30 day validation process to recover account

Hello FearWithin6,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A!

I understand the confusion. When you change or remove all your security info (phone numbers or alternate emails), Microsoft puts that change “on hold” for 30 days to protect you if someone else is trying to hijack your account. During that hold:

• You can still sign in on devices where the account is already trusted, but you won’t be able to use the new recovery info yet.
• Sensitive actions (adding/removing info, signing in on a new device, changing settings) will stay blocked until the timer ends.
• Support cannot override or shorten the 30 days — it’s fully automated.

At the end of 30 days

• The old recovery phone/email is removed.
• Your new recovery info becomes active.
• As long as you know your password, you can then sign in and use the new phone/email to verify your identity.

To answer your question directly: knowing your password alone isn’t enough right now, because the account is in the security hold. Once the 30-day period finishes, the system will let you in using your password plus the new phone number you added. While waiting, keep checking the alternate email you provided during recovery, as Microsoft will send updates about when the hold ends.

For further information, you can refer to this official article: What does “Security info change is still pending” mean? - Microsoft Support

Warm regards,  

PS: If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".    

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.