Reset a family member password

Joseph Julicher 0 Reputation points
2026-03-08T23:38:48.22+00:00

I have a family group with a single child account. That child account has an incorrect phone number attached. The password has been lost.

The child ONLY plays minecraft so there is no e-mail history, no credit card, etc.

When I try to reset the password I am prompted for the last 4 digits of a phone number and provided the last 2 digits as a hint. The last two digits do not match any phone in the family including extended relatives. So I cannot use that code. The next step takes me into an account verification system that does not match anything appropriate for my child. He does have an outlook account for the purpose of getting minecraft but that account has never sent an e-mail. The verifier asks for e-mail address and subject lines for mail he may have sent. That is not possible. IF I select xbox (thinking xbox live) he is asked what console he has (none). Nothing makes sense. I hear rumors that there used to be a way for the parent organizer to reset child passwords. That is how my M365 business account works (I use that for my family so we have a custom e-mail domain but you are not allowed to use an m365 e-mail to make a minecraft account)

Why must using microsoft products be so difficult for a family to manage?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Microsoft Family Safety | For home | Other
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  1. AI answer

    2026-03-08T23:39:05.34+00:00

    For a child Microsoft account with a lost password and no usable security info (wrong phone number, no email history, no console, etc.), the only supported options are the standard self‑service recovery flows; a family organizer cannot directly reset the child’s password.

    Use these steps, in order, based on the available info:

    1. Try the normal password reset flow
      • Go to the Microsoft account sign-in page for the child account.
      • Select Forgot password? and follow the steps in Reset a forgotten Microsoft account password.
      • When asked to verify identity, if none of the listed phone/email options are accessible or recognizable, select the option to use the sign-in helper tool or I don’t have any of these (wording can vary) as indicated in the documentation:
        • If no verification option works or is recognized, use the sign-in helper tool referenced under Step 2: Verify your identity for Microsoft account recovery.
    2. If the child account has two-step verification enabled
      • When two-step verification is on, password reset requires access to two security methods (for example, authenticator app + backup email or phone).
      • If two-step verification is on and none of the alternate methods are accessible, support cannot override this:
        • “If you have turned on two-step verification and cannot access any of the alternate methods to get a verification, we cannot help you, sorry. To protect your account and its contents, our support agents are not allowed to send password reset links or access and change account details.”
      • In this case, the account cannot be recovered and a new account will be required for future use.
    3. If the child account does not have two-step verification and no security info works
      • Follow the documented recovery path:
        1. Start from the password reset page as above.
        2. When no verification option is usable, choose the path that leads to the Microsoft account recovery form.
        3. Fill out the recovery form with as much accurate information as possible, from a device and location commonly used for that account, as described in Help with the Microsoft account recovery form.
      • If the form cannot gather enough signals (no email history, no purchases, no devices), the recovery may fail; there is no alternate manual override.
    4. If all security info is lost and the password is unknown
      • The verification-code troubleshooting guidance states that if the password is unknown and there is no access to any security info, the only option is to:
        1. Read the guidance in Help with the Microsoft account recovery form.
        2. Submit the recovery form via the provided Recover account link.
      • If the recovery form is unsuccessful, the account cannot be restored.
    5. Parent/family organizer limitations
      • The documentation and Q&A content provided do not describe any supported way for a Microsoft family organizer to directly reset a child’s Microsoft account password or bypass the account’s own security info.
      • Recovery is always per-account, via the self-service reset and recovery form; support agents are explicitly restricted from changing account details or sending manual reset links outside these flows.

    In practice, if the child account’s security info is wrong or inaccessible and the recovery form cannot be satisfied (no email history, no device history, no purchases), the only remaining path is to create a new Microsoft account for the child and configure correct, accessible security info from the start.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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