The Problem
I was remotely setting up a new user. Instead of resetting up everything under a new user we just re-use the existing user setting up new email and changing relative information like the username. After I had setup the new users email account for exchange, I tried to remove the old account and got the following error:"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." So I couldn't remove his unless I deleted the account. That wasn't really a path I cared to take.
The Solution
Open up the Control Panel and click on "Profiles." Then click on "Add..." It will ask you for the information for the new exchange email account go ahead and put this info and step through the wizard.
Remove the old profile which has the old email account by clicking on it and then on the button labeled "Remove." Click on "OK" when done to close out the mail dialog box and then open outlook
You now only have one email account in the account settings.
Bottom Line
Outlook 2010 doesn't like removing the first Exchange account setup under a profile. At this point I have seen no way to get around this. The best solution when removing the account and/or adding another exchange account is to remove the old Outlook Profile and create a new one.
The Solution
Open up the Control Panel and click on "Profiles." Then click on "Add..." It will ask you for the information for the new exchange email account go ahead and put this info and step through the wizard.
Remove the old profile which has the old email account by clicking on it and then on the button labeled "Remove." Click on "OK" when done to close out the mail dialog box and then open outlook
You now only have one email account in the account settings.
Bottom Line
Outlook 2010 doesn't like removing the first Exchange account setup under a profile. At this point I have seen no way to get around this. The best solution when removing the account and/or adding another exchange account is to remove the old Outlook Profile and create a new one.
If you are setting up a new users with access to only ONE mailbox then you SHOULD use a new profile. However, there are plenty of reasons why you would need to re-use a profile when a user has multiple mailbox access and setting all that up again in a new profile is a giant waste of time. Microsoft obviously put the button there to remove the primary account and it is not greyed out. You sohuld be able to do it. Microsoft has had this bug since the beta of Outlook 2010 and needs to address it.
ReplyDeleteThe proposed solution is fine if you don't have other .pst files etc linked to your profile, but if you have then you'll need to recreate them. Thanks Microsoft.
ReplyDelete4 pop/smtp accounts, 2 exchange accounts in my profile, and I got to delete and re-create them all just so that I can remove one of the Exchange accounts. this is more that just a bug, this is design stupidity and untested software.
ReplyDeleteWe are doing migration to Office 365 and find out we can't just delete old Exchange account from Outlook profile. It' too sad, recreating Outlook profile will take time but rebuild cache will take forever ...
ReplyDeleteThanks, this works with just Outlook 2013 client and no Exchange as well.
ReplyDeleteReally stupid bug since the account that I can't remove is not the primary by any definition. New account added nearly a year later.
ReplyDeleteI did the following and it worked.
ReplyDeleteGo to
- Control Panel
- User Accounts and Family Safety
- Mail
- Click on Email accounts
- select the Data Tab
- Select the outlook file (name or profile) that is not working (mine had a tag of Private under name and online under type)
- A Microsoft Exchange window will open with a server name and a mailbox name.
- Delete the exchange server information (leave the field blank)
- Do not change anything on the mailbox name
- Click "Check Name" button
- your primary account should automatically connect and your done.
- now that your primary works, you should be able to tag it as your primary and delete any other accounts you do not want.
Like I said, this just now worked for me. I hope this helps others.
If the one below does not work for you do the following.
ReplyDeleteGo to
- Control Panel
- User Accounts and Family Safety
- Mail
- Click on "Show Profiles"
- Delete the Outlook Profile
- Click Okay
this should delete the primary everything
- Open a new outlook 2013 screen
- It will ask you to name a profile
- enter "Outlook"
- this will put you in step one of outlook setup as if you just opened it for the first time.
Hope this helps
I second Oscar Arciga's steps.
ReplyDeleteOscars solutions did not work for me - I could not edit the exchange server information field.
ReplyDeleteI think Im gonna uninstall Outlook 2013 - it seems to be a half-baked piece of rubbish with loads of bugs. Ive had endless problems with it since I started using it.
Wonder if Windows Live Mail is still going... that worked nicely for me...
Ian
Oscar Arciga's solution worked perfectly. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteOscar, Thank you! Everything else I tried failed.
ReplyDelete