Authenticator 2-digits in box rather than 6 digits has me locked out of my account and email

Question

Authenticator 2-digits in box rather than 6 digits has me locked out of my account and email

Chas M. White 25

I tried to add Microsoft Authenticatior to my Exchange email hosted at GoDaddy by choosing to add it in the security section and it took me to an account admin site where I added it to the single email in the domain. The email does not show up in the Authenticatior app on my iPhone but each time I try to access my Microsoft Account or email I am prompted with a square containing two digits and instructured to enter them into Authenticator. Microsoft Authenticator seems not to recgnize the two digit code. First problem is getting access to my Microsoft Account and equally important is access to my email account.

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Answer 1

Austin-H 3,040 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Dear @Chas M. White,

Thank you so much for contacting Microsoft Q&A Support.

We understand that you are currently experiencing an issue where your Microsoft 365 account (hosted via GoDaddy) is prompting for a two-digit code through Microsoft Authenticator, but the app is not displaying the corresponding prompt. Please rest assured—we are here to assist you with several recommended steps to help resolve this issue:

Restart the Authenticator App: Occasionally, the app may not refresh the prompt correctly. Please try the following:

Force close the Microsoft Authenticator app on your iPhone.
Reopen the app and attempt to sign in again. The two-digit prompt may now appear.

Verify Notification Settings: Ensure that your iPhone is configured to allow notifications from the Authenticator app:

Navigate to Settings > Notifications > Authenticator.
Confirm that Allow Notifications is enabled.
Enable Banners, Sounds, and Badges.

Ensure Stable Network Connectivity: The Authenticator app requires a reliable internet connection. Please confirm that your device is connected to a stable Wi-Fi or mobile data network.

You may also find it helpful to review similar cases that reflect the issue you are experiencing:

If You Are Completely Locked Out

Normally, you can follow this article to proceed to reset your 2FA so that you could re-register again: Manage authentication methods for Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication - Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft Learn . However, your Microsoft 365 account is hosted through GoDaddy and you are the sole administrator, we recommend contacting GoDaddy Support directly to request a reset of your multi-factor authentication (MFA) settings:

Visit: GoDaddy MFA Help
Request that they clear your MFA settings so you can re-register the Microsoft Authenticator app.

Important: Please avoid attempting to reset MFA through the Microsoft Entra Admin Center unless explicitly instructed by GoDaddy support, as this may lead to further complications.

Based on our experience, this issue can occasionally occur. We encourage you to try the recommended solutions above, and please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions or require additional assistance.

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.

Camila Th 1,915 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-27T07:04:15.0833333+00:00

Hi @Chas M. White

Is there any update on this thread?

If the issue has been resolved, please mark the helpful replies as answers.

This helps others in the community facing similar problems.

Thanks for your understanding.
Chas M. White 25 Reputation points

2025-05-27T16:26:06.0533333+00:00

MSFT pointed to an error on the GoDaddy Exchange server and upon examination GoDaddy discovered that Google Authenticator had been confirgured previously quite some time ago when I had a Samsung Android phone. When I registered the IOS phone the previous config was not removed. Advanced support had to go into the server to remove that configuration and ten Microsoft Authenticator loaded properly. If only it had taken fewer calls to resolve....
Austin-H 3,040 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-28T02:34:46.19+00:00
Dear Chas M. White,

Thank you for your response to Microsoft Q&A Support. Based on your new descriptions, we confirm that there was a conflicting multi-factor authentication (MFA) configuration on your GoDaddy-hosted Microsoft Exchange account (between Google Authenticator and Microsoft Authenticator).

In this case, if you want to use new Authenticator such as Microsoft Authenticator, you have to remove the old Google Authenticator configuration from the Exchange server (was configured in your Samsung device before). It leads to not complete the registration process, causing repeated failures. As your Microsoft 365 account (hosted via GoDaddy), we advise you should contact GoDaddy Support directly to request a remove of your old Google Authentication settings:

Visit: GoDaddy MFA Help

Request that they clear your MFA settings so you can re-register the Microsoft Authenticator app.

Kindly notes: Please avoid attempting to reset MFA through the Microsoft Entra Admin Center unless explicitly instructed by GoDaddy support, as this may lead to further complications.

Once the old configuration was cleared, Microsoft Authenticator registered successfully.

I also have some advice to prevent it in the future for you:

Always remove old MFA methods when switching devices or apps.

Use the Microsoft 365 Security & Privacy settings to manage your sign-in methods:

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

If using a hosted provider like GoDaddy, ensure they support self-service MFA management or provide clear escalation paths.

Consider backing up your authenticator app (Microsoft Authenticator supports cloud backup) to ease transitions between devices.

I understand that it will take your time to do all of these solutions. However, I have tried our best to help you in this situation, so we hope for your understanding and patience.

If you still have any questions, we are still here with you.

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.
TiNo-T 2,135 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-05-30T03:52:32.8966667+00:00

Dear @Chas M. White

I would like to kindly follow up to ask whether the solution I provided has addressed your concern. If not, please feel free to share any additional details so that we can work together to resolve the issue effectively.

If the matter has already been resolved, we would greatly appreciate it if you could mark the helpful responses as answers. This helps others in the community who may be facing similar challenges.

Thank you for your time and understanding.
TiNo-T 2,135 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-02T08:01:38.4066667+00:00

Dear @Chas M. White,
I just wanted to follow up to see if the information provided above was helpful in addressing your concern.

If you have any further updates or require additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to let us know. We’re here to support you and work through the issue together.

Should you find the response helpful, we kindly encourage you to mark it as an answer, as this may assist others in the community facing similar challenges.

Thank you once again for your time and cooperation.
Chas M. White 25 Reputation points

2025-06-02T15:11:35.13+00:00

Accepted Answers - problem was resolved at GoDaddy based upon Microsoft analysis.

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Authenticator 2-digits in box rather than 6 digits has me locked out of my account and email

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