Cannot access account with Authenticator because it wants me to use Authenticator to authenticate

Anonymous
2024-01-31T23:31:52+00:00

I can't post this from the account I'm having issues with, but I am trying to get an Authenticator account set up for my Office 365 account, but whenever I try to do that, it asks for the code in Authenticator. But since it isn't set up with Authenticator yet, I cannot give it a code. I'm stuck in a catch 22. I've heard I can get a new QR code if I login and look under security settings, but I cannot login without getting my code from Authenticator, which I don't have set up yet. And I called MS support and they sent me a link to do it, but it will not let me access without the Authentication code from Authenticator, which I cannot access, because it isn't set up yet.

Any help from anyone? Just switch to Google? The only reason I need to do this is because I changed the account password. It didn't need me to authenticate to do that. But it does need me to update that same password change on my phone. So stupid.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Subscription, account, billing | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-06-25T20:25:41+00:00

    this is so Microsoft ...

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-06-10T16:29:21+00:00

    they can't login to their account. how do you expect them to do this? What a dumb answer the the question here.

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-04-30T11:07:50+00:00

    I had to call the support number, and say I was a business user and say, "Trouble logging into my M365 account." when prompted.

    Finally got a person. They took all my info and said an engineer needed to be assigned. Then I waited. No contact. Called back, did the same thing but with a ticket number now. Talked to a person and they apologized and said they would escalate. Got an email within an hour with an engineer assigned but would be a few days before they could get to me. they did get back to me and after a few call backs and confirmation of identity for both Admins on account, all fixed but (way too much) patience was required.

    Seems like getting a new phone caused the Authenticator to break and both our admins upgraded phones at the same time.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-11-26T22:11:31+00:00

    I realise it is probably a little late for some people, but I found I could use https://aka.ms/accountrecovery

    When I lost my phone this year, I was able to brick it remotely which was comforting, but it also meant I was unable to get into any of my accounts thanks to MFA. I found that by using account recovery I was able to get back into things eventually. It is a PitA but I will never loose my phone again.... you will not even be able to pry it from my cold dead hands. :-)

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-02-06T21:03:36+00:00

    Hello William,

    We haven't heard from you, so we assume that your issue has already been addressed. We will not be monitoring this thread moving forward so, if you need further assistance, please create a new thread to discuss these concerns by clicking this link: Create a new question (microsoft.com)

    Thank you for understanding. 

    Regards,

    Roderick

    Microsoft Moderator

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