How to get back into my account. I have a new phone and i did not backup my authenticator app.

Question

I have a new phone but did not backup my authenticator app on the old one. Now when I try to sign in, I'm stuck in a verification loop. Is there a work around or a way to temporarily disable the authenticator app so I can sign in?

Answer 1

Thanks for your question.

No, Losing the MFA app requires you having to contact the admins of the accounts in question for work or school accounts.

You will need to contact the support teams of those applications to assist you in resetting your credentials or reach out to support https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/customer-service-phone-numbers-c0389ade-5640-e588-8b0e-28de8afeb3f2

You can mark it 'Accept Answer' and 'Upvote' if this helped you

Regards,

Abiola

Answer 2

Hi @Maurice Phillips

Thank you for posting this in Microsoft Q&A.

I understand that you are unable to sign in to your account because you changed your phone and didn’t take a backup.

Global administrator in your tenant can assist you with MFA recovery. Please contact them and request to re-register for MFA on your behalf. This action will remove existing MFA methods, including phone numbers, Microsoft Authenticator apps, and software OATH tokens. You will then need to set up a new MFA authentication method upon your next sign-in.

For your reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/authentication/howto-mfa-userdevicesettings#manage-user-authentication-options

You can log in with a Temporary Access Password (TAP). A TAP also makes recovery easier if a user loses or forgets a strong authentication method. You need to reach out to the global administrator and ask them to create a TAP for you. When you try to sign in, you will see the TAP option, which you can use. Afterward, you can add your new phone.

If you are the only global admin on the account and are blocked entirely, you can reach out to our support team. You can look into below article to get support numbers depending on your country.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/global-customer-service-phone-numbers-c0389ade-5640-e588-8b0e-28de8afeb3f2

 or creating a ticket through a different account:  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/get-help-support?view=o365-worldwide#online-support

While creating a ticket with Microsoft support team. Give them the tenant ID which is locked out in your description. Tell them that no admin account has access anymore and your partners also have no access anymore.

Once you create a ticket with support team you will have to work with our data protection team. You will have to first prove your identity against your tenant for security purpose. Post that this team will help you with help you in getting access to your tenant or unlock your account depending on your scenario.

Hope this helps. Do let us know if you any further queries.

Thanks,

Navya.

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