Hi Folks,

I run a small business, with three Windows 11 devices but planning to add a few more in the next year or so. I'd like to get my user account and licence management right before we spend any more money on our IT.

We currently have two users with MS365 Business Premium Licences, and three machines with Windows 11 licences. Unfortunately Windows 11 wouldn't let me use the business email address to activate those machines, so those licences are currently tied to my ancient personal hotmail account that I generally used for spam. Going forward, I would like to have an admin account that is associated with the business for activating new Windows 11 licences and installing software, and I would like to provide users with standard accounts (also associated with the business) for logging in and doing work.

The thing that I do not understand is that whenever I try to use one of the pre-existing (licenced) accounts in MS365 for either activating a new device or creating a new user in Windows, Microsoft keeps bouncing a message back that reads "Looks like this isn't a Microsoft account. Try another email or sign up for a new one." I cannot believe that Microsoft expects me to just go minting one Outlook.com address after another whenever I want to add a new starter or new device, but I cannot figure out what the right way of doing this is.

Can anyone point me in the direction of any guidance that will help me to understand how to set this up. We need a solution that is pretty user friendly because we are a small business and do not have any in-house technical support.