hurting anything to keep it until after you make sure the new profile solved the problem and you have all of your data. The exceptions are people with small hard drives and large mailboxes or when the problem is corruption in the profile registry keys - then you have no choice but to delete the profile.
The main reasons I suggest keeping the old profile around a bit longer:
If the new profile (after adding just one or two accounts) doesn't fix it the problem, the problem isn't the profile, so a new one wont help. This can be helpful to people with a lot of accounts in the profile.
If you use IMAP and have 'this computer only' folders and forgot to export calendar and contacts, you have a chance to recover them.
ruchira says
I can’t see the full path only half only uo to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version
Diane Poremsky says
Weird, it should all be visible. The rest of it is\Windows Messaging SubSystem\Profile\profile-name
Frnaklin says
Thank you, this helped me find the key I needed to delete.
K. N. says
On 1 computer I can’t seem to find the full path only half only uo to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\
I know this works on different computer I tested.
Intried manually creating those folders in there but didnt work.
Will formating my computer fix this?
Diane Poremsky says
Yeah, this is one time when adding a key to the registry won't help - you need to edit the exiting profile. I'm guessing you are using a newer version of Outlook, which moved the profile key.
K. N. says
I can’t seep to find the registry path at all.
I can’t see the full path only half only uo to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version
Diane Poremsky says
What version of Outlook are you using? You'll only have that path with outlook 2010 - outlook 2013/2016 use a different path to the profile.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\nn.0\Outlook\Profiles\profile-name (where nn is the version #)
Mike says
The registry edit worked flawlessly! Thank you so much.
David says
Great post
Bruce Hore says
Hi Diane, thank you very much for this. It's been driving me nuts as a subcontractor to many companies and I couldn't get rid of that account but didn't want to rebuild 6 other accounts! :)
Drbeela says
For clarification the key is circled and red. That is what you need to delete.
However, doing this and deleting the primary account messed up my email profile and Outlook did not start anymore. I had to add the account back in under Control Panel > Mail > E-Mail Accounts which is what I wanted to do anyways. A simple password change on the Primary Exchange account locked me out of Outlook. I had no way of updating the password. It would crash at the splash screen every time.
Diane Poremsky says
The key on the left can vary - and yeah, if you need the account in Outlook, you need to add it back - this breaks the primary account so it can be removed.
did you try to change the password by opening the profile in the Control panel, Mail applet?
Daniel says
I got Outlook 2016 on Win 7. It only worked if I only deleted the very last key that contained this value.
It's a little bit confusing because there are quite a lot of keys that contain a 001f6641 value. Relevant is, that it contains a /o=ExchangeLabs/​ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/​cn=Recipients/​cn=... value.
Hugo Cervantes says
Your solution (by editing the Registry) worked like a jewel for me. After a long time trying to get rid of my Outlook 2010 Exchange Primary Account (because I left that job after more than 10 years working there), I was able to do that with no damage at all to my Outlook Profile.
Thanks million Diane, you are the best!!
Michael Scott says
Thanks for this. Hope it works for me, once I get into it.
When you say, "The primary Exchange account is determined by the first account added to the profile.".......I think the meaning would be a little bit more clear if you just said...
"The primary Exchange account IS the first account added to the profile. It doesn't matter which one you subsequently designate as DEFAULT."
Just my two cents!
Steve says
Why does Microsoft make everything so much harder than it needs to be?
Diane Poremsky says
That is the $64M question...
Dennis Orban says
Please stop sending Emails your ruining my marriage
Diane Poremsky says
Sorry, but I don't see your address (the one you used in this comment) on the subscriber list or on my Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter. Is there an unsubscribe link the email? Try clicking it. If there is no unsubscribe link, please forward it to me so i can investigate. (use diane at slipstick.com)
bev says
Thank you, it is finally fixed. Thanks for taking the time to put this information up.
Neil McQuarrie says
Your steps here were a godsend. Thank you.
Hal says
I don't mean to be ungrateful but this is so stupid. I have a corrupt information store and I managed to get into Outlook but now I cannot delete the primary exchange server so the only option is to delete all other 5/6 accounts? That is not a solution at all. I wish there was an alternative to Outlook.
