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

Did you try to delete the old phone as a verification method? I'm sorry that is SO frustrating...

Grace,

Thanks for the confirmation that what I suggested for individual users of Microsoft personal accounts actually worked, since I'd suggested deleting the existing authenticator method and setting it up again from scratch in one of my fist posts in this thread, though that was before I learned that most posting here were actually using Work or School accounts in Azure, where the same process requires an administrator.

Deleting the authenticator method from your personal account should completely remove any remnants of an old phone for that account, resulting in exactly what you experienced as the process sets the new device up using the same steps that would normally have occurred for any new phone.

The 'loop' in this thread is apparently always caused by leftover remnants of an old phone, while the biggest problem for many is they're not the administrator of their own Work or School account and in quite a few cases no one in the smaller businesses often involved truly knows how to use or possibly even access their organization's administrator account.

Rob

I am stuck in the authenticator infinite loop on two of my accounts: one for small business, one for school. I have 1 private account where I had luckily added phone and e-mail as backup, so I could get it without using (or rather, getting abused by) the authenticator app.

So, how on Earth can I get into my accounts? I can't find any support, I can't find any answers. Is there truly no way of accessing them without calling a Microsoft consultant on the phone? How do I resolve this?

Again, my Authenticator is asking me to identify by means of the Authenticator app. Awesome.

Hello from February 2024.

This issue still occurs

I am stuck in the authenticator infinite loop on two of my accounts: one for small business, one for school. I have 1 private account where I had luckily added phone and e-mail as backup, so I could get it without using (or rather, getting abused by) the authenticator app.

So, how on Earth can I get into my accounts? I can't find any support, I can't find any answers. Is there truly no way of accessing them without calling a Microsoft consultant on the phone? How do I resolve this?

Again, my Authenticator is asking me to identify by means of the Authenticator app. Awesome.

Lasse Lorentzen,

The reason you can't get out of the loop with the other 2 accounts is that in the case of Work or School accounts, the management of these devices is supposed to be handled by the Administrator of the organization, not the individual.

The added potential issue for you in the small business case is understanding whether you have an Azure based cloud account, which would typically also require the administrator to manage and remove the previously existing device per some other posts here by people using and/or managing these, or instead if your small business actually uses a personal account, which due to the fact only a single Microsoft account can use a particular phone number, for example, leads to potential issues creating additional verification options.

So, for your School account, contact your school's IT department to ask them for help in removing and settings this up again. But for the small business, you'll need to first confirm which situation truly affects you and whether that might also have an Administrator account on Azure or it's instead a personal account, which means more investigation in order to determine how you might regain control of that account.

Rob