Recovery phone is active but Microsoft says "Try another verification method" for 5 months

Question

Hello,

I need help recovering my personal Hotmail account.

My situation is:

• I forgot the account password.
• My recovery phone number is still active and I have full access to it.
• When I try to reset the password, Microsoft does not allow me to use the recovery phone and always says "Try another verification method."
• This has been happening for about 5 months.
• The Microsoft Account Recovery Form has been submitted multiple times but has not been successful.
• I no longer remember the email addresses of recent contacts, so I cannot provide that information on the recovery form.
• I remember previous passwords and the account has been used on an iPhone and Outlook before.

My questions are:

1. Why would Microsoft refuse to use an active recovery phone number?
2. Is there any way for Microsoft to re-enable the recovery phone as a verification method?
3. Is there another official recovery process for situations like this?

I am not asking to bypass security. I only want to regain access to my own account using the recovery phone number that is still active.

Thank you for any advice.Hello,

I need help recovering my personal Hotmail account.

My situation is:

• I forgot the account password.
• My recovery phone number is still active and I have full access to it.
• When I try to reset the password, Microsoft does not allow me to use the recovery phone and always says "Try another verification method."
• This has been happening for about 5 months.
• The Microsoft Account Recovery Form has been submitted multiple times but has not been successful.
• I no longer remember the email addresses of recent contacts, so I cannot provide that information on the recovery form.
• I remember previous passwords and the account has been used on an iPhone and Outlook before.

My questions are:

1. Why would Microsoft refuse to use an active recovery phone number?
2. Is there any way for Microsoft to re-enable the recovery phone as a verification method?
3. Is there another official recovery process for situations like this?

I am not asking to bypass security. I only want to regain access to my own account using the recovery phone number that is still active.

Thank you for any advice.

Answer 1

@SJ said

I forgot the account password. My recovery phone number is still active and I have full access to it. Microsoft does not allow me to use the recovery phone and always says "Try another verification method."

You can try the steps in "Troubleshooting verification code issues". But they are pretty much useless for most people.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/troubleshooting-verification-code-issues-409090c4-92b5-42b9-8ae6-bcc97e62fc48

Same for "Account Recovery Unsuccessful"
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/account-recovery-unsuccessful-dc56c3e3-dff0-4ed5-8edb-60290eea6b53

I am sorry, but if you can't get any of your verification methods (password, phone) to work, even if it's not your fault, your only path is Account recovery.

Microsoft Account Security is an automated process. Microsoft Support Agents can not unlock an account, reset your password, or change any Security Settings no matter what documentation you can present.