Enable backup of microsoft authenticator with work accounts

René Sinnbeck 75

We have started forcing our users to use 2FA. For this we use Microsoft Authenticator. Now it has come to my attention that we cannot backup the keys without also forcing all of our users to create a personal microsoft account? How can we get around this? If a phone breaks, how can we restore that persons 2FA keys?

Adam Smith 0 Reputation points

2024-02-20T14:46:23.1433333+00:00

I am surprised this does not seem to be a priority for Microsoft to help keep their customers safe and under the umbrella of Microsoft services. If upgrading phones was not such a nightmare, I would have everyone using Microsoft Authenticator.
Adam Sanders 0 Reputation points

2024-04-12T15:13:32.7333333+00:00

This is absolutely nuts - how can MS have a best practice deployment of office365 which requires users to backup authenticator data to a secondary private account or iCloud?
administrator 0 Reputation points

2024-09-21T05:07:24.2766667+00:00

Glad I found this thread. Was beating my head against the wall. One more reason to bail from the MS ecosystem. We have a business account with 100's of Office365 accounts assigned/licensed to specific users. This is completely asinine!

Will be moving off MS Authenticator for all users! Like MS cares..

Accepted answer

Anonymous

2023-02-21T14:03:29.46+00:00

Afraid there is no work-around. A personal account is required in order to use the backup / restore function.

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--
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2 people found this answer helpful.
René Sinnbeck 75 Reputation points

2023-02-22T08:30:30.7466667+00:00

Does that mean that Microsoft recommends that companies use different solutions like Authy instead of Microsoft Authenticator? This seems like a huge missing feature?

Anonymous

2023-02-22T14:07:22.2+00:00

It means there currently is no work-around. A personal account is required in order to use the backup / restore function. You can provide feedback within the app.

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

Anonymous

2023-08-08T14:36:08.0866667+00:00

Is there any reason for this, why does it have to be a personal account rather than a work\school account??

Marco Mohns 15 Reputation points

2024-02-20T10:11:34.8166667+00:00

since one year is over since the original post: Are there any updates to add this missing feature? forcing company users to backup their company MFAs into private accounts is not helpfull

administrator 0 Reputation points

2024-09-21T05:06:32.85+00:00

Glad I found this thread. Was beating my head against the wall. One more reason to bail from the MS ecosystem. We have a business account with 100's of Office365 accounts assigned/licensed to specific users. This is completely asinine!

Will be moving off MS Authenticator for all users! Like MS cares..
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