Stuck in an infinite loop of needing to already be signed in to the Authenticator app to approve a sign in FOR the authenticator app.

Sympathy is all I can offer. My personal phone is my personal phone. Why should I download a work app on my personal phone to access a work file on my work PC?? Buy me a work phone if you want me authenticate work files. Now, the Company has all my personal passwords to my personal accounts.

Where's my right to privacy?

Hello Jesse,

I'm sorry to hear that you are stuck in an infinite loop of needing to already be signed in to the Authenticator app. Let me help you!

You can try the following steps to resolve this issue:

1. Uninstall the Microsoft Authenticator app from your device.
2. Clear your browser cache and cookies.
3. Reinstall the Microsoft Authenticator app.
4. Sign in to your account using your email address and password.
5. Follow the prompts to set up the Microsoft Authenticator app.

You can also follow the recommendations shared in this thread.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsof...

If this doesn't work, you can try resetting your password and then setting up the Microsoft Authenticator app again.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Jayzar

BSOD has moved to the cloud and is now ALOD Authenticator Loop of Death! 4 days in and I’ve called golabal health several times only to be told after on hold for 2 hours i must wait for assigned engineer to call me back. All because i got a new phone and the Authenticator works for everything else except M365 business. All work docs and pics are being held hostage! I know user name and password and product key. I’m the system administrator and was sold a subscription for 1 that can be loaded on 5 machines AND 5 tablets AND 5 phones for ONE user. Now I’m stuck for what going on day 5 ALOD!!!! AUTHENTICATOR LOOP OF DEATH! funny side note, bottom of screen says Try M365 for free!!!! Ha! Should be a google ad..

I am having the same problem. Please share any solutions here if you come across one. Thanks!

My system admin showed me the screen he had where it has the option to reset my account password. On the same account settings page there was another option to clear all Sign-in/Device history. But I don't recall exactly what the test of the option says (and don't have admin access myself to view the same page). But it essentially forced my account to be signed out of all trusted devices. After that was done, I was then able to try signing into the Authenticator app using just my email and password and instead of it asking me to approve the sign in (on the authenticator app I was trying to sign into) it instead asked me to provide a secondary contact option as either an alternate email, or a phone number. I was able to input my cell number and then get a SMS code sent to my phone to authenticate it and then sign into the Authenticator app by again getting a SMS code to approve the sign in.

So somewhere in the Microsoft system, it thinks your account is already signed into the authenticator app on some device. So you have to tell it to sign you out of any and all devices, which then resets the options for secondary authentication.