How to reset 2FA for an global M365 account without 2FA access

Question

Dear MS Support Team,

my name is Felix and I am working for a NGO providing important youth health care.

We use a MS educational supported M365 Tennant. I have upgraded my mobile phone and now I cant login to the Tennant anymore, due to missing 2FA Token via MS Authentificator app. Can you please help me to reset the 2FA on my mobilephone ? I can provide you with any information which is neccessary in order to proof the genuineness of my request and my account as Tennant admin.

Looking forward hearing from you.

best regards,

Felix

Answer 1

Hello @Felix Schueler

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Q&A.

When it comes to the Microsoft Authenticator app, if you enabled the Backup and Recovery feature you should be able to recover your account credentials, but you have to first make sure that the account you're recovering doesn't exist in the Microsoft Authenticator app. To do this, you can try deleting the app from your old device AND tell Microsoft or your organization to forget and unregister the old device.

• To remove the app from a device using a personal Microsoft account. Go to the two-step verification area of your Account Security page and choose to turn off verification for your old device.
• To remove the app from a device using a work or school Microsoft account. Go to the two-step verification area of either your MyApps page or your organization's custom portal to turn off verification for your old device.

For more info - Common problems with the Microsoft Authenticator app

if you don't have access to the old phone and have no backup, you'll need to manually transfer all the accounts that you had onboarded to old phone. You'll need to access https://aka.ms/mfasetup and login with each account that you need to migrate to new phone.

After that, you'll need to click on +Add sign-in method and choose the "Authenticator" app. After that you'll notice the wizard for MFA onboarding and click next. And be aware to choose "Work or school".

Or You have to contact your office/Azure Administrator who should have Global or Authenticator Administrator permissions to reset your 2FA. Once Admin reset 2FA you will get prompt to setup new 2FA authentication.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/back-up-and-recover-account-credentials-in-the-authenticator-app-bb939936-7a8d-4e88-bc43-49bc1a700a40

I hope this clarifies things. Please contact us if you have any additional questions.

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Best regards,

Sakshi Devkante

Answer 2

You need to get the admin of the tenant to reset the account.

If you are the only admin and cannot access your account due to an authentication issue, it is suggested to contact the Data Protection team as we are from the community team and are not authorized to reset any user/admin accounts. The data protection team is the only support team to verify and reset the account. To find the Data Protection team's contact number, see Find Microsoft 365 for business support phone numbers by country or region - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn or Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support Phone

numbers.

 

Depending on your country or region. For some countries, when calling the support number, although there are about 30 seconds opening as something "you can visit the link...." But you can ignore this opening and wait until the option, then "1" as a business email user, "1" again for technical help.

 

For some countries, it will be an automated conversation like: First, when you call the hotline, it asks what kind of problem you are worried about.

Answered: authenticator.

A: What kind of product are you using?

B: Office 365 for business.

A confirmation: education or company account?

B: For education

A: Are you an administrator?

B: Yes.

A: Do you have the other admin in your organization?

B: No.

A: You need one.... Service request?

B: Yes

See if that helps