Lost Admin Access

Question

Lost Admin Access

Scott Bailey 0

For some reason, none of the roles in Entra are actually administrative roles. I need to setup SMTP for my website, but can't without admin access. Please help me fix this ASAP.

Kancharla Saiteja 5,485 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-20T20:05:24.6233333+00:00

Hi @Scott Bailey,

Based on your query, I understand that you lost access to Entra. Could you please confirm what kind of roles you lost from the portal. If you have any other global admin, they can actually provide you the access back to the tenant. If this does not help you, please check the private message and respond accordingly.
Scott Bailey 0 Reputation points

2025-06-20T20:22:10.68+00:00
Here is the solution, aided by AI...

Issue: I needed to setup a new SMTP solution for my website by registering a new app. The function "App registration" was not available as the Global Administrator for my Azure account.

...

The problem is that the Azure Portal is not correctly showing you the resources and permissions associated with your admin role. This often happens after a previous admin account is deleted and roles are reassigned.

We are going to force the Azure Portal to "see" your correct permissions. This is solved over 90% of the time by adjusting a specific filter.

Sign in to the Azure Portal with your admin account.

In the top-right corner of the page, click the Settings icon (the gear ⚙️).

A new panel will open. Click on the "Directories + subscriptions" tab.

You will see your current directory and a section for a subscription filter. You need to check the advanced filter setting. (This is the most critical step)

Find the line that says "Advanced filters". It might be small blue text. Click on it.

A new panel will open showing all your available subscriptions. At the very top, there is a checkbox that says "Select all". Check this box. This action ensures that no subscriptions are being hidden from your current view.

Click the "Modify" button at the bottom to save this filter change.

After the portal has updated, completely sign out of the Azure Portal and then sign back in. This ensures the new settings are fully applied.

Once you are signed back in, use the main search bar at the top of the page and search for "App registrations".
Kancharla Saiteja 5,485 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-20T21:58:28.99+00:00

Hi @Scott Bailey,

Could you please re confirm what is the exact issue. The AI generated answer is considering your issue has a glitch. Kindly verify you are in right tenant by following the below steps:

Login to Azure portal as global admin and click on your profile on top right corner.

Click on view directory and check the current tenant is the expected tenant. If not, click on the right tenant and perform the authentication and now check your access.

If you are unable to login, please share me the screen shot. If you are able to login and do not have access, Go to Entra ID -> Users -> Select your account -> Roles (On right column) and check the roles available for you.

If you would like to perform App registration, you need Application developer or Global administrator role. Here is the Microsoft document you can follow: Register an application in Microsoft Entra ID.

If this does not help you, I would like to know what the exact issue and screenshot to check and assist you accordingly.
Kancharla Saiteja 5,485 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-23T17:07:53.9466667+00:00

Hi @Scott Bailey,

Following up to see if the above answer was helpful.Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.
Kancharla Saiteja 5,485 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-26T22:15:20.1933333+00:00

Hi @Scott Bailey,

Following up to see if the above answer was helpful.Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.

1 answer

Your answer

Kancharla Saiteja 5,485 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-20T20:05:24.6233333+00:00

Hi @Scott Bailey,

Based on your query, I understand that you lost access to Entra. Could you please confirm what kind of roles you lost from the portal. If you have any other global admin, they can actually provide you the access back to the tenant. If this does not help you, please check the private message and respond accordingly.
Scott Bailey 0 Reputation points

2025-06-20T20:22:10.68+00:00

Here is the solution, aided by AI...

Issue: I needed to setup a new SMTP solution for my website by registering a new app. The function "App registration" was not available as the Global Administrator for my Azure account.

...

The problem is that the Azure Portal is not correctly showing you the resources and permissions associated with your admin role. This often happens after a previous admin account is deleted and roles are reassigned.

We are going to force the Azure Portal to "see" your correct permissions. This is solved over 90% of the time by adjusting a specific filter.

Sign in to the Azure Portal with your admin account.

In the top-right corner of the page, click the Settings icon (the gear ⚙️).

A new panel will open. Click on the "Directories + subscriptions" tab.

You will see your current directory and a section for a subscription filter. You need to check the advanced filter setting. (This is the most critical step)

Find the line that says "Advanced filters". It might be small blue text. Click on it.

A new panel will open showing all your available subscriptions. At the very top, there is a checkbox that says "Select all". Check this box. This action ensures that no subscriptions are being hidden from your current view.

Click the "Modify" button at the bottom to save this filter change.

After the portal has updated, completely sign out of the Azure Portal and then sign back in. This ensures the new settings are fully applied.

Once you are signed back in, use the main search bar at the top of the page and search for "App registrations".
Kancharla Saiteja 5,485 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-20T21:58:28.99+00:00

Hi @Scott Bailey,

Could you please re confirm what is the exact issue. The AI generated answer is considering your issue has a glitch. Kindly verify you are in right tenant by following the below steps:

Login to Azure portal as global admin and click on your profile on top right corner.

Click on view directory and check the current tenant is the expected tenant. If not, click on the right tenant and perform the authentication and now check your access.

If you are unable to login, please share me the screen shot. If you are able to login and do not have access, Go to Entra ID -> Users -> Select your account -> Roles (On right column) and check the roles available for you.

If you would like to perform App registration, you need Application developer or Global administrator role. Here is the Microsoft document you can follow: Register an application in Microsoft Entra ID.

If this does not help you, I would like to know what the exact issue and screenshot to check and assist you accordingly.
Kancharla Saiteja 5,485 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-23T17:07:53.9466667+00:00

Hi @Scott Bailey,

Following up to see if the above answer was helpful.Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.
Kancharla Saiteja 5,485 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-26T22:15:20.1933333+00:00

Hi @Scott Bailey,

Following up to see if the above answer was helpful.Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.

Answer 1

@Scott Bailey welcome to the Microsoft Q&A community.

Try the following below:

Check for any remaining Global Admins: If there’s even one user still assigned the Global Administrator role, they can restore your access. Ask around your team or organization just in case someone still has elevated privileges.
Use Microsoft’s Self-Service Admin Recovery: If no Global Admins remain, Microsoft provides a recovery process. You’ll need to:
- Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Attempt to sign in and follow the prompts for account recovery.
- If that fails, contact Microsoft Support directly. You can find the right number for your region on the Global Customer Service page.
Raise a support ticket via Microsoft Entra ID: If you still have access to the Azure portal (even as a member), you might be able to submit a support request. Go to Azure Portal → Help + support → New support request. Explain that all admin roles have been lost and you need emergency recovery.
Verify domain ownership: Microsoft may ask you to prove domain ownership (e.g., by adding a TXT record to your DNS) to validate your identity before restoring admin access.

Once you regain admin rights, you can assign the necessary roles to yourself and proceed with configuring SMTP for your website.

N/B: I have generated the above answer using co-pilot as an AI tool. Also I have validated and updated the AI output.

I hope these helps. Let me know if you have any further questions or need additional assistance.

Also if these answers your query, do click the "Upvote" and click "Accept the answer" of which might be beneficial to other community members reading this thread.

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Kancharla Saiteja 5,485 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-24T19:30:55.2733333+00:00

Hi @Scott Bailey,

Following up to see if the above answer was helpful. Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.

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Lost Admin Access

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