Why am I being asked for a Passkey? How do I turn off passkeys?

Rob thank you for the explanation regarding 'FIDO'. I don't know why Microsoft does not provide an explanation of what FIDO is, how it relates to their passkeys, and the purpose, use, set up of passkeys. All that I have seen is somewhat gibberish.

There is nothing wrong with long passwords / strong passwords. 90% of the population should not have to "get rid of all passwords" just because the 10% can't stop writing them on sticky notes or just using 123456 etc. No one is ever going to know my 15 character password! And no website or system should be storing it! The password HASH is what gets stored! And with 256+ bit encryption it would take 1000 years to reverse engineer it! With "passkeys" (the latest tech FAD) if someone gets ahold of my phone now they can log-in to EVERYTHING ? SERIOUSLY ? HOW IS THAT "BETTER" ?? Asinine !!!

G LB,

There's a simpler set of methods including keyloggers, infostealer malware and the most utterly simple and common method of phishing the user himself for the password that are how something like 95% of the stolen Microsoft accounts have actually occurred in the last few years.

Passwords are useless, regardless of complexity, length, or even how often you change them if it's not constantly, since once captured they're typically tried by bots within minutes, and the account loss is over before you ever have a chance to react. We see it posted here many times a day, though a bit less recently, since Microsoft had worked with the FBI and others around the world to take down the infamous Lumma Infostealer operation.

Disrupting Lumma Stealer: Microsoft leads global action against favored cybercrime tool - Microsoft On the Issues

Unfortunately, regardless of how skilled you might believe you are with your password management, it only takes a single one of the above methods working once to lose an account, while at least any 2-Factor authentication method and preferably something more modern like an authenticator app or passkeys will provide better protection.

Microsoft itself has entirely stopped any ability for their internal support to aid in direct recovery of personal accounts, since there's simply no consistent way to verify they're aiding the correct person and not a criminal instead. That means if you can't provide the relatively rigid details the automated system requires in order to prove your identity, the account is lost. And since the criminals understand how to change these appropriately to avoid being blocked, their bots will often have the account details changed to prevent your recovery entirely before you can even react as I mentioned.

Believe what you wish, if you only use a password and haven't had your account stolen yet, it's simply because you're lucky and most likely the criminals haven't truly targeted you yet. It's simply a matter of time and desire, nothing more.

Rob

There is nothing wrong with long passwords / strong passwords. 90% of the population should not have to "get rid of all passwords" just because the 10% can't stop writing them on sticky notes or just using 123456 etc. No one is ever going to know my 15 character password! And no website or system should be storing it! The password HASH is what gets stored! And with 256+ bit encryption it would take 1000 years to reverse engineer it! With "passkeys" (the latest tech FAD) if someone gets ahold of my phone now they can log-in to EVERYTHING ? SERIOUSLY ? HOW IS THAT "BETTER" ?? Asinine !!!

That sounds Great except it is a LIE!

Enigma was secure, DES was secure, the CLIPPER Chip was secure as were hundreds of others algorithms that were deployed to secure data & communications; until they were compromised or broken by advances in technology!!! Just for your edification: DES was broken in a challenge with was held in a competition held three different years in a row! 6 weeks , 6 days and lastly hours…

Returning to my issue. Last time I checked I purchased the computer and paid for the OS as part of the computer purchase. I am the one paying for middlesoft online services and it’s my data!!!! If I want to use 4096 bit encryption or none at all it is my choice to do so!!! If I want to use “password” as my password then I WILL! It is Not ms’s business what I do with the things I purchased!!!!

The Customer is Always Right!!!! Please pass this along to the CEO along with some Klingon toilet paper aka sandpaper!!!

Larry Hoffman2,

You're wasting your breath complaining here, since no one who needs to will see it, as Microsoft itself doesn't monitor these forums, though that may at least partially change in a few weeks when as the notice now appearing at the top of these forums indicates, these forums will migrate into the Microsoft Learn Q&A Forums structure and include a few actual internal Microsoft employees as posters.

IN either case though, the correct way to get your preferences registered with Microsoft's developers is to use the Feedback option built into Windows 10 or 11 itself, since this gets posted with both the text and any added upload that you choose to include, making it far more detailed and useful to help explain what you're seeing or wishing to have changed.

That will likely always be the preferred method to register your thoughts, since anything else can be lost in translation by whomever you might ask to tell someone else, who tells someone else..., you hope. See the problem?

Rob