Why did Personal Vault authentication change?

Anonymous
2022-10-10T17:31:28+00:00

It used to be that when I accessed my Personal Vault, it would ask me to authenticate with Microsoft Authenticator. That suddenly disappeared, and now it gives me the options of authenticating with a fingerprint or my PIN. I don't want my PIN to work to get to my Personal Vault. Other people use my PIN to access my machine. I don't want to use the same authentication to get to my personal vault. I want that to go to Microsoft Authenticator so that it is different.

Why did it change, and how can I change it back?

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-02-14T20:11:39+00:00

    MS has continued to send me various steps to try and restore two-factor security....resetting, relinking the PC to OneDrive.

    Completely uninstalling OneDrive from the PC, then reinstalling and signing into OneDrive and resetting up the Personal Vault.

    MS provided a link to reinstall OneDrive - after reinstalling, Personal Vault still defaulted to opening with just a PIN.

    I have folders for all of my computer builds - I found an OLDER version of OneDriveSetup.exe (mid-2021) and when I uninstalled and reinstalled with the older version and then went through the sign-in and set up process, TWO-FACTOR authentication was back.

    I was initially concerned about all the data I had in OneDrive and in my Personal Vault, however, there were clear options to retain existing data.

    I did document all of my findings in my reply to Microsoft.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-02-14T20:22:25+00:00

    I’m not computer savvy at all, so I wouldn’t know where to start with that process. Did you reinstate only the OneDrive exe from the previous build data or did you have to reinstate the whole OS?

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-02-14T22:20:46+00:00

    I simply uninstalled and reinstalled OneDrive - the challenge will be finding a version of OneDriveSetup.exe that isn't broken...

    I uninstalled OneDrive - use the Add or Remove programs tool - find Microsoft OneDrive and click on the 3 dots and Uninstall.

    You'll need to reinstall OneDrive - there are downloads available from Microsoft. After reinstalling, you log on and use existing folder and then go through the Personal Vault setup.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-02-15T05:35:19+00:00

    OK Thank you for the detail! Much appreciated.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-02-17T18:16:43+00:00

    FWIW - I thought I'd resolved the loss of two-factor authentication for my Personal Vault via installing an older version of OneDrive.

    I'm not sure if updates are overriding this or what - I've been working with MS OneDrive support and each of my 4 devices now opens my Personal Vault with a different experience - in one case defaulting to PIN-only and in another provide alternative options which are PIN only.

    For nearly a year, each of these devices operated identically and Personal Vault access was accomplished via entry of an 8-digit code from the MS Authenticator app on my phone.

    Unfortunately, after a week of daily interactions with MS support, it appears no one can explain why these changes occurred, why there are now different experiences on different devices or how to reestablish consistent two-factor authentication.

    During the time it worked consistently as expected, One Drive and Personal Vault was great. As of now, I have no confidence that my most sensitive documents are secure in One Drive Personal Vault.....

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