The Authenticator app is requesting a code from the app itself

Fyp.Perez 166 Reputation points
2022-11-16T23:33:11.087+00:00

I recently deleted the Microsoft Authenticator app by accident, and why I downloaded it again and tried to sign in it is asking for a code from the app itself. I use an institutional account from university and now I can’t activate or even log in to 365 because it ask for the code from the app. Someone please help me.

Microsoft Authenticator
Microsoft Authenticator
A Microsoft app for iOS and Android devices that enables authentication with two-factor verification, phone sign-in, and code generation.
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  1. Christy Berry 20 Reputation points
    2023-07-06T22:43:38.7566667+00:00

    I actually just had a similar issue but I actually got a new phone. I tried to get my companies IT department to help but they couldn’t figure it out. So I did myself. You will need to go online to the Microsoft website and log in with your work/company account. Then go to settings and remove the device then re add it. Use the drop-down to select app authentication. It will walk you through the process and give you the QR code again. Hope this helps. It’ll also allow your to set it up for text as a backup.

    4 people found this answer helpful.
  2. Chmielewski, Michał 15 Reputation points
    2023-10-17T07:37:36.8066667+00:00

    Hi, I'm having the same problem as Marc Lacombe. Also, when I try to access the "Security Info" section on My Account in order to add/remove devices it is also asking me for a code from the Microsoft Authenticator app which I cannot set up. Please help as this is blocking me from everyday work.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
  3. Marc Lacombe 15 Reputation points
    2023-10-17T13:33:00.92+00:00

    Hello, I got in touch with the Microsoft guys. Surprisingly just using the 'chat now' they got a hold of me and we did a Teams (well, 2 to be honest).

    Turns out there is 2 settings for the security. One that is like for super user and another one that is like for super-super users. So we had to go to azure portal first since we have an azure account (as well as a microsoft 365 one) and on the main page, you go to Microsoft Intra Id (its a icon like a pyramid). On the left menu Properties, at the bottom of the page that opens you see the Security default. You need to click the Manage Security Default and then on the complete right of the screen, it shows how to disable the multi-factor auth.

    So what this does is that it disables the 2 step authentication for everything. That's the super-super user function.

    Then, if you go to your microsoft 365 admin center, if you go to Active Users (menu left) you can then click on the Multi-factor authentication that appears at the top. This allows you to set per person. However, to enable per person, you need to make sure that the first step was enabled. If you disabled it with the super-super user function, then nobody can enable the 2 step authentication. But once it is enabled in step 1, then you can set by user.

    In our case, we had to disable like in step 1 and only then I stopped getting the message on my phone. Once I managed to install my account on the authenticator apps on my cell, then I could enable the 2 step authentication back again. I do suppose (not sure) that if a user only has Microsoft 365 the first step is not required, but as a test, one might still want to go to portal.azure.com to make sure. But its possible that the portal.office.com is sufficient.

    I will admit its a bit complicated (and that's an understatement). Even the engineer at Microsoft had to think about it and it took a good 45 minutes over 2 calls to get it working. Over time, these systems have gotten huge but they are not making the customer's life any easier....

    2 people found this answer helpful.
  4. Marc Lacombe 15 Reputation points
    2023-10-13T15:28:08.14+00:00

    Hello, I have the same problem and it is not working. My computer asks me to enter a code on my cell and my cell keeps asking me to enter the code on my authenticator, while I am on the authenticator. I cannot even add my account on the authenticator. This is beyond discouraging, 5 hours lost already. Any help is welcome. I do have full admin rights on the microsoft account for all users and I can reset passwords, but its clearly not working

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  5. Dave Patrick 426.1K Reputation points MVP
    2022-11-16T23:40:37.08+00:00

    You can restore from backup (assuming there was one) but make sure no accounts have been added to the newly install app. Then sign on with recovery account to do the restore.

    You can recover your account credentials from your cloud account, but you must first make sure that the account you're recovering doesn't exist in the Microsoft Authenticator app. For example, if you're recovering your personal Microsoft account, you must make sure you don't have a personal Microsoft account already set up in the authenticator app. This check is important so we can be sure we're not overwriting or erasing an existing account by mistake.
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/back-up-and-recover-account-credentials-in-the-authenticator-app-bb939936-7a8d-4e88-bc43-49bc1a700a40

    If no backup then you may need to get in touch with school admins to reset the two factor setup.

    --please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--