I cannot access Outlook email and cannot reach support without signing in. Cannot recover email either with 2FA.

Question

Hello,

I lost access to my main Outlook email account. It is a live.co.uk account which used to be hotmail. My password is not accepted and I cannot reset my password.

I tried signing in as usual. Password was not accepted, and I had an error message saying it has been entered incorrectly too many times, even though I had only entered it once. I tried again to no avail. I tried resetting my password. I have 2FA so I entered the required digits. I kept getting error messages saying the authentication was not working. I tried account recovery but apparently, because I use 2FA, that does not work. I have tried contacting customer support but obviously, because I cannot sign in, I cannot contact anyone, so I just go around and around in circles.

I have tried other browsers, turning on and off VPN, other computers, mobile, and nothing works. I tried the Microsoft support tool and it said there were no issues with my account.

How do I fix this? Have I just lost access forever? How to I download my data? I have this other hotmail account I managed to sign in on. Will I be able to request access through that or will they refuse as it is a different email address? How do I get into contact with a human?

I have a different email address with a different provider, but my Outlook email is the recovery password and I have forgotten my different email password, so I cannot reset. I have no access to nearly 20 years of data. I cannot communicate with anyone who only has my email address.

Answer 1

Hey there! Nice to meet you!

The error message you received indicates that your account is temporarily blocked due to the system detecting unusual activity.

Kindly perform these steps to fix the verification method error:

1. Perform a password reset via Incognito/InPrivate window using different devices and network services.
2. If it doesn't work, wait exactly 48 hours to reset the password.
3. If the issue persists, kindly wait exactly 1 week to perform another password reset. The idea is to wait for the account lock to expire first before you reset the password, as stated in this article: https://support.microsoft.com/account-billing/troubleshooting-verification-code-issues-409090c4-92b5-42b9-8ae6-bcc97e62fc48#:~:text=If%20you%20received%20a%20Microsoft%20verification%20code%20that%20you%20did#:~:text=If%20you%20received%20a%20Microsoft%20verification%20code%20that%20you%20did

Important: Please make sure not to attempt to sign in or reset the password within that timeframe (48 hours or 1 week), as this may reset the lock cooldown.

Thank you for your understanding! Please feel free to let me know if you need anything else.

Best regards,

Darhyl