How to recover an account (not just credentials) in MS autheticator for a guest user

Question

I am a guest (external) user on a company´s Teams space. I set up this account in my authenticator app, however I accidentally deleted it. How can I restore it, either by restoring a previuos back up (not the last one) or adding the account again?

When trying alternative sign-in methods, I just get 1) approve on my authenticator app and 2) use a verification code, this last one is not sent to my email but to the authenticator app, which of course is not displayed as the account doesn´t exist anymore.

The person who added me to the shared space in the first place added me again, but it didn´t work.

What can I do?! I have gone through different similar threads but solutions provided do not work as they are either old ones or for personal accounts.

​PS. I am not an IT person, but have some very basic IT knowledge, so please provide an answer as simple as possible :)

Answer 1

The deleted guest account entry in Microsoft Authenticator cannot be recovered directly from the app unless it was included in a backup, and even then only limited information is restored. The way back in is to reset or replace the security info (MFA methods) on the account, not to “undelete” the Authenticator entry.

Key points from how Authenticator backup/restore works:

• For work or school accounts (including guest access), only the account name is backed up, not the full MFA registration. After restore, sign-in is required again to re-activate it.
• If unable to restore or use the backup, the account must be added again or the MFA settings must be reset by an admin.

Given this is a guest (external) work/school account and only Authenticator is offered as the second factor, the options are:

1. Ask the organization’s IT/admin to reset MFA for the guest account
   The Teams/tenant owner who invited the guest usually cannot reset MFA; this must be done by an administrator in the organization’s Microsoft Entra (Azure AD) tenant. They should:
   • Open Microsoft Entra Admin Center (entra.microsoft.com).
   • Go to Users → All users, find the guest account.
   • Use the Authentication methods / Require re-register multifactor authentication option to clear existing MFA.
     After this, the next sign-in will prompt to set up Authenticator again from scratch on the phone.
2. If the guest account is also a work/school account in another organization
   If the guest identity is managed by another company (for example, the user’s employer) and that company enforces MFA, their own IT/admin can similarly reset MFA on that home tenant account so that Authenticator can be set up again.
3. If the account were personal (Microsoft account) instead of work/school
   Then the recovery would use the Microsoft account recovery/sign-in helper and security info replacement flow, but the question explicitly excludes personal-account solutions.

There is no supported way to:

• Restore an older Authenticator backup instead of the latest one.
• Recover a deleted Authenticator entry for a work/school account without an admin resetting MFA.

So the practical next step is to contact the organization’s IT/help desk (not just the person who invited the guest) and ask them to reset the MFA/authentication methods for the guest account so it can be registered again in Microsoft Authenticator.

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References:

• Restore account credentials from Microsoft Authenticator
• Back up your accounts in Microsoft Authenticator
• Common problems with two-step verification for a work or school account
• Microsoft Authenticator app doesn't show 6-digit OTP code - Microsoft Q&A
• Microsoft authenticator sending me into a spiral - Microsoft Q&A