Cannot access account with Authenticator because it wants me to use Authenticator to authenticate

Michael Campbell 30 Reputation points
2025-01-15T00:06:22.17+00:00

I don't have a backup of my Authenticator for Microsoft. I had to reset my iPhone. Now I cant get into any of my many accounts, as it keeps asking me to use the authenticator code when I'm logging in and that's even when I'm trying to log in on the authenticator app. So how can I get the code, when I can't log in to get the code?

Please help. I cannot access anything now.

Thanks.

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.
7,962 questions
{count} votes

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Sandeep G-MSFT 20,701 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2025-01-15T07:03:13.9666667+00:00

    @Michael Campbell

    Thank you for posting this in Microsoft Q&A.

    As I understand you are unable to you are unable to access any of the Azure services as you have changed your phone and have not backed up authenticator app from your old phone.

    In this situation you have 2 ways to solve this issue.

    • If you have another Global admin of your tenant
    • If you are the only Global admin of your tenant

    If you have another Global admin of your tenant, you can ask them to make change in Entra ID for your account so that you can re-register for MFA in authenticator app. To perform this, you can ask another Global admin to follow below steps,

    • Admin has to login to Azure portal and access Azure active directory.
    • Once done they have to go to users blade on the left.
    • Click on the user account which has been locked out.
    • Click on Authentication methods and click on “Require re-register multifactor authentication”.
    • Now when you try to login to Azure services it will prompt you to register for MFA again.

    If you are the only global admin on the account and are blocked entirely, you can reach out to our support team. You can look into below article to get support numbers depending on your country.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/global-customer-service-phone-numbers-c0389ade-5640-e588-8b0e-28de8afeb3f2

    or creating a ticket through a different account:   https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/get-help-support?view=o365-worldwide#phone-support

    Create a ticket with Microsoft support team. Give them the tenant ID which is locked out in your description. Tell them that no admin account has access anymore and your partners also have no access anymore.

    Once you create a ticket with support team you will have to work with our data protection team. You will have to first prove your identity against your tenant for security purpose. Post that this team will help you with help you in getting access to your tenant or unlock your account depending on your scenario.

    Also, for the future, you can create an emergency access account (break glass) in Azure AD. 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://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/roles/security-emergency-access

     

    Let me know if you have any further questions.

    Please "Accept the answer" if the information helped you. This will help us and others in the community as well.


Your answer

Answers can be marked as Accepted Answers by the question author, which helps users to know the answer solved the author's problem.