Microsoft Authenticator is asking me to authenticate using Microsoft Authenticator to use Microsoft Authenticator

MAY 22, 2025

Two years later, this issue has not been addressed by Microsoft. I have a previously created account that I've used for years prior to today, but when I signed in to my Microsoft account, I was asked to authenticate my sign-in using Microsoft Authenticator. After redownloading the application, Microsoft Authenticator asked me to authenticate my sign-in using Microsoft Authenticator, the exact platform I am trying to sign into and access my account. Posts on this thread simply say to use another sign-in option to bypass Microsoft Authenticator. Unfortunately, my account only has two options available, and both require being previously signed into Microsoft Authenticator. I am upset, as I have urgent matters to take care of right now, but instead I am trying to solve this issue. Microsoft is valued at over $3T and has one of the most simple yet infuriating "infinite loop" sign-in problems that I thought the Internet solved over a decade ago.

If I had kept Microsoft Authenticator signed in previously, this would not be an issue, but since Microsoft Authenticator requires a Microsoft sign-in to use, and therefore authentication to confirm my identity, I cannot access my account. Furthermore, there is no mention of this issue in FAQs or anywhere on official Microsoft platforms, yet I know at least 2952 people have this same question.

UPDATE: Reddit says contact account administrator or IT department of organization in order to reset multifactor authentication (MFA).

Hi again Rob. I got my admin to have a look and no one in our company except him has 2FA.. yet I am still prompted to authenticate via the Authenticator app (which itself, as I've said, requires authentication to sign into).

He sent me a screenshot of a table in which each row had a tickbox, a person's name, their email address, and then the word 'Disabled' (this is the only proof I have he was looking at the right screen). Does this sound like the screen whereby 2FA is enabled / disabled for each person's account.

Any ideas?

Joshua,

If your account is a work or school account, then see my post immediately above yours that explains that you should contact your organization's IT admin in order to have them remove the 2-factor authentication from your account and then set it all back up again from scratch.

If you're the admin for the work or school account, then contact whatever official Microsoft Support channel you have in order to get aid if you aren't aware how to do this.

If you have a personal Microsoft account, then my earlier post on a previous page in this thread covers that process, though it's basically the same with the difference being that you remove the "Send sign-in notification" method from the "Advanced security options", "Ways to prove who you are" and then use the instructions for setting up the Microsoft authenticator for a personal account instead.

Yes it's a bit confusing, but obviously something went wrong with the initial attempt for those reading this thread, so fully uninstalling the authenticator app and resetting 2FA to start the process over again is the simplest way to fix the problem. The larger issue that exists for some is an inability to login to your account to do this at all, but that shouldn't be a problem if there's a Work or school account administrator to do this for you.

Only those with a personal account might require Microsoft's help to do this if they can't gain control using alternate set of password, email and/or text methods to verify their account.

Rob

Thank you for this detailed reply. I will look at the links to learn more about this. Many thanks

Yes Chidi,

The confusion using the Authenticator app with Azure versus the Personal Microsoft accounts that most consumer users coming to these forums would require are that the initial setup, management and portions of the operation for these configurations are each slightly different.

Add personal Microsoft accounts to the Microsoft Authenticator app - Microsoft Support

Add your work or school account to the Microsoft Authenticator app - Microsoft Support

That's why I was initially providing confusing suggestions myself, since I only truly became aware of these subtle differences through other threads over the time I was responding to this thread.

The problem for small organization admins as you mentioned is that they are sometimes the only user as well, since certain Azure small business accounts are created by that single user for themselves.

Unfortunately, these same users often find themselves in these consumer forums, since they're inexperienced and don't realize that the Azure accounts they've created are typically supported via the Microsoft Learn - Q&A - Azure forums found at the link provided in the following document discussing the Microsoft Authenticator app when used with Azure - Work or School accounts.

Common questions about the Microsoft Authenticator app - Microsoft Support

As you'll notice in that same document about Authenticator, the following second paragraph indicates that the Microsoft Authenticator app replaced the Azure Authenticator app, which though it undoubtedly made the technical support for both of these platforms simpler, it unintentionally lead to a huge set of user support issues relating to these often-subtle differences, leading to threads exactly like this one.

"The Microsoft Authenticator app replaced the Azure Authenticator app, and it's the recommended app when you use two-step verification. The Authenticator app is available for Android and iOS."

I hope this post summarizes the issues and helps remove some of the confusion my own involvement in this thread has caused.

Rob