Diane Poremsky says
>> I have a corrupt information store
If the data file is corrupt, close Outlook and delete or rename it. You don't need to delete the account and add it back... Outlook will recreate ost files used by Exchange & IMAP accounts. (Corrupt PST files need scanpst or recovery software)
ost files are stored at %localappdata%\microsoft\outlook. (paste it in the address bar in File Explorer)
>> I wish there was an alternative to Outlook.
If you don't need macros, mail merge and other Office features, eM client is a pretty good replacement and supports Exchange/Outlook.com accounts. With 6 accounts, you'd need the paid version (often offered for $30 or so after the trial expires).
Ray says
I was able to get this to work for me. I have Win10(1607) and Outlook 2016.
I went to the below location in my registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice16.0OutlookProfilesOutlook
There I searched for, 001f6641, and made a list of each result of the account I wanted to remove, which were four. I deleted the second entry in my list, started Outlook, no luck, then did the same for the other two entries(3rd and 4th on my list) I had, but still could not delete the account. I then deleted the 1st entry of my list(which I had deleted once before, but Outlook would not open) and that worked.
I was able to delete the old account, make some changes, added calendars back in, but it worked.
Anonymous says
This was basically the same for me with Outlook 2016. There were 3 key that had the same primary account details and all had to be deleted to "break" the account in the profile and allow it to be removed.
Vanessa says
I deleted the registry that showed the @alias I wanted to delete (the unwanted primary account) and rebooted. I still get the same stupid error. Outlook 2010. Should I go back and delete the second registry with @alias I want to keep? (the newer account that I want to keep).
Diane Poremsky says
Yes. If it doesn't work, you'll need to remove the exchange accounts from the profile and add them back.
Hossein Hamidi says
I followed your instruction but I faced some difficulties. First, there were 4 entries in my registry related to my primary account instead of two. Initially, I deleted the second registry key as you suggested but I couldn't remove my primary account. Then, I deleted the consecutive occurrences one by one and tried if I can remove the primary account. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I ended up with no registry key addressing my primary exchange account but I cannot delete it!
What could be the reason and how can I overcome?
Diane Poremsky says
It's hard to say what went wrong.. but the only solution is to delete the exchange accounts from your profile and add back the ones you want in it.
Anonymous says
But don't you loose all the profile settings (signature, calendar setup, friendly file, etc, etc, etc) you have made to get Outlook setup they way you want it? This can be a big loss if you have spent years doing it like me.
Diane Poremsky says
If you make a new profile you'll lose some profile-specific settings. How much depends on the account types in the profile. Signatures will need to be re-set but the actual signature files remain. Rules wont be lost (they are stored in the mailbox). Custom views are in the mailbox too.
The Favorites list in the mail module will be cleared.
Many (most) settings in File, Options are global and apply to all profiles.
Sergey says
Registry method worked perfectly for Outlook 2016. Lots of thanks for providing instructions.
Ruly Ardiansyah says
Thanks for the post... It helps me a lot.
Marmo says
Registry method for Outlook 2016 work well! Thanks for this post
Otavio says
The registry method worked fine! Thank you!
Anne C says
Sorry Yahoo is my DEFAULT. My old company email is my Primary.
Anne C says
Hi- I have a question. I'm an independent contractor and the first email account I installed on my personal PC was for a company I contracted for (and so it's my Primary). I then installed a personal Yahoo account into Outlook, and the Yahoo email is my primary account. I've stopped working for the firm. I just noticed that even when I use my personal Yahoo address it sometimes shows up in the sent file of my old company. Are they able to see the Yahoo email accounts also installed in Outlook? Kind of creepy if they can read my personal emails. (I no longer log in using their password but haven't deleted the account yet because they asked me to retain the email for a while in case they need something from me).
Many thanks for the site - I really appreciate any guidance you can offer.
Diane Poremsky says
Do you still have access to the old company server? If you aren't syncing with the server then they can't see the sent items, but if you are still syncing, the sent items would be syncing up. The yahoo items shouldn't be going into that data file though.
If you don't need access to the server but need to keep the mail, you could export it from the email account to a pst then remove the email account.
Vladimir says
Registry method work well! Thanks!
Shame on MS!!!
Tim says
Registry modification worked flawlessly on Outlook 2013. Diane you're a genius.
Alexander says
Handling registry did work - thank you. However, now i cannot start Outlook, seems because the deleted account was set to show by default... Resetting nav pane does not help... :( Whether I cannot do additional job creating new profiles, etc?
