Admins cannot log into Azure AD

Question

The admins of the azure ad portal are unable to log in. When they are asked for additional information, it states to get use the authenticator. The admins do not have authenticator set up and cannot access through it.
How do the admins gain access to Azure AD if they cannot log in or use authenticator? Even using email will not work as they are logged out of the Microsoft account.
????
I am writing this through my personal Microsoft account which is the same email, address as my corporate Microsoft account. Since I happen to be one of the admins, I cannot log in either.

Answer 1

It sounds like there is a conditional access policy in place that is enforcing Authenticator login. If that is the case, there are two things you can do:

1.) Check if there are other administrators in your organization that aren't blocked yet. An administrator with access to the Azure portal can disable the policy that is impacting your sign-in. (In your case it sounds like everyone is locked out, so this may not be an option.)

2.) If none of the administrators in your organization can update the policy, submit a support request. Microsoft support can review and upon confirmation update the Conditional Access policies that are preventing access.

If you had only one admin on the tenant you could reach out to the Azure Data Protection team (866-807-5850) for this, but they will only unlock if you don't have another admin who can do this for you. Your best bet in this scenario will be to talk to support.