Accidentally deleted MS authenticator in old phone and now cannot use MS authenticator in new phone

Question

Hi,

I accidentally deleted my MS authenticator in my old phone. Now, after installing MS authenticator in my new phone and subsequently trying to log into my school email, I see the below error. What should I do please?

Answer 1

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

Without a backup to restore from the only option is to work with each of the service provider's account recovery methods. The authenticator app is nothing more than a code generator. The two factor is turned on or off at the service provider end.

For your school account you'll need to reach out to the school admins to reset the account authentication device.

-

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