Diane Poremsky says
Do you get any error messages? Does outlook open at all? if it opens and the problem is with what shows when outlook first opens, if you can get into options, you can change the startup folder. I'm surprised it didn't change the new default account though...
https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/choose-outlook-startup-folder/
Grateful says
Diane thank you a lot! I had the same problem that starting Outlook only gave me an error message. But after I went to Control Panel and changed both the default email and the default data folder accounts, the error didn't occur any more.
Paul says
"Go to Control Panel, Mail and remove all of the Exchange accounts from the profile, removing the primary account last. You'll need to add a pst to the profile and set it as the default data file, then restart Outlook." Please tell me how to "You'll need to add a pst to the profile and set it as the default data file"
I searched for "I searched the profile for 001f662b " but only found 1 key for the primary account and 2 keys for all the other Hotmail accounts. I deleted the 1 key but still cannot remove the primary account, now it says something like 'wait is copying over data' but it never deletes. Am I doing something wrong? W7. Outlook 2010.
Diane Poremsky says
It doesn't always work for everyone - it sounds like you need to remove all of the accounts from the profile and start over. Or just make a new profile.
javcarbe says
I follow all the process and doesnt work ... I cant delete the primary account
Diane Poremsky says
If it doesn't work, you'll need to make a new profile.
Phirasup says
Save my day! Thank you very much.
Jerry says
I have three Exchange accounts in Outlook on the computer I want to remove the primary account from. When I search the registry for 001f662b I find a total of 6 keys. How do I determine which one is the primary account?
Diane Poremsky says
There are two ways (i added a screenshot showing this to the page)
The value right below it should be 001f6641 - double click and check the SMTP address.
The Exchange x500 address is near the top - the alias is on the far right. You'll need to expand the width of that column to see it.
Liz M. says
Hi- I want to delete the primary account and not recreate it; it's with an old job I no longer have and I want it off my Outlook. How do I do that? I have a new exchange account that I'd like to make as the default.
Diane Poremsky says
Assuming you have more than one account in your profile and don't want to remove all of them, only to add all but this 'dead' account back, follow the steps for the registry edit. That will allow you to remove it from the profile.
Prem says
Hello,
Its 2016 and apparently Microsux still hasn't fixed this (or provided a decent workaround). I'm using Win 10 with Office 2016 but can't seem to find the specific registry key to delete.
Managed to locate that it should be somewhere under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\OFFICE\16.0\OUTLOOK\PROFILES\
just can't find the specific keys to delete. Any help would be very much appreciated. I am spending way to much time on trying to fix what should be a relatively simple task to do....
Diane Poremsky says
You need to use search and look for 001f662b - it's in twice for each account in your profile. Delete both keys (or just the second one) for the account you want to remove. The other values in the key will have the exchange x500 address, which you can use to verify it belongs to the correct account.
Marko says
Thanks Diane, the Registry hack worked but as per your article, search for 001f6641 for Outlook 2016
Jason says
Regkey trick worked for me and was exactly what I was after. Quick fix for a bugs that only a full profile clean will resolve. MS should have this as a function built in to outlook with warnings if need be.
Johnson Sathaseevan says
Thanks for your article Diane. What I did in my case (as I'm impatient and didn't read the comments section which obviously had me fail in my initial attemp), was to
1) In Account Settings, under the Mail Tab make the new Account the default account.
2) Under the Data Files tab, set the new OST file to be the default store for new mail
3) In the registry, look for my local Exchange server instead of the hex key you mentioned and delete the instances.
4)After that, I went into Mail->Profiles and removed the previous OST. I noticed under Email...that the mention of my actual Exchange account had already been removed. I will assume this was done by me deleting registry keys.
Outlook started fine. This worked for me at a client's using Outlook 2010 and 2013
Diane Poremsky says
That works as long as you aren't using multiple accounts on the same server.
Nathan says
And this is a perfect demonstration of why microsoft sucks. I should just be able to remove the account and delete the data. IT'S MY DATA. I SHOULD BE ABLE TO REMOVE IT EASILY.
