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cannot change account recovery email

Michael Dosanjh 20 Reputation points
2025-12-14T22:13:59.8566667+00:00

cannot change account recovery email, i have a hotmail account and can sign into microsoft but I am unable to change my recovery email and add a phone number, help please

Moved from: Microsoft Security | Microsoft Authenticator

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Account management, security, and privacy
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Winnie-B 7,770 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2025-12-16T06:04:16.1233333+00:00

Good day Michael Dosanjh, I hope you're well. May I know if you've got any chance to check my reply? If you have any further updates on this issue, please feel free to post back. I'm happy to help you.

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  1. Winnie-B 7,770 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-12-15T03:02:12.66+00:00

    Hi Michael Dosanjh,

    Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum.

    Based on the message you shared above, when you request to replace recovery info, Microsoft locks changes for up to 30 days to protect the account. During this hold, you can sign in, but you can’t change recovery email/phone and please kindly note that no one can override or bypass this hold.

    Since today is December 15, the security waiting period shown in the message (12/14/2025) should have ended.

    If the system is still blocking you from updating your recovery info, please try:

    1. Sign in via Incognito or Private mode

    Your browser might be caching the old "pending" screen. Using a private window forces the page to load the most recent status from Microsoft’s servers.

    • Open your browser, press Ctrl+Shift+N (if using Chrome/Edge) and sign in to account.microsoft.com/security > Manage how I sign in
    • Try adding your recovery email and phone number again

    2. Clear browser cache

    • Clear your browser cache and cookies (at least for Microsoft and account.microsoft.com)
    • Then repeat the steps above in a private window once more.

    For more details, you can see this official article: What does “Security info change is still pending” mean? - Microsoft Support

    Please let me know how it goes after trying this. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

    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.

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  2. Michael Dosanjh 20 Reputation points
    2025-12-14T22:17:58.6733333+00:00

    You can't access this site right now

    This site requires a security code to sign in. When your security info updates on 12/14/2025 you will be able to access this site. You can still access sites such as Outlook and Skype that don't require a security code.

    On 11/14/2025 you requested that your security info be replaced.

    Current security info

    Alternate email: mi*****@prodigy.net

    New security info

    Alternate email: do*****@gmail.com

    If you didn't request this, let us know.

    If you'd like to keep your current security info, you can cancel this request.

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