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Update to Windows Live Account enables Linked IDs

Oct 18, 2007 11:52 pm by Gregor | 21 comments

Microsoft has silently updated its Windows Live Account pages. They are now featuring the new Wave 2 look. In addition to the visual make-over the update brings a long requested and hinted at feature: Linked IDs.

When you sign in to Windows Live Account the new option to link Windows Live IDs is presented right on the first screen. In order to link IDs you will need to click on the link, enter the password of the account you are currently logged in with and the ID and password of the account you want to link it with. That’s all…

You can link several IDs together. We haven’t tried what the max is but four worked fine for us. You do have to pay attention to security though. Access to all accounts is now secured by the lowest-level password of all IDs linked. Also you should not link an ID that several users have access to with your personal account ID. The user that has access to the shared ID would get access to all your personal stuff doing so.

Ok, linking is done – but what would you link the IDs for? When you have linked IDs together you will only need to sign in to Windows Live once and can then switch easily between the accounts. If you are on Windows Live Hotmail for example you can check your email on one account and then simply click the dropdown arrow next to your login in the upper right corner and choose one of your linked IDs that are listed their. Without the need to enter a password again you will get to access that accounts emails. Pretty convenient. Unfortunately this only works on the new Wave 2 products, so you are out of luck on WL Favorites, Gallery or the personalized homepage for now – we guess that at least some these properties will be updated to Wave 2 soon though.

Another change the update to Windows Live Account brings is an overview of Windows Live Services you are using. Hotmail, Spaces, Custom Domains, OneCare and so on will be listed there if you do use them (beta products and desktop applications won’t).

In addition to the update of Windows Live Accounts (and the needed backend update to Windows Live ID to support the Linked IDs) the new Wave 2 look has also been implemented on Windows Live Feedback and Windows Live Support – unfortunately not full blown though meaning that the orb does not have a dropdown menu, links to WL Hotmail, Spaces, etc are missing and you cannot use easily switch accounts using Linked IDs there.

This entry was posted in Featured, News and tagged Account, Feedback, ID, Support, Windows Live. Bookmark the permalink.

Sunshine
One word: Awesome!
One thing though: after i linked some accounts to my main one the connection between my Live ID and my LiveSide account was gone. I had to reassociate them.
rajeshaz09
Excellent.
You can link at maximum 4 live id’s (total 5 including sign in account)
jamiet
Hmmm..fairly useful i guess. Though I’d like to be able to synchronise Live Contacts across all of my accounts. That is what I was hoping they would enable with this.
-Jamie
rieuwa
Wow! I have been waiting for this a long time… and it works so smoothly!
Alex
I had to reassociate too, bit strange, but it works now. And the Linked Live ID’s function is really sweet, it works flawlessly.
Really strange that they didn’t include the Orb-menu on feedback and support…
StefVision
very nice update, now i have all my accounts in my central account :) thanks for info ^_^
CharlyAR
Thanks for the info. Great update.
It’s a shame that there is no way to set up some “one way” link. For example having a shared info@mycustomdomain address between myself@mycustomdomain and mypartner@mycustomdomain…
But still great. =)
GaMerZ
Sigh, it is not working on WL Hotmail yet, I wonder how are they going to implement it together with WLM
Khristopher
It’s not working on my Hotmail the way you guys show in the picture for me. That’s the most beneficial part of this for me.
derviskemal
its been working for me in the UK for quite a while, really neat feature and obviously is a great safety feature!
Chris
You may need to login again to see it (eg on Hotmail).
mikewu610
The MAXIMUM number of accounts that you can link is FIVE(5).
EmJayPrice
It’s not working on my hotmail either
BV2312
I believe it takes a while, as i set it up last night wasn’t working but this morning uit started to work
ranpha
I must say that this account linking is great. Now I can check all my mails from 2 Hotmail account easily.
yanverm
Finally! :-)
mdaniel
The issue with linked accounts not appearing immediately (or consistently) in Hotmail is a known issue. The latest UXP bits have the fix which Hotmail plans on taking in Jan/Feb.
Chris
Translating mdaniel’s comment out of MS speak, the WL Header currently running on Hotmail isn’t the newest version, hence the occasional bugginess.
Wonder if that means we can expect a sizeable update in early 2008? :)
CalumJR
Ah, I see what Chris means. E.g. the Hotmail header does not have “Family Safety” in the list of Windows Live services.
I’d love to see a sizable update, but before 2008 lol… I can only hope I suppose! …
joeale
I like this the best i share with one good friend.
DeathSeeker
Nice to be able to check my @live email while logged into my @gmail email. ^_^