Daniel B says
"You weren't supposed to delete the 001e660b key, just read it to see if this is the primary account. If it's one of the other accounts, don't delete any keys from it. If it is the primary account, delete only the 001f662b key from it"
Thanks for that addendum, this was NOT clear from the article. Glad I read the comments. Of course, it STILL won't let me delete the account and it still says its the primary acct. Typical MS.
"There is a reason why Microsoft doesn't publish this solution and recommends a new profile. "
Yes and the reason is they are idiots. For people with many emails in one profile, removing the entire profile and recreating it is needlessly long and complex when all they SHOULD be able to do it do delete the one email account. It's utterly unacceptable that Microsoft thinks this should be normal.
"Infuriating "non bugs" like this is one of the many reasons I don't recommend Outlook to most of my clients"
Exactly - it's a known issue, clearly a problem for many users, and yet MS thinks it's working as intended. I NEVER recommend outlook personally, it's just an awful awful program.
janjaf says
Worked brilliantly. Made backups, and doublechecked every step, but no problems. And solved an annoying mess left behind by my wokplaces IT-department.
G says
Thank you very much, worked perfectly!
AusNetIT Solutions (@ausnetit) says
Thanks a lot
Matt says
Hey Tanks a lot, worked like a charme :)
Geordon says
I successfully edited the Registry to remove my primary account in Outlook 2010. In my case, I had 3 keys for each of the accounts. I had to remove all 3 for the primary before I was allowed to Remove the account using the Mail Control Panel applet. Restarted Outlook, and everything came up smooth. Thanks so much.
Brent McDonald says
Thank you so much for posting this. I'm running Office365 on a Surface Pro 3 running windows 8.1. Editing the Registry scares the boo-boo geebies out of me, but I backed up and proceeded as directed. It worked perfectly!!!!! No problems at all. Again, I'm grateful!
Gaurav says
Thx. It helped :)
Rae says
Thanks for this. I was about to delete all of the Exchange accounts until I bumped into this one. Managed to delete the Primary account without any hassle and saved me tons of time updating a 5Gb+ file size of OST, per account! LOL
To those having a difficulty tracking THE Primary account, check with the registry value //001e660b// if it is actually THE Primary account you are looking for. If you double-click this registry value, it should open up a window which has the data of the account, its last line should consist of the name of the account you are trying to delete (ex. .../cn=Recipients/cn="PRIMARY ACCOUNT NAME").
P.S.
Make sure you backup (export) first before attempting this method. Just to be sure.
mathew says
There is a better way to do this without editing the registry.
1. Open Control Panel and launch the Mail/Mail (32-bit) applet
2. Designate another email account as the Default
3. Designate another data file as the Default
4. Close the applet
5. Launch Outlook
6. Close Outlook
7. Open Control Panel and launch the Mail/Mail (32-bit) applet
8. Remove the email account.
Diane Poremsky says
It depends on the type of email account - when you use an Exchange account, you need to edit the registry in order to delete the first account added to the profile. There is no way around it. For IMAP accounts, you can delete the first account as long as there is a different data file set as default, as removing IMAP (or outlook.com) also removes the data file.
Vernon says
Using Outlook 2010. I only have two accounts to deal with, so unable to generalize to cases with more than two accounts. Also, I am upgrading from exchange to o365 using the same email address and need to retain old email.
1. Follow your provider's instructions for creating new account and add new account to outlook. Note: My provider allows both old and new email accounts to operate simultaneously for up to 48 hours even though they use the same email address..
2. Export old email folders to disk.
3. Import old email folders into new account.
4. Delete both accounts.
5. Add new account back into outlook.
New account will become primary and old email will be retained. Delete and add back is fast. Advantage is no registry hacks and do not have to recreate old p
Diane Poremsky says
your situation is different from those who want to remove an exchange account from their profile - in many cases, they are keeping the other accounts in their profile and don't want to add them back to the profile.
fwiw, i would probably use drag and drag to move mail, etc between an old and new account rather than export & import. you definitely want to move meetings, not export & import them.
Rehuel says
Works perfectly on Outlook 2013. Great write up, still useful 2 years later!
Pompy says
Very useful. Thank you so much.
Andy says
Thanks. This information was very useful in resolving my outlook problem.
Roti says
aaaaaaahhhh!!!!! i do this and now i cannot use my computer all it do is make the grinding noise! please advise!!!
