I cannot access my account. I changed mobile phone and Authenticator did not transfer.

Question

Changed mobile phone and Authenticator did not transfer. I cannot access my account. Sole account holder and manager. Please help!!

Answer 1

Are you using an outlook.com account or Microsoft 365 business account?

Support information: https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/admin/get-help-support?view=o365-worldwide&WT.mc_id=M365-MVP-6934

For a business account:

If you are unable to log into the account because you don't have another authentication method, you will need to contact your admin to update your information or temporarily disable MFA.

If you are the only admin and can't log into your account or the admin portal, you'll need to call Microsoft support for help. They should connect you with the data protection team and after you verify your identity, will reset your account.

Call during your country's business hours. If you get the phone bot (and not immediately told to use the admin portal) make sure you ask for the data protection team and say "I cannot access admin center and I am the only admin user".

The numbers are in this article: Contact business support

You will need to contact the Microsoft Data Protection team for assistance with this issue. Due to security and confidentiality reasons, our community team members do not have the necessary permissions or tools to access any user's tenant information. The Data Protection team is specifically equipped to handle these matters, verify the required information, and take the appropriate action to resolve your issue.

Global phone numbers

Answer 2

Hi @ChristyZhang-MSFT Thanks for your concern. It took eight days and countless hours waiting on the phone, but this past Monday somebody from the Data Protection Team finally called me back and the account was restored. I lost all emails for the week the account was down; as a small business owner that provides advisory services, this was quite a loss. I lost quite a bit of business. The lack of empathy from the Microsoft Data Protection Team is hard to understand.

Answer 3

Hi @Andres Cruzat ,

Glad to hear that your account is restored. I understand your feelings about losing your data, please kindly understand that the Outlook tag here we mainly focus on general issues about Outlook desktop client. If you have any questions about Outlook desktop client, please feel free to post here.

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However, due to a recent update in forum policy, the question author now is not able to accept their own answers.

So I have written a brief summary of the solution this issue. Please feel free to accept it as the answer, which would benefit others who also has similar issues in forum.

Issue:

OP changed mobile phone and Authenticator did not transfer. I cannot access my account.

Solution:

Somebody from the Data Protection Team finally called OP back and the account was restored.