Same email for personal and work account
You use your personal email address for work too. Microsoft now asks 'personal or work?' and the choice does not work reliably.
Affected systems
Quick fixes
- On the login picker, actively choose 'Work account'
- Sign in from a private browser window to avoid stale cookies
- When possible: set up a separate email for work
Why does this happen?
Microsoft maintains two separate identity worlds:
- Personal Microsoft Account (MSA) for Xbox, Outlook.com, OneDrive Personal, Skype, etc.
- Microsoft Entra (formerly Azure AD) for corporate accounts, Microsoft 365 Business, Teams for Work, etc.
Both worlds can manage the same email address - e.g. when you have
[email protected] as a personal MSA and at the same time as an Entra
account through a company.
Pick the right one on the login screen
When you go to https://login.microsoftonline.com and enter your email, a picker appears:
It looks like this email is used with more than one account. Which one do you want to use?
- Work or school account
- Personal account
Pick Work for Teams for Work. If you pick Personal and try to access a corporate app, you get AADSTS50020.
Cookies break the choice
If the picker does not appear, your browser has a stale cookie and auto-signs you into the wrong account. Fix:
- Open an incognito or private browser window
- Delete cookies for
login.microsoftonline.com
Recommendation: separate the worlds
When you have the choice, use different email addresses for personal and work. Microsoft does plan to eventually unify dual identities but is far from done. Until then, clean separation is the easiest path.
Rename or delete the personal MSA
If you no longer use the personal MSA, you can change the email at https://account.microsoft.com or close the account entirely. Warning: that also deletes your Outlook.com and personal OneDrive.