I only have one step in my two factor auth for outlook and I'm locked out

Question

Subject says it all, I’m locked out and tried https://account.live.com/acsr account recovery form which auto rejects 2FA accounts and the normal means of account recovery through the account login which sends me through a loop and says to try the service later though I suspect it’s broken as it’s trying to auth the same number twice but will only accept it once, please advise

Answer 1

You are correct that the ACSR recovery form cannot bypass two-step verification. First, check Other ways to sign in for Microsoft Authenticator, another email/phone, a security key, or the 25-digit recovery code created when 2FA was configured. If the page appears to request the same number twice, those are two separate identity checks; one security method cannot satisfy both. Microsoft support agents cannot manually reset 2FA or alter the account’s security information.

If you know the password but no longer have access to any registered method, select I don’t have any of these on the verification screen and follow the prompts to replace the security information. Microsoft normally imposes a 30-day security waiting period before the replacement takes effect.

Unfortunately, if no replacement option is offered and you have neither an existing verification method nor a previously generated recovery code, Microsoft states that the account cannot be recovered by support.