Is there a way to increase the number of SMS attempts?

Question

We have multiple users that still own flip phones and are unable to use the Authenticator App. Do to this we are wanting to set them up to use SMS however after the 1st sign in attempt it gives the message that they only have 2 attempts left. Is it possible to increase the number of attempts to a number on a daily basis or just turn off count completely.

I will ask as I've heard rumor that SMS and voice is looking to be removed. Is this true at this time?

Answer 1

Hi @Christopher J Nuss

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A

There's no limit attempts for SMS sign ins, what I suspect is happening is that Registration Campaign feature is enabled and requesting your users to register Microsoft Authenticator application for MFA as per the screenshot below:

If you are not ready to use Registration Campaign, you can disable it following these steps:

1 - Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least an Authentication Policy Administrator.

2 - Browse to Protection > Authentication methods > Registration campaign and click Edit.

3 - Select Disabled to disable the registration campaign for all users.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/authentication/how-to-mfa-registration-campaign

Regarding your SMS query, although it's encouraged and recommended to use MS Authenticator app due to security concerns, Microsoft does not have plans to remove SMS option as an Authentication Method as of Today.

Thanks,

Fabio

Answer 2

Hi @Christopher J Nuss ,

Just to add to Fabio's answer, it's also possible that you are hitting the regular Azure Smart Lockout threshold. The default is 10 for Azure Public tenants and 3 for Azure US Government tenants.

That said, when using pass-through authentication, the Entra ID/Azure AD lockout threshold is less than the AD DS account lockout threshold, so you would need to ensure that the AD DS on-prem lockout threshold is at least two or three times greater than the one in Entra/Azure.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/authentication/howto-password-smart-lockout#how-smart-lockout-works