Share via

[SOLVED] Try another verification method

Anonymous
2025-05-24T11:51:03+00:00

Yet another post on this issue.
My outlook account got blocked for unknown reasons to me. Ever since that, I am not able to access or unblock it. When I try to log in I got:

Your account has been locked

We've detected some activity that violates our Microsoft Services Agreement and have locked your account.How to appeal this and unlock your accountChoose Next and we'll send a verification code to your phone. After you enter the code, you can get back into your account.

From there I have only an option for verifying by phone code:

Enter your phone number, and we'll send you a security code We'll send a verification code in a text message. This helps us eliminate spam - we won't give out your number. The code will expire in about 10 minutes.

And no matter what phone number I provide (I've tried mine phone number, my wife's one, my son's one - all the same result) I end up with this very unhelpful message:

Try another verification method That verification method isn't working right now. Please try another method.

Now, there is not other method for verification. Still, during login I've tried so far all the possible one:

* Password (even have reset my password)
* Sending code to my recovery email (which worked for the changing of the password)
* Passcode from my phone (a QR code I had to scan with my phone where the passcode is stored)

All the 3 methods still got me to the step with verification by phone number, which leads to nowhere (the last message from the one above). I've went trough your troubleshooting and did everything that was there, with no result of solving this. I have managed to contact a chat support, then put me through a form to fill about this issue, and then my ticket was closed by some of the support stuff with just posting the same troubleshooting as the one above.

I've tried switching from my wifi to the mobile data, tried using VPN to change location and IP, and still nothing.

Now do I need to tell you how important is one to have access to their email. That all my banks, government portal registrations and basically everything is connected to it, and having no access is like cutting everything else. How hard is for a company as MS to sort something simple as this, and reading all the other peoples troubles here, seems this issue is not a single case, but something that happens quite often.

So please, let me know how on Earth this can be solved.

Thank you!

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Account management, security, and privacy

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.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous
2025-05-31T14:14:27+00:00

So this is now solved, and not thanks to the support here, but thanks to the online chat support.

https://support.microsoft.com/home/contact?linkquery=Troubleshooting%20verification%20code%20issues Select start -> from the drop down menu select "Other Product" and eventually you will be queued for getting to the support.

I have to admit, the people there are actually trying to help you (rather than a ton of useless support responses in this forum), and I didn't have to wait longer than 10 minutes (usually it takes 2-3 minutes to reach a person). It took 3 different people to make this work again. So, not sure which of all the steps helped.

The first person asked me to fill in this form, and then tech support contacted me via email that the case was closed, and it should work. Well, it didn't.
The second one asked me tofill out a different form, with much more details, where you fill in some old passwords you used, email addresses to whom you have sent emails, and many more. All of this was to verify that I own the email. But even after the confirmation, we got the very same old issue (Try another verification method). The person on the chat support suggested waiting for some 24h and try again. Some time later, we tried and we got the very same result.
Contacted the chat support again. The third person suggested that it may be a cache issue, so he asked to open an incognito window and try to log in through login.live.com/?nocache=1, and this time I got the verification code, and finally regained access to my email.

Was this answer helpful?

3 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

3 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2025-05-27T11:27:15+00:00

    I've managed to contact the support. From there, I was asked to fill out another form.The form was accepted, and we did another password change. Hopefully, in the next 24h this will be resolved. I will keep this topic posted. Also recommend to go to chat support - they were very helpful so far.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2025-05-27T09:15:35+00:00

    Hello,

    Thank you for the response.
    I've tried the  Sign-in helper tool. I've entered the email ending with the message:

    Account check failed Sorry, we're experiencing issues checking your account. Please try again later or continue with other self-help.

    Not sure if that is because my email is at the hotmail.co.uk domain. I also tried using the phone number option, but received the same error.
    I've tried "How to recover a hacked or compromised MS account". Managed to change the password of the account, but ended up with the same error when I tried to log in - my account is locked, and when I try to verify by phone number, I get the same error:

    Try another verification method That verification method isn't working right now. Please try another method. And there is no other verification method.

    Now I **** desperately need access to my email account. I have my car insurance there, I have a problem with my car, and I need the policy that is in my email. This is unacceptable to leave people without access to such a vital thing. I have already tried all the possible suggested tools you have, and none are working or providing any resolution.

    Please assist further.
    Thank you.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2025-05-24T16:53:03+00:00

    Hello,

    Thank you for your question in the forum.

    I can understand you are facing challenging issue. since there is an ongoing issue with the second step of verification/Authentication method, i.e. where code is not coming towards a recovery phone number. I would like to inform you that we have received multiple complains from users all around the world about the same and Microsoft is working in backend to resolve this issue.

    Hopefully you will regain access your account soon with help of above resources.

    Have a nice day!

    Best Regards

    Roop_green || Microsoft Community Support Moderator

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments