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

Yes Adrian, the answers for those using Work or School accounts (Azure Domain) are typically exactly what you both just mentioned, simply remove have your Admin remove the 2FA and then set it all back up again from scratch.

You and Tormod should both recognize that my last post was explaining how to do the same for a personal Microsoft account, often associated with Microsoft 365 or some other product.

Though the solution is similar, the precise process is different due to the differing back-end directories involved, since the management of Azure is more involved than that for personal accounts.

Rob

I had a different couple of options - when prompted to approve the sign-in in Microsoft Authenticator, there was a link below saying "I can't use Microsoft Authenticator right now" (or similar). If I followed that link the two options were Microsoft Authenticator, and enter a code, which you'll receive in.... you guessed it, Microsoft Authenticator.

Thanks for the answer Rob, I may try getting our admin to temporarily remove 2FA if I need to. I seem to have gotten around it for now by just closing the window on my new laptop and still seem to be signed into Microsoft somehow.

Hi, and thank you for your reply! Very appreciated!

There are in fact only two choices when choosing alternative ways to log in.

One is to continue to use the "preferred method" which is Microsoft Authenticator, and the other is "Switch to Microsoft Authenticator"... go figure...

Well, the solution for me was for the domain administrator to disable 2FA on my account, and re-enable it, to reset it. Then I could register the app correctly again on my new phone, and all is well and wonderful in Microsoft-land again :)

I have just enabled backup to cloud now, so hopefully I will not hit the same wall again in the future :)

Tormod

Tormod,

If you had 2-Step authentication (2FA) turned on then you'll need 2 alternate ways to identify yourself, which if your phone number has remained the same then one of these could be texting a code to that number.

From what I've seen, there's always an option to select alternate methods on the Microsoft account login page, it's just not always that clearly named and instead something like More Choices or something similar. I just tried this while blocking my camera to cause Hello Face to fail and it then offered options that seemed related to Work or School accounts like a key, which once I caused one of those to fail (Passkey using QR code displayed), it then finally offered another set of selections including account password, which worked as expected on my tablet which is already a trusted device in my account.

Typically, if you still know your Micrsoft password then that can be the first and you can then use these to access your Microsoft account at the following link in order to Remove the 'Send sign-in notification' selection under Security, Advanced Security options.

Microsoft account | Sign In or Create Your Account Today – Microsoft

This disables the Authenticator entirely and then you can uninstall Authenticator and restart the process using the following instructions to set it up again from scratch. You may also want to disable 2FA while logged in to make it easier to do all of this until you've gotten Authenticator reinstalled and working properly.

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

If you were using 2FA and you don't have an alternate form of identity such as your Microsoft password or a secondary email address, you may have to submit an account recovery request to Microsoft to see if they'll use whatever identity info you do have in order to regain control.

Help with the Microsoft account recovery form - Microsoft Support

Now that you've learned how easy it is to lock yourself out of your account with additional security options like Authenticator and 2FA enabled, make sure you have multiple alternate identity methods created and kept up to date to ensure it can't happen again.

Rob

I got a similar problem today when I got a new phone, because the old one crashed, and never came back from oblivion. On my new phone I installed the Authenticator app, but to login to that I have to confirm using the Authenticator app, which I no longer have access to on the old phone. There are NO other options for login. Just Authenticator, not email, not SMS, not anything..

This is just ****.. and yes I should have backed up the old one to the cloud, but I didn't know that was an option before now..