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How to set up your first Microsoft 365 mailbox

Maxim Tsitsejev
Updated

Applies to: All plans. If you ordered your seats through us, we do this setup for you — you can skip the steps below, whatever your hosting plan.

Before you start: You need the Microsoft 365 sign-in details from your welcome/setup email (or that you created when ordering), the domain you want email on, and access to your client area (my.maxinodes.com) to add DNS records. Your email DNS records belong in the client area DNS manager, not in cPanel.

After you order a Microsoft 365 seat, your mailbox lives in Microsoft's cloud, not on our hosting server. It is separate from the mailboxes included in your hosting plan, so don't create the same addresses there. To get your first mailbox working you sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin centre, create and assign a user, then verify your domain so mail can route to it. This guide walks through each step.

If your seats came from us, we handle all of this. We provide guided setup, free migration of any existing mailboxes, and we configure your SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for you — on any hosting plan, or with no hosting at all. The rest of this article is for anyone running their own tenant.

Step 1 — Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin centre

  1. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin centre at admin.microsoft.com.
  2. Sign in with the Microsoft 365 account from your setup email (this is your administrator login).
  3. If this is your first sign-in, follow any prompts to set a password and turn on multi-factor authentication.

Result: You're in the admin centre and can see the option labelled Users and the option labelled Settings (where domains live).

Step 2 — Verify your domain

Before mail can use your own domain name, Microsoft needs to confirm you own it.

  1. In the admin centre, open the area for managing domains (look for the option labelled Settings then Domains, or follow the setup wizard).
  2. Add your domain and choose to verify it. Microsoft will show you a TXT verification record (a unique value beginning MS=...).
  3. Copy that exact value. In your client area DNS manager at my.maxinodes.com, add a TXT record on your domain with the value Microsoft gave you. See How to add a TXT record.
  4. Back in the admin centre, click the option to verify. DNS changes are not instant — if verification fails at first, wait a few minutes and try again.

Result: Microsoft confirms your domain. You can now assign mailboxes at your own domain name.

The exact verification value is unique to your tenant — always copy it from the Microsoft 365 admin centre, never from a template.

Step 3 — Create and assign the mailbox user

  1. In the admin centre, open the option labelled Users then Active users.
  2. Choose to add a user. Enter the person's name and set their email address at your verified domain (for example, you@yourdomain.com).
  3. Assign a Microsoft 365 / Exchange Online licence to the user — this is the seat you ordered. A mailbox is only created once a licence is assigned.
  4. Save, and note the temporary password to share with the user (they'll change it on first sign-in).

Result: The mailbox exists. The user can sign in to webmail at outlook.office.com (Outlook on the web) with that address and password.

Step 4 — Add the remaining email DNS records

Verification alone does not route mail. To send and receive, add the standard Microsoft 365 records — MX, SPF, the autodiscover CNAME, and your two DKIM CNAMEs — in your client area DNS manager. The exact values come from the admin centre. If your domain uses our nameservers, its zone may already hold records for the mailboxes included in your hosting plan (MX mx.maxinodes.com, our SPF and autodiscover records): these must be replaced, not kept alongside. Our dedicated guide shows which: How to add Microsoft 365 mail DNS records.

Troubleshooting this task

  • Domain verification keeps failing. Confirm your domain points to our nameservers — ns1.maxinodes.com and ns2.maxinodes.com — and that the TXT value matches exactly. DNS changes can take a few minutes to a few hours.
  • I assigned the user but there's no mailbox. A mailbox is only created when a Microsoft 365 / Exchange Online licence is assigned. Open the user and confirm a licence (your seat) is attached.
  • Mail still isn't arriving. The verification record is not enough — you also need the MX and other email records from Step 4 added in the client area DNS manager. If the zone still has the MX mx.maxinodes.com, delete it.
  • I want us to do this. Free, guided email setup and migration come with seats ordered through us, whatever your hosting plan. Start a chat and we'll take it from here.

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