What is my user ID and why do I need it? (2024)

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Your user ID is the unique email address that was created for you to use when you sign in to Microsoft 365. A user ID may look similar to the following: ellen@contoso.partner.onmschina.cn.

When your user ID is created, Microsoft 365 assigns you a temporary password that is sent to you so you can sign in to Microsoft 365. When you do so for the first time, you have to create your own password. Use it with your user ID every time you sign in to Microsoft 365. For more information about changing your password, including how to create a strong password, see I forgot the username or password for the account I use with Office.

Microsoft 365 admins

The following information is for Microsoft 365 admins only.

Create new user accounts

You’ll create a new user ID, with a unique user name, for each user account that you add to your subscription. The domain part of the user ID is either the partner.onmschina.cn domain that you chose when you signed up for Microsoft 365 or another domain—for example, your organization’s custom domain—that you’ve added to Microsoft 365.

For example, if you chose fourthcoffee.partner.onmschina.cn as a domain name when you created your account, and you’re creating a user account with the user name colin, the user ID would be colin@fourthcoffee.partner.onmschina.cn.

If you want to use your custom domain for user IDs and email addresses, see Add a domain to Microsoft365.

Set up and use an alternate email address

When you sign up for Microsoft 365, you also need to provide an alternate email address that’s not connected to Microsoft 365. This email address is used for important notifications, such as resetting your admin password, so you must be able to access the email account if you don’t have access to Microsoft 365. After you complete the sign-up process, you’ll get an introductory email at your alternate email address that includes your user ID and the URL of the page where you will sign in to Microsoft 365. If you forget your user ID, or if you don’t remember the Microsoft 365 URL, look at the introductory email for this information.