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

I used my own business domain to set up things in the Microsoft admin panel. Initially it suggested something along the lines of ...@businessname.onmicrosoft.com, but I changed it.

Okay that's good Lasse,

You've confirmed its most likely a true Microsoft Small Business account due to both the business domain and Admin panel, since those would be specific to an account running on Microsoft's Azure platform, rather than your personal account that's operating on the Outlook.com platform, regardless of which precise Microsoft domain that particular email account is using.

Based on that, it appears the following Support resources page for Small business would apply, with the most useful section likely the one partway down that page titled, For Admins.

Support resources - Microsoft Support

Note that on the bottom left of that section there's Online and Phone Support including a list of phone numbers by country, which if you're unable to login in order to use the normal Admin console to fix your issue, you'd need to try in order to see whether Microsoft Support can override and do this for you to regain access to your account.

Though I've got no experience with this myself, my assumption is they'll need some sort of proof that you're who you state you are, which if you have any records regarding either the account or other customer information like a customer number if any, or more likely things like when the original invoice or payment occurred, etc., these might help to improve your chances of being able to prove this more quickly.

Once you've regained control of your account, it might be best to set up a second admin account for the business to allow regaining access more easily, or if that costs additional to add, maybe using your personal account as an optional verification method for the business Admin account, if you can't use the phone number twice, once on each system.

I'd also take this opportunity to not only ask Support these specific questions, but also any others that have come to mind, since the bother of going through all of this will be more worth it if you learn better how to both protect and use this account in the future.

Also remember they've heard none of our discussion here, so laying out the basic situation that you have the 3 accounts for Personal, School and the Small Business one you're getting their help with for access via the authenticator could be very helpful to get your issues solved in a single call.

Rob

I have the same issue trying to install my personal email account. It instructs to retrieve a code from Microsoft Authenticator. I go into Authenticator and it tells me to retrieve a code from Authenticator. There's absolutely no way around it. The option they give me is to send a code to an old deleted email account. I can't update anything because it requires a code from Authenticator which requires a code from Authenticator. Plain stupid!

Steve53756,

If you replaced an old phone with a new then that's likely what started the problem, which is why you always need both a phone number and alternate email as backups for 2FA if using that.

<<< Removed mention of account recovery form, forgot that doesn't work with 2FA enabled >>>, then go into the verification options section of Advanced security options and remove the existing Send sign-in notification item to allow setting up your new authenticator from scratch.

Of course, this can only work if you've got at least your password and one other form of verification available, which obviously can't be the authenticator.

There's typically a way around using the authenticator if you have enough other methods available, but I'm not aware of a way if you don't.

Rob

We had the same issue (old phone lost, small business account) and an admin added a phone number and an alternate email address to my account.

Then, I was able to click "I don't have access to my authenticator app" somewhere in this infinite loop, and it prompted me with the alternatives to receive a text or a call on the phone.

With that text I was able to log in, go to my account, and remove the authenticator app linked to the old phone from my account (and set it up on my new phone)

So first of all... Why is "microsoft Authenticator" not an option in the "Products" dropdown when choosing where this post should go? I'm just going to choose "Windows"... Sorry not sorry.

Also, I can't take a screenshot on the microsoft Authenticator app without it capturing a black image (thanks,) so here is an extremely low resolution webcam picture of my phone screen.

When I click "Passwords" section on the microsoft authenticator app, I see a button that says "Sign In".

So, I click the button, to sign in. Then, it asks me to authenticate using microsoft authenticator, but I am not signed in, and this is a "sensitive" page, so I have to enter the code displayed into microsoft authenticator, BUT I AM ON MICROSOFT AUTHENTICATOR ALREADY!!! Who designed this terrible app??? Cheap labor resources then you expect us to prefer microsoft edge over Chrome? LOL

Also, when I search my own question in "Bing", it doesn't come up, even if I type the title word for word. Does it go through some sort of not-mentioned approval process before my post becomes actually visible to the public, or is Bing just extremely bad at updating its search results in a timely manner?

Hi

So I had this issue with my company email address, I was stuck in a loop with the Authenticator so I called my IT department and they reset the 2FA and logged in again, promoted me to log in, but when it says use Authenticator there is a section that says ‘sign in another way’ and I put my phone number and now get text confirmation codes, everything works fine now. Just have to call ur IT department to reset 2FA and use mobile codes instead.