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Ever since I got my home office 365 family subscription, I had my eye on the option for the personalized domain name in outlook. However, according to Microsoft, only domains hosted with GoDaddy could be connected and used.
Now, to be fair, GoDaddy is probably a fine company to use for DNS hosting, but I don't want to switch registrars.
But I pieced information together how to get the personal domain in outlook without even using or switching to GoDaddy and use my current hoster!
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Go to outlook, the premium settings and choose the option to "get started" with a personalized domain.
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Click the option to buy a new domain with GoDaddy, and a new window opens
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Copy the URL of the new window that opens, it should look like this: https://domainconnect.godaddy.com/v2/domainTemplates/providers/outlook.com/services/personalizedoutlookemail/apply?mxRecordValue=XXXXXXXXX&state=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX..... The part that you need is "mxRecordValue=XXXXXXXXX" The XXXXXXXXX is the unique ID for verification used in DNS
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Go to your own domain DNS settings and add the following settings replacing XXXXXXXXX with your ID found in step 3.(Note, these settings are for TransIP specific, your own DNS manager may use a different syntax!)
| Name | TTL | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| @ | 1 hour | MX | 0 XXXXXXXXX.pamx1.hotmail.com. |
| @ | 1 hour | TXT | v=spf1 include:outlook.com -all |
| autodiscover | 1 hour | CNAME | autodiscover.outlook.com. |
| _dmarc | 1 hour | TXT | v=DMARC1; p=none; |
| _domainconnect | 1 hour | CNAME | _domainconnect.gd.domaincontrol.com. |
| _outlook | 1 hour | TXT | XXXXXXXXX |
The dot on the end of the external domains is not a typo!
5. Return to the premium settings in outlook to set your custom domain.
6. Choose the option "I already have a domain"
7. Enter the domain you just configured
8. You have to click to login to GoDaddy, do this, but just exit the page it goes to.
9. Congratulations it should now say you connected the domain with GoDaddy!
Now, to be fair, GoDaddy is probably a fine company to use for DNS hosting
Narrator: they weren’t.
Thank you so much!
I recently switched from Microsoft 365 Business for my wife and I (and home labbing purposes) to Office 365 family, and I hated losing our personal domain. I use Google Cloud's DNS (not Google Domains), so I had to make sure I put double quotes around all the TXT records, but it worked perfectly!
It's possible to host your personal domain name mailbox on Outlook.com free of charge, here's how. For this example, the email address to host is [email protected] .
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Temporarily forward email for [email protected] to an existing mailbox
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Get a free Microsoft Account using [email protected] as your email address
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Change the DNS MX record for example.com to outlook-com.olc.protection.outlook.com.
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In Outlook.com settings, change Email > Sync email > Default from address to [email protected]
That's it. Incoming emails for [email protected] will start appearing in your new Outlook.com mailbox, and you can reply to them too. No Microsoft 365 or Exchange Online account necessary.