Where do I find the QR codes for Microsoft 365 accounts?

Neil Benson 356 MVP

I have successfully restored Authenticator to a new phone. All the accounts are working except for the five Microsoft 365 work accounts that I use.

They all tell me, "Action required. Scan the QR code provided by your organization to finish recovering this account".

When I log into My Account (myaccount.microsoft.com), I can't find anywhere where a QR code is displayed.

Where do I find the QR codes that Authenticator is looking for?

Graham Mitchell (Staff) 5 Reputation points

2023-02-18T17:13:59.1933333+00:00

Thank you so much (Takudzwa A Vafana). A really helpful and clear solution to the hours I've spent elsewhere. Awesome.
Charlotte Miriam Rogers 55 Reputation points

2023-09-29T12:23:29.6733333+00:00

As of Sep 2023 you can find the QR code for "Action Required. Scan the QR code provided..." here:

https://mysignins.microsoft.com/security-info

Security info > + Add sign-in method > Choose a method > Authenticator App > Add

Then click 'Next' through all the prompts until it says 'Set up your account' and a QR code is generated.
Bill Halfmann 40 Reputation points

2024-03-23T17:05:41.2133333+00:00

As of 3/23/24 Charlotte Miriam Rogers seems to still be accurate - thank you. My problem with this entire behavior is the how Microsoft is misleading during the process. If this app has the ability to be backed up and restored, then let it do that. If it can't restore the Microsoft account, tell me. Do NOT tell me to scan the QR code "provided by your organization" when there's no such thing and you waste my time and my Admin's time trying to find such a code. Tell me to reset this account from scratch, because that's what's taking place. Tangent topic: why is the backup process limited to a personal MS account - how does that make sense?
Andy Osi 20 Reputation points

2024-03-26T18:20:10.3666667+00:00

Bill Halfmann has it bang on - it is a terrible error dialogue that MS have chosen and causes lots of fraught conversations between IT support teams and staff/ users who ALL INSIST you must give them a QR code when actually you need to 're-require multi factor authentication' (and since MS Entra, that's moved to a different place than with Azure. Dumb move MS !!! PLEASE fix it
Colin Hughes 25 Reputation points

2024-06-21T19:06:50.0066667+00:00

I agree with both of the above folks. How many people that work in IT have had to get a new phone.. What a horror when I have to re do 100's of accounts. Also being the owner of my business, who thought it was a great idea to let people use their business email for a personal account. Talk about double confusion when they leave the company, we delete the address and not they can't reset it. Microsoft needs to work on the basics.. AI,, your guys need to just figure out the intelligence part first.
Johnny Yip 5 Reputation points

2024-07-23T18:16:52.16+00:00

Totally agree! Maybe MS should have all their users switch to use Google Authenticator instead :-)
Randall King 0 Reputation points

2024-10-04T10:46:29.34+00:00

@Charlotte Miriam Rogers Can you explain how someone would access that site when they have no other MFA methods? They can't use the Authenticator app because it needs to be recovered, and that's the only method they have set up.

Accepted answer

Anonymous

2022-05-25T00:07:09.29+00:00

Try here.
https://account.activedirectory.windowsazure.com/r/#/profile

then additional security verification
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8 people found this answer helpful.
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Colin Higbie 45 Reputation points

2023-03-27T17:08:19.67+00:00

This does NOT show the QR code that Authenticator needs to restore an existing account following its Restore from Backup on the phone.

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Matthew Barry 10 Reputation points

2023-09-07T07:15:04.5866667+00:00

"then additional security verification" this options doesn't exist.

Matthew House 0 Reputation points

2023-10-23T15:40:13.9733333+00:00

The problem with this solution is accessing the security info in your account settings requires successful authentication (at least in my environments), which you can't complete if your authenticator isn't working. Someone from your IT department (me) has to require re-registeration of your MFA. As an admin, I've been unable to find a way to help someone recover their Microsoft Authenticator other than clicking the option "Require re-register multifactor authentication" within Entra. Having backups enabled in Microsoft Authenticator doesn't seem to do anything for enterprise accounts. My personal Microsoft Account was recovered, but none of my enterprise or business accounts were. All of those say I need to scan a QR code from my organization to finish recovering those, which is basically the same process as not having backups turned on in the first place.

If you're a 365 admin, you can go here https://aad.portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_AAD_IAM/ActiveDirectoryMenuBlade, look up the user, click authentication methods in the left pane (it's also displayed as a center tile for me) then click the Require re-register multifactor authentication option at the top. Now, when the user tries to access their security info at office.com or http://aka.ms/mfasetup, instead of being prompted to complete an authentication request, they'll instead be prompted that their organization requires additional setup. Follow the wizard (next, next, etc.), and it will display the QR code.

Linda Edmondson 0 Reputation points

2024-06-24T19:10:08.3033333+00:00

Still stuck in a loop asking for verification on authenticator (which I can't access)
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21 additional answers

Neil Benson 356 Reputation points MVP

2022-05-25T00:23:21.097+00:00

Awesome. Thanks, DSPatrick.

I've got absolutely no idea how a user is supposed to find that site to get a new QR code without coming to his community for help. But I appreciate yours!
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Anonymous

2022-05-25T00:33:11.997+00:00

Glad to hear, you're welcome.
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FlorisZ 1 Reputation point

2023-03-08T11:33:49.26+00:00
Tried all the above, to no avail.

Eventually the following was successful.

You don't have to remove the Authenticator app for you old iPhone, but you have to Delete it for your new iPhone if it shows an additional 'Microsoft Authenticator' in the list on: https://mysignins.microsoft.com/security-info

Just remove the 2 factor authentication for you account from the IOS app and choose; "Just for this app"

Then go to the above website and choose: 'Add sign-in method' and choose the authenticator app. QR is shown.

Click in the Authenticator app on your iPhone the '+' and choose work/school account

Scan the QR from step 3 above

Done. Now the red sentence with 'Action required' is not shown anymore and push notifications for MFA are working again on you new device as well
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Mohamed Ahmed Abd El-Rahman 0 Reputation points

2023-08-25T19:19:27.7533333+00:00

I cannot login in the link as it requires code from microsoft authenticator which didn't save my work account data and now I am stuck in a loop!! can anyone helpme?
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Sanjeev 15 Reputation points

2023-04-27T15:30:57.2533333+00:00

yes i found the answer
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Sanjeev 15 Reputation points

2023-04-27T15:31:30.1466667+00:00

yes i found the answer
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Where do I find the QR codes for Microsoft 365 accounts?

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