Jul 31 2020 09:34 AM
Please read carefully. This is not quite straightforward. Please understand that I am familiar with Office 365 and Teams, as I am Global Admin for several tenants. However, this is about the FREE Version of Teams...
I want to setup a free Teams account according to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/free
If I'm doing that with a pure MSN account like "x@outlook.com", everything will work fine. I will get a Teams free account - Great!
The problem starts when I want to use an existing email address. One that has no Office 365 and no Azure Account. Hopefully.
What I encountered is that if you ever have created any kind of account at Microsoft with the domain of that existing email address, one cannot creat a free Teams account. If I am wrong, please help me.
So if I try with the address "me@somebusinessaccount.com", I end up with "me@somebusinessaccount.com hasn't been added to your organization's directory. Contact your admin or try a different email." as soon as I hit the Next button.
Luckily, I remember that "admin@somebusinessaccount.com" was used once to create an account for Volume Keys at https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/default.aspx.
Since I know that there was never an Office 365 tenant, I can now do an Office 365 admin takeover according to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/users-groups-roles/domains-admin-takeover.
This done, I now can actually create a new Teams account with "me@somebusinessaccount.com".
The problem here is that I now have a Teams account with a time limited (until early 2021) "Microsoft Teams Exploratory" license. I have not found any reliable hint on how long that licence will be valid. Most sources mention January 2021...
Nice, but I wanted a free account without time limit.
Assigning an alias to the MSN account (i.e. adding me@somebusinessaccount.com as alias to x@outlook.com) will not work either. The MSN account notices immediately that there is a tenant @somebusinessaccount.com and refuses to add that alias. Bummer...
So, apparently, free Teams accounts are only possible with free MSN accounts. :(
Or, one is using a business email address which never ever has been registred at microsoft for whatsoever..
Am I correct with this?
In any case, is there a way to create a free Teams account with a business email account which has been registred at Microsoft? Not on Office 365, I mean.
Thanks
Dan
Jul 31 2020 11:19 AM
Hello @DanHuber This article talks about requirements for using Teams, and it includes instructions on how to create your own domain. Let us know if you still have questions after reviewing this.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/upgrade-plan-journey-prerequisites
Thank you for being a member of the Teams community.
Aug 02 2020 11:27 PM - edited Aug 02 2020 11:30 PM
Hello @ThereseSolimeno,
Let me rephrase.
First question:
Is it true that the free Teams account can only be used with an MSN account?
I presume the answer is yes.
Digging a bit more into the issue:
Second question:
It seems that all non-MSN addresses being tried lead to exactly that error message.
Except if the domain used is actually registred in Office 365.
Is this assumption correct?
Going on:
Question three:
It seems to me that this is the only way to get Teams "for free" for a non-MSN account. Is this correct?
Daniel
Mar 01 2021 02:35 AM
Mar 01 2021 03:20 AM
Solution@martycleverer Hello, there are several articles that covers this topic.
Accounts
Sign up and create a Teams free org with a Microsoft account - Office Support
Sign up and create a Teams free org with a Gmail account - Office Support (microsoft.com)
Support pages Teams free
Welcome to Microsoft Teams free - Office 365
Teams Exploratory MS docs
Manage the Microsoft Teams Exploratory experience - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Docs
May 25 2021 06:57 AM
May 25 2021 07:05 AM
Hello @jayatnet ,
That particular customer decided agains Teams and went with Zoom. He was anyway only interested in a cheap videoconferencing solution for a limited time. Thus I have not further investigated.
On the other hand, there was quite some movement around Teams in the last couple of months. Perhaps something hast changed, but I would not know, sorry.
Daniel
Jul 21 2021 08:54 AM
@jayatnet I got my free teams through a power bi account - it allowed me the free account automatically.
Mar 01 2021 03:20 AM
Solution@martycleverer Hello, there are several articles that covers this topic.
Accounts
Sign up and create a Teams free org with a Microsoft account - Office Support
Sign up and create a Teams free org with a Gmail account - Office Support (microsoft.com)
Support pages Teams free
Welcome to Microsoft Teams free - Office 365
Teams Exploratory MS docs
Manage the Microsoft Teams Exploratory experience - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Docs