How do I access M365 account if I am the only company admin and have lost my phone, therefore can not access the MFA code ???

Question

How do I access M365 account if I am the only company admin and have lost my phone, therefore can not access the MFA code ???

Christopher Perkins 20

I recently lost my mobile phone and therefore can not access my MFA code via authenticator and now locked out of my accounts.

I am the only admin in the company also and can not arrange to have my account reset.

I have tried calling the hotline numerous times to only be put on hold for up to 1hour and then the call disconnects. this is very frustrating.

Raja Pothuraju 47,825 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2025-03-11T11:41:55.32+00:00
Hello @Christopher Perkins,

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

Based on your description, it appears that you are unable to log into the Azure Portal due to an incomplete MFA process. Since the device registered for second-factor authentication are not getting any MFA prompts, you are unable to complete the authentication.

In such scenarios, another Global Administrator can help to re-register MFA on a new mobile device. However, since you mentioned that you are the only Global Admin in the tenant, this qualifies as a tenant lockout scenario. To resolve this, we need to engage the Data Protection team via a support ticket to unblock your access.

To proceed, I will need a few details from you. As this information contains Personally Identifiable Information (PII), please share the following details via private message:

Contact phone number (add +Country code)

Contact email address

Global admin email address (affected account)

Country

TimeZone

Please send me the detail via private message.

We can then connect offline to discuss further and assist you in resolving this issue.
Christopher Perkins 20 Reputation points

2025-03-11T13:21:36.42+00:00

Hi Raja

Thanks for the response. I have now replied via email with the detail you request.

Thanks

Chris
Christopher Perkins 20 Reputation points

2025-03-15T15:10:27.4633333+00:00

Dear Raja / Data Protection

How can we progress this topic....I am waiting for a phone call to solve this issue and again have spent another 2-3 hours on hold to speak to data protection but they are never available.

My business is on hold whilst I am locked out and with issues building in the background until this topic is resolved.

I await further instruction and request that you prioritise.

Thanks

Chris
Raja Pothuraju 47,825 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2025-03-18T21:36:06.64+00:00

Hello @Christopher Perkins,

I have escalated this to the DP team and increased the ticket severity from C to A. I see that it has been assigned to a DP engineer, but there has been no progress since March 13th.

If you do not receive a call from the engineer by tomorrow, please let me know via a private message or tag me in a comment.

Answer accepted by question author

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Your answer

Raja Pothuraju 47,825 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2025-03-11T11:41:55.32+00:00

Hello @Christopher Perkins,

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

Based on your description, it appears that you are unable to log into the Azure Portal due to an incomplete MFA process. Since the device registered for second-factor authentication are not getting any MFA prompts, you are unable to complete the authentication.

In such scenarios, another Global Administrator can help to re-register MFA on a new mobile device. However, since you mentioned that you are the only Global Admin in the tenant, this qualifies as a tenant lockout scenario. To resolve this, we need to engage the Data Protection team via a support ticket to unblock your access.

To proceed, I will need a few details from you. As this information contains Personally Identifiable Information (PII), please share the following details via private message:

Contact phone number (add +Country code)

Contact email address

Global admin email address (affected account)

Country

TimeZone

Please send me the detail via private message.

We can then connect offline to discuss further and assist you in resolving this issue.
Christopher Perkins 20 Reputation points

2025-03-11T13:21:36.42+00:00

Hi Raja

Thanks for the response. I have now replied via email with the detail you request.

Thanks

Chris
Christopher Perkins 20 Reputation points

2025-03-15T15:10:27.4633333+00:00

Dear Raja / Data Protection

How can we progress this topic....I am waiting for a phone call to solve this issue and again have spent another 2-3 hours on hold to speak to data protection but they are never available.

My business is on hold whilst I am locked out and with issues building in the background until this topic is resolved.

I await further instruction and request that you prioritise.

Thanks

Chris
Raja Pothuraju 47,825 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2025-03-18T21:36:06.64+00:00

Hello @Christopher Perkins,

I have escalated this to the DP team and increased the ticket severity from C to A. I see that it has been assigned to a DP engineer, but there has been no progress since March 13th.

If you do not receive a call from the engineer by tomorrow, please let me know via a private message or tag me in a comment.

Answer 1

Raja Pothuraju 47,825 Microsoft Employee Moderator

Hello @Christopher Perkins,

Thank you for sharing details over email.

The issue relates to a tenant lockout situation where no other global admin in the tenant has the necessary admin rights to re-register MFA.

To resolve this, we engaged our Data Protection team through a support ticket. Please connect with our support team via the ticket, and they will assist you in resolving the issue.

I hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Peter Wilkinson 0 Reputation points

2026-06-09T14:31:39.4333333+00:00

Hello, I am also locked out of ours but we don't know which phone number is connected to the account.
I am wondering if anyone can help please.