Keep being asked to authenticate to access my email - recurring authentication loop issue and now I am stuck!

Question

Hi All,

Thank you for taking the time to help me, as I am relatively new to the Azure Admin world and this has been doing me crazy this morning.

My issue is that I am trying to setup my Outlook email and my Outlook account in general and it's constantly asking me to re-authenticate. I've never had this issue before and I am confused as to why this is happening now.

The main problem is as follows.

1. Microsoft Authenticator app does not seem to pick up the request to authenticate coming from the iOS Outlook App or Windows 11. I have deleted the App, re-installed the App and looked through every setting and I still cannot get it to work. When I say I can't get it to work, what this means is that I am logged in using my details/credentials but nothing pushes through to the app.
2. Since I cannot use the Authenticator App - its asking me to use SMS however, and despite putting in the correct code - this still isnt goo enough. I get prompted "Your organisation needs more information to keep your account secure".
3. I then get pushed to another MS Authentication site - "Keep Your Account Secured - Additional authentication is required to complete this sign-in." however there are NO options to click other than SKIP SETUP.

To make matters a little more complex when I do try to authenticate, because I am re-directed by Outlook App to Microsoft Authenticator, I cannot access the main functions of the Authenticator app because Outlook pushed me in to the Authenticator App to sign-in. (I hope that makes sense).

I have gone through the Azure Portal and AD settings around authentication and I can't seem to see anything wrong here - nor have I changed anything since I set it all up a couple of years ago so I don't understand why this is happening now.

Can someone please assist me with this issue urgently, as this is quiet stressful to have to deal with as I cannot access my emails. Thanks so much!

Regards,
George

Answer 1

It wont let me get in to this....it keeps looping to additional authentication is required to complete this sign-in.

If you are the only global admin on the account and are blocked, you can reach out to the Azure Data Protection team to restore access. 866-807-5850
https://twitter.com/AzureSupport
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/global-customer-service-phone-numbers-c0389ade-5640-e588-8b0e-28de8afeb3f2

also for the future create an emergency access account; This account will help prevent being accidentally locked out of your Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) organization because you can't sign in for any reason.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/roles/security-emergency-access

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

Answer 2

I have deleted the App, re-installed the App

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

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

Answer 3

That doesnt seem to help at all.....

Answer 4

Sorry, that is the way it works. If you are the only global admin on the account and are blocked entirely, you can reach out to the Azure Data Protection team to restore access. 866-807-5850
https://twitter.com/AzureSupport
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/global-customer-service-phone-numbers-c0389ade-5640-e588-8b0e-28de8afeb3f2

also for the future create an emergency access account; This account will help prevent being accidentally locked out of your Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) organization because you can't sign in for any reason.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/roles/security-emergency-access

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

Answer 5

Hi Patrick, it appears that I've managed to disable the automatic security settings as suggested by some other forum users in Azure Active Director, however this simply bypasses the requirement to use authenticator app and doesnt actually resolve the issue.

I am not physically locked out from my account/user as I can still access Azure Admin, I simply keep getting asked to authenticate when trying to setup my email using the authenticator app that keeps on looping with no resolution. I simply dont want it to keep asking me "Your organisation needs more information to keep your account secure". this would then resolve my issue entirely, if there is a fix for that.