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Password reset error: There's a temporary problem with the service. Please try again. If you continue to get this message, try again later.

Anonymous
2019-01-15T04:33:21+00:00

Right now, Microsoft is holding all of my accounts hostage.

I received an email earlier letting me know that someone might have accessed my account, and I need to reset my password. Every time I try to recovery my account, I get the following error message:

"There's a temporary problem with the service. Please try again. If you continue to get this message, try again later."

Not only that, every time I try to reset my password through the login page, my two-factor authentication fails every time. Nothing pops up on my authenticator app, and if I use a combination of either two emails or text and email, whichever code is entered last will fail. I've tried so many times now that Microsoft has locked me out for the day due to requesting too many codes.

And before I get any canned responses, yes, I've cleared my browsers' caches. Yes, I've tried different browsers. 

I've been at this for 2.5 hours now, and I am at my wits' end. Can anyone help me out here? Without any fix, I cannot access Office, Xbox Live, Movies & TV, or my emails.

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Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-03-28T02:52:06+00:00

    I have the same problem.  For the last 20ish hours I've been getting "There's a temporary problem with the service.  Please try again..."

    I tried to do the password reset on three OTHER (different) machines, so it's not any browser/cache/vpn/firewall issue.

    Doesn't this mean that we can't restart our windows machines?  It will just ask us to log in with our password right?  If a Microsoft update comes through and forces a reboot, then we're all hosed, right?

    And if we can't enter the right password, it will force us to reset it, by email, which will then fail?

    Microsoft said that it's a known issue and should be fixed in 24-48 hours.  Are they kidding?!  24 to 48 hours to fix this?  Windows is not a service anymore -- it's a disservice.  How can you not merely FAILOVER to what works M$?

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-02-07T01:27:00+00:00

    Since it's been three weeks, I figured I'd give you (and anybody else listening) an update.

    The good news is that I got a response through their escalation form here:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/supportrequestform/d75c9d92-a918-3a46-52bd-565a528f1b64

    The bad news is that nothing has been done. My account is still locked, and I haven't heard from anyone in over two weeks. I've contacted chat to try to move my accounts over to a new account, but they said nothing can be done because it is currently being "worked" on, and it is a sensitive password issue.

    To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. I have invested so much into the Microsoft and Windows ecosystem. The single point-of-failure has proven itself to be an immensely frustrating experience.

    I will return with an update by the end of the month.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-01-15T12:19:44+00:00

    Hi Sam,

    Thanks for your response. I'm 99% sure that it was not a phishing email since the link takes me directly to https://account.microsoft.com. Regardless, even if it were compromised, I shouldn't get an error message while trying to reset my password (I've even received the error message when trying to fill out the recovery form listed in your linked support page).

    Phong

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-06-23T12:03:31+00:00

    My problem is the same. It keeps on saying temporary problem with the service. I don't usually use my microsoft account and thus i haven't emailed anyone using it, neither have i had a skype account through it. I used this account to sign up my facebook account and i forgot it's password. Thus i need it to recover my facebook account but the problem is never ending. Can you suggest me please..

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-01-15T15:13:29+00:00

    Hi Phongway,

    I'm just an moderator on this community forum here trying to help you figure this all out. We are not employees of Microsoft and do not have access to your account.

    The email said that someone has tried to access your account. Are we sure that they did not "I received an email earlier letting me know that someone might have accessed my account, and I need to reset my password"

    Here are you alternatives to getting help from microsoft as we do not have access to your account.

    What to do if you can't sign into your account.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/12429/...

    Phone Support

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/405170...

    Chat

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/contactus/

    Contact Form

    https://partner.support.services.microsoft.com/...

    Regards,

    Sam

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