How to Fix ‘The Windows Live ID or Password you Entered Is not Valid’
Windows Live is a set of Microsoft web services that has been discounted for some time now. Microsoft Live was an online marketplace where users could download popular games. Although this platform has been discontinued some older games still use this service.
Users that rely on Windows Live to run their games have reported this error where their ID or password is not accepted and they get an error that says “The Windows Live ID or password you entered is not valid”. This can be a big problem because it can permanently prevent you from running your application.
Method 1: Create a New App Password
In this method, we will create an App password and this will only work if you have two-factor authentication enabled for you. Since Microsoft Live is an old service and the two-factor authentication was not available back then, so the app password allows you to generate a one-time random password which you provide only once instead of your regular password to Sign in to an application or device that does not support two-factor authentication. But this will only work if you already have a two-step verification
- Sign in to your Microsoft Live Account .
Sign in to your Microsoft account - In the top menu bar click on Security and enter your password to verify.
Click Security - Select Advanced Security Options.
Click Advanced Security Options - Under security options, click the link that says Create a new App Password.
- A new password will then be generated for you, copy that password and use it then to Sign-In.
Method 2: Disable Two-Factor Authentication
Some Windows Marketpalce games do not work with two-factor authentication so disabling it can help get rid of the validation error. This has been reported by some users that disabling the two-factor authentication resolved the validation error for them. You can do this from your Microsoft Live Account.
- Login to your Microsoft Live Account
- In the top menu bar click on Security and enter your password to verify.
Click Security - Select Advanced Security Options.
Click Advanced Security Options - Under Security options, click the link that says Turn Off under Two-Step Verification.
Disable Two-step verification Microsoft-Account - Now select the Remove option to confirm.
Click Remove
Method 3: Update the Game’s Content Files
If you are experiencing the log-in issue when playing games through Windows Live, this method will work for you.
In this method, we will copy the files from the content folder located on your computer and paste them into the Steam Account’s library. This will need to be done separately for each individual game. What happens is that the Steam Library might not be synchronized with your local library so we will need to manually synchronize them to get rid of the validation error. You will need an Xbox Account for this method, if you do not have one please create one.
- First Sign in to your Microsoft Live Account.
- Now go to xbox.com and click on the Sign-in option present at the top-right corner of the screen.
- If you already have an account you will be asked to log in, otherwise, you will be redirected to the Xbox Profile creation page where you will need to accept the Terms and Conditions and then your profile will be automatically created.
Create an Xbox account - Now start a game that required Windows Live Account, In this example, the name of the game is “The Club”.
Start a game that required Windows Live Account - Some games might require a manual update so once you launch the game it will ask you to update, click Yes to proceed.
Click Yes to proceed and update the game - Once the game is updated, please close it or it will close on its own.
- Now go to your Local Windows user account on your Windows Explorer by navigating to the below location.
C:\Users\Rohail\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Xlive\Updates
- You might need to display hidden folders if you do not see them here by default, click on the View option at the top menu and then click Options.
Click on the View option at the top menu - Go to the View tab and click Show hidden files, folders and drives.
Click the View tab and select Show Hidden files, folders, and drives - Now locate the Files of that particular game that you want to run and copy all the files from the Data folder.
Locate the Files of that particular game that you want to run and copy all the files from the Data folder - Go to your Steam Library and right-click on that game and select Properties.
Go to your Steam Library and right-click on that game and select Properties - Click Local Files and select Browser Local Files.
Click Local Files and select Browser Local Files - Now Paste all the content you copied earlier in that folder, if the content already exists just overwrite it.
Paste all the content you copied earlier in that folder, if the content already exists just overwrite it - Once done, start the game and click on Sign In.
Start the game and click on the Home Key, and Click Sign In - Use the same credentials you created earlier for the Xbox Live account and Sign In.