Diane Poremsky says
If you edited the registry to remove the primary account and it's not working correctly, you'll need to make a new profile. That's the way Microsoft recommends removing the primary account.
Agence Immobilière Bruxelles says
work fine for me!
Deleted the key, run office 2010 French version and now it's running fine !
Richie Madano says
Worked nicely, thanks!
Bo says
Found a link updating this to outlook 2013 https://titlerequired.com/2014/01/29/quick-fix-outlook-2013-unable-to-delete-primary-account/ which I will try.
Bo says
HM - I run Windows 8.1 and Outlook 2012.. There is no HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Windows Messaging SubSystem only ...\SessionDefaultDevices. Did anyone do it on this type of configuration. Btw. my primary account, that I wnat to delete, is an online account only. No cache.
Diane Poremsky says
In Outlook 2013, the profile is under the Office key. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles
Whether the exchange account is online or cached, the first one added is the primary.
David Skrabal says
Thanks Diane. Removing that the old Exchange account from the Registry without having to remove the new one was exactly what I was looking for. Had to to clean up some other traces from the Mail control panel, but it promoted the new Exchange account to primary. Thank you!
Mark says
This worked wonderfully for me.
I had two account. I set the one I wanted to keep to default, and set its data file to default as well. Closed and restarted Outlook and closed again.
Backed up the all messaging registry key just in case.
Removed all the profiles (about six of them- maybe the multiple mailboxes within that account?) which mentioned the account I wanted to delete. Restarted the Mail applet from the control panel, deleted the old primary account.
Outlook opened up but stalled on connecting...tried not to panic. Closed outlook (it wasn't responding) and went back to the applet and ran repair. It took about 30 seconds and then said all was good. I reopened Outlook and all is well now.
I don't have multiple accounts now - so I can't test the cross account functionality.
Hope this helps someone as much as it did me!
Happy Customer says
Thank you so much for this! You saved my sanity. After getting the run around from my company's tech support for weeks, I found your instructions, followed them, and they worked. Now, my new email is the only one in my Outlook, and I don't have to worry about duplicate meeting notifications.
The Ninja says
This method worked for me on one of two computers I tested it on. Both were running Outlook 2010 and both had more than one key they appeared to correspond with the primary account. In both tests, I deleted all keys except those that corresponded with the new account. The first computer did fine but the second resulted in a broken profile and an Outlook that refused to open. Oh well, it was worth a try. Infuriating "non bugs" like this is one of the many reasons I don't recommend Outlook to most of my clients.
Mahesh says
Finally it worked for me also... i restored registry backup and tested two three times... finally it worked.... thank you very much for you valuable post....
Mahesh says
i removed primary account successfully using above method. but after that i cant send email through other exchange accounts also "operation failed"..
any suggestions...?
Diane Poremsky says
There is a reason why Microsoft doesn't publish this solution and recommends a new profile. :) It has worked well for me though. So check the default settings for the email account and data file - try setting a different account (and data file) as default then back to the one you want to be default.
UniAdmin says
I tried the reg key option and found several references to the old/primary mail account.
It didn't work despite deleting all of them.
So I tried using the option creating a new profile (in control panel - Mail 32) for the mail account that I wanted to keep, then simply adding in a new duplicate account as if starting from scratch.
The key then is NOT to delete the OLD profile until the new duplicate account has synced up with Exchange.Once done,check your mailbox/contacts/calenders etc. to make sure all is up to date. You can then delete the other/old profile in outlook thus removing the OLD default account. I didnt need to re-import a .PST/OST as the exchange with the account I wanted to keep just updated the same EMAIL account in the other profile.
Hope that helps
Antoinette says
How would I delete an account from a standard desktop that's not on an Exchange server? What would be the filepath? I don't think it includes Windows NT. Thanks
Diane Poremsky says
This only applies to exchange accounts - for non-exchange accounts, you can remove the account from File, Account Settings. Select it and Delete. Or, with outlook closed, open control panel, search for mail and edit the profile. See Add and Remove accounts for the steps.
jronquillo says
Hi is it possible if I just need to rename the Recipients/cn= if I wanted to make the other mailbox as the default. issue on my side is I have 2 mailbox configured. mailbox A is set as default and what is happening is everytime mailbox A creates a calendar invitation Mailbox B becomes the default mail sender whilist there is no dropdown list to choose
Diane Poremsky says
Are you viewing Mailbox A's folders when you create the invitation? If so, it should use the correct account provided Mailbox A is listed as an account in File, Account Settings.
paulbself says
I am not looking to remove the primary account, just change it. Is it possible to just change the Primary account? Really not excited about any of the processes discussed above.
