Lost access to Two-Factor Authentication as admin (and only user) of Office 365 E5 Dev

Question

Hello,

As the admin, I turned on two-factor authentication which worked great. Yesterday, I downgrade my iPhone, and the Microsoft Authenticator App was delete. Now when I try to log-in, there's no way to approve the sign-in request.

I get prompted to approve the sign-in request and the only way to approve is through the Authenticator App or a "verification code from my mobile app".

I try to research and know that there are four methods for verification, but I only select the mobile app to authenticate, so as the admin and I only user, there's no help desk to contact to get this unblocked.

is there any way to recover and/or deactivate the account in this state?

Thank you for your kindly support

Answer 1

Thank you for your comment,

I had backup authenticator data prior, but after restoring it, all apps worked, only the Microsoft account does not work. I think this is the rule of Microsoft.

Answer 2

Did you back up the authenticator data prior to downgrading the phone? That's the only way to retain it. If you lose access to the authenticator when two-factor is enabled. you've lost the account. Since you have an E5 subscription, that sounds like it's for business. Faud gave you a link to a form that 1) is for a consumer Microsoft account and 2) cannot work when 2FA is enabled. If you are using a corporate account, contact the tenant administrator. Microsoft doesn;e control business accounts, the business does.

Answer 3

Hello NA P, Thank you for coming to the forum and I will be happy to share with you the account recovery form with you. I hope you have the needed security answers so you can gain access back to the account. https://account.live.com/acsr

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your comment,

I try to input information, but when I enter my account' email (ex: ******@mydomain.com) in "What Microsoft account are you trying to get back into?", I see an error "The Microsoft account you've entered does not exist" (please see attached picture).

Please help me.

Thank you

![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/b8fc5597-cbad-487d-8b96-bdc5876c5bfc?platform=QnA

Answer 4

Hello NA P,

Thank you for coming to the forum and I will be happy to share with you the account recovery form with you.

I hope you have the needed security answers so you can gain access back to the account.

https://account.live.com/acsr