Create Development Accounts for an XDP User Account

To play, test, or review a game that is in development, an Xbox Developer Portal (XDP) user must have at least one development account to use when logging in to an Xbox One console. Users can create their own development accounts, or users who are members of access groups that have the necessary permissions can create the accounts for them. (To create accounts for other users requires either the Publisher Org Administration permission or the Publisher Management permission.)

For more information about development accounts, see Introducing User Accounts and Development Accounts.

Important

Whenever an XDP user is granted run-time access to a product instance in a sandbox, all of the development accounts associated with that user are automatically granted the same run-time access to that sandbox. Access cannot be granted to a subset of a user’s development accounts without granting access to all of the user’s development accounts.

Creating valid passwords

Passwords must not contain the user’s entire samAccountName (Account Name) value or entire displayName (Full Name) value. Neither validation is case-sensitive.

Passwords must contain characters from three of the following five categories:

Passwords must also be at least 6 characters long.

Creating development accounts

To add new development accounts for an XDP user

  1. In the upper-right corner of the XDP home screen, click Search For to open the drop-down menu, and then click Contact.
  2. Enter a user’s name in the search box, and then click the search icon.
  3. Click the user’s name from the search results to make that user’s profile page appear.
  4. On the user’s profile page, click Development Accounts.
    XDP displays information about the development accounts for the selected user with two options: batch and active. If it is not already selected, click batch to select it.
  5. Click Add Development Accounts.
  6. On the New Development Accounts page, enter information in the fields to specify the development accounts to add. Use the following recommendations:
    • To create a single development account, leave Number of accounts set to the default, 1. Otherwise, the valid number can be from 1 to 999. If you add three accounts, their account numbers are 000, 001, and 002.
    • Select account types from the Xbox account type list. Gold subscriptions are the default; silver subscriptions are free. If Gold is selected, the development account has a gold subscription for all of the development sandboxes owned by the publisher-both those already created, and any created in the future.
    • Type a name for the batch account in Batch name.
    • Choose Protected or Unprotected for your Account Security. Microsoft account (MSA) user protection features are enabled for Protected developer accounts. They are regular accounts that are subject to all fraud and account theft prevention measures provided by a Microsoft account. In particular, such accounts might on occasion be subject to a two-factor authentication requirement in order to prove ownership of the account.
      Unprotected accounts that bypass normal user protection features are provided for test and automation scenarios where existing security features are ineffective, such as those that require user intervention. They are exempt from all fraud and account theft prevention measures provided by a Microsoft account, which has the consequence that two-factor authentication is not required. Therefore they are more vulnerable to account theft, making it critical to ensure that the credentials for these accounts get handled with the greatest care. It is also recommended to restrict access to sandboxes for unprotected accounts to what is strictly necessary for the test automation scenarios that they are created for.
    • Type first and last names for First name and Last name.
    • Type the pattern for the names of the e-mail addresses in Email template.
      As you type the pattern, XDP displays the names of the accounts to be provisioned at the bottom of the page with a prefix and suffix. The prefix is a four-character alphanumeric string that prefixes all accounts. The suffix relates to the number of accounts. The e-mail template must be unique and conform to Xbox Live requirements. We recommend that you enter your product name or intials and the date. For example, Flagship_testing040214.
    • In the field labeled Alternate Email Address, provide an email address that you can access. Development accounts are not mail-enabled and require an alternate email address in order to verify your identity. If you forget your password or someone else tries to take over your account, Microsoft can send a security code to your alternate email address.
      Development accounts with unprotected account security bypass user protection features and do not require the use of an alternate email address.
    • Select country and locale from the Country / Locale list.
    • Enter a password for Password and Reenter password. See Creating valid passwords for information on the requirements for passwords.
    • Select a secret question from the Secret question list.
    • Enter the secret answer for Secret answer and Reenter secret answer.
      The secret question and secret answer are used in the retrieval of the development account password if it is ever lost or forgotten.
  7. When all fields and options are set as you want them, click Create.

    Note If XDP displays Action Failed at the top of the window, click Dismiss.


    Note Development account creation can take some time to complete, depending upon factors such as number of accounts requested, load on servers, and time of day. On the Manage Development Accounts page, in the column labeled Processing/Succeeded/Requested, you can see the status of your development accounts. When the Succeeded number equals the Requested number, all development accounts have been created.

  8. Export your created accounts. Get a list of your newly created accounts (if you have created more than a few that show up on the initial list).
    • To see a list of created accounts, click Active.
    • To export the list to a spreadsheet, click Download All.