Global Administrator

Question

I need to update our Global Administrator on our account. The sole person with this permission no longer works for the company.

Answer 1

Hi Jenia,

Good day. Thank you for sharing the details about your situation. 

Based on the information provided, the only Global Administrator account for the Microsoft 365 tenant belongs to a former employee, and no credential or administrative handover was completed prior to their departure. As a result, your organization currently does not have an active Global Administrator with access to the tenant.

To regain administrative control, your organization will need to contact the Data Protection Team and complete the required tenant ownership recovery process.

Please try locating the appropriate hotline for your region here: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support  

Here are some tips and an example of a prompt to help you navigate the IVR more effectively:  

(When you call the support number, you may hear an introduction of about 30 seconds such as "you can visit the link...". You can ignore this introduction and wait until you are presented with the options. Then press "1" as a business email user, and again "1" for technical help.)    

In some regions, the initial interaction may be automated, so here’s a general idea of how the conversation might go to help you prepare:      

• What kind of problem are you experiencing?         
• Answer: Tenant lockout      
• What products do you use?         
• Answer: Office 365 for business         
• Is this for an education or company account?         
• Answer: For companies         
• Are you an administrator?         
• Answer: Yes         
• Are there any other administrators in your organization?         
• Answer: No. I am the only admin in my tenant          
• Do you need a... Service request?          
• Answer: Yes. I need to create a ticket. Please send me direct to the Data Protection Teams.      

When reaching out to the Data Protection team, please be prepared to provide any requested information, such as: 

• Tenant name/domain 
• Affected administrator account 
• Microsoft 365 subscription details 
• Proof of tenant/domain ownership, if required 
• Billing or subscription-related verification information 
• Any organizational documents requested by the recovery team 

Once ownership is verified, the Data Protection Team can assist with restoring administrative access or assigning the Global Administrator role to an authorized user. 

For future prevention, after access is restored, I strongly recommend assigning at least two trusted Global Administrator accounts or maintaining an emergency administrator account to avoid losing administrative access again. 

I hope these steps help you create a support ticket successfully and move closer to regaining access to your administrator account. While I’m not able to intervene directly, guiding you to the right support team is the most effective help I can provide here.  

Hope you're able to get this resolved soon. 

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