Diane Poremsky says
The only way to change the actual "primary" account is by removing the current primary account or removing all accounts - the first Exchange account added to the profile is the primary. You can't change the primary otherwise. You can set a different account as default - this is independent of the "primary" account.
Ian says
Worked like a charm, thanks very much! (Looking at the other values as Stanford suggested also helped to delete only the key I wanted to remove)
Stanford says
I just tried the above method but rather than deleting *every* key which contained the value "001f662b", read the STRING VALUES in the same key (eg the value for 001e660c and 001e6614).. this is in a human-readable format and should tell you enough about which exchange server that key relates to... only delete the keys related to the Email acccount you're trying to remove...
I can confirm this method works to remove my old Exchange account and I'm still able to attach/import PSTs in Outlook 2010 afterwards.
And as usual with IT Admin 101: before making any changes, backup, backup and make a backup of the backups!! :) .. this will save your skin 99.9% of the time...
Thanks heaps Diane, awesome tip!
Diane Poremsky says
Correct, you only want to remove the key for the account your want to remove - if you delete it for all accounts, you'll mess up the profile.
sori says
If Outllok is staling or hanging after you complete the "edit registry"-method.... Use ccleaner (or another reg-fixer I pressume) to fix and cleanout registry.
This worked for me.
Alan says
I highly do not recommend following these instructions to delete the registry key unless further testing confirms it actually works. I attempted this and corrupted Outlook.
After removing the key which contained 001f662b and 001e660b for the primary account, I was able to successfully remove the unwanted Exchange account from the Control Panel > Mail window.
I then opened Outlook successfully and thought I was in good shape. However, when I attempted to attach/import a .PST file to Outlook either via 'File > Open > Import' or 'File > Open > Open Outlook Data File', Outlook locked up. I had to kill Outlook at that point.
To resolve the issue that I created, I restored the registry from the exported backup that the instructions recommend you create. After restoring the registry, I am able to attach .PST files as expected in Outlook.
Thank gosh for the back up. Again - Avoid this method! It needs more testing and/or, if I did not follow the instructions correctly, the instrustions need to be re-written more clearly.
Diane Poremsky says
There is always a possibility of messing up, that is why I recommend exporting the registry.
Andrew Esh says
You weren't supposed to delete the 001e660b key, just read it to see if this is the primary account. If it's one of the other accounts, don't delete any keys from it. If it is the primary account, delete only the 001f662b key from it.
Stephen says
Take big stick, hit oneself round head.
If one doesn't administer Outlook/Exchange DON'T follow the bouncing ball. I just did and now my .ost is "configured for a different mailbox" so I can't reference it - PERIOD!
Hosed, royally.
Should have made a PST first - didn't know that!
Trying to "Repair" but I have NO confidence I'll get my 481MB and nearly 2 years of emails et al back...
HELP!!!!!!!!!
Diane Poremsky says
Do you have system restore enabled? If so, roll back before you edited the registry. Or, if you exported the registry as a backup, you could restore it.
Jimmy McDaniel says
Oh, and in this last case with the 6 registry keys, it doesn't allow me to delete it until I delete the last key. Still hangs Outlook thought.
Jimmy McDaniel says
Have you experienced an issue where it will let you remove the primary account but then Outlook will hang when you launch it? I've successfully removed it from one machine but a few others I've tested have not gone so well. I've also discovered that one machine has 6 entries for the primary account. Deleting the second wouldn't let me remove it. I could after deleting all keys but Outlook would still hang.
Diane Poremsky says
All of my tests worked fine, but I only had the two keys. This could be why Microsoft didn't publish this as an option. If deleting the key doesn't work as expected, you should use one of their recommended methods - delete all accounts or make a new profile.
Michael says
In the text you say you searched for 001e660b but the screenshot shows 001f662b.
Which one should i remove?
Diane Poremsky says
Thanks for catching that. I meant to say to verify the key belongs to the primary account by looking at the 001e660b value. Delete the entire key on the left side, not the values.