Microsoft account login woes

[StevieBee]

My IT guy informs me he needs to transfer my DNS records which requires access to my Microsoft account.

I've never accessed this since I opened it however many years ago.

I'm in this inescapable loop where it's asking me to enter the passcode shown on my Authenticator App but to access that App I need to log into to the App. To do that, it's asking me to enter the passcode shown on my Authenticator App!!!

Every option to 'sign in another way' asks me to enter the passcode shown on my Authenticator App which I cannot access!

Any help or pointers would be very gratefully received.

[Mandat]

This is a scan from this months PC Pro magazine, which covers Microsoft login problems.

It's part of a regular column from a PC repair specialist, and I've highlighted the heading parts of the article that are relevant.

Hopefully this will be of help to you.

[rodericb]

Yeah I was stuck in a loop like that a few weeks ago. In my case whoever set the account up put their own phone number in for god knows what reason so the initial set up of the authenticator app, which wanted to validate my phone, couldn't do so. There's also a method which uses a QR code you can with the authenticator app.

[carguy45]

StevieBee said:

My IT guy informs me he needs to transfer my DNS records which requires access to my Microsoft account.

I've never accessed this since I opened it however many years ago.

I'm in this inescapable loop where it's asking me to enter the passcode shown on my Authenticator App but to access that App I need to log into to the App. To do that, it's asking me to enter the passcode shown on my Authenticator App!!!

Every option to 'sign in another way' asks me to enter the passcode shown on my Authenticator App which I cannot access!

Any help or pointers would be very gratefully received.

I manage an IT services team for a large region and typically when this happens in my workplace, we find the easiest course of action is to reset the MFA authentication for the user. This essentially puts it back to a 'day zero' scenario so the next time you try and log in, instead of being asked for the MFA code you will be asked to set up MFA instead as if you're a new user - e.g. it will give you a QR code to scan to add your account into your authenticator app.

You should be able to reset your own MFA at https://mysignins.microsoft.com/ - you'll probably have to go through some security steps to prove who you are. That's assuming you set up your own Microsoft account; however if it was done at a corporate level by an IT Admin or otherwise then you'll need to contact them - MFA resets can only be done by Global Admins/Authentication Administrator within a corporate Microsoft tenancy.

[StevieBee]

Thanks everyone

carguy45 said:

I manage an IT services team for a large region and typically when this happens in my workplace, we find the easiest course of action is to reset the MFA authentication for the user. This essentially puts it back to a 'day zero' scenario so the next time you try and log in, instead of being asked for the MFA code you will be asked to set up MFA instead as if you're a new user - e.g. it will give you a QR code to scan to add your account into your authenticator app.

You should be able to reset your own MFA at https://mysignins.microsoft.com/ - you'll probably have to go through some security steps to prove who you are. That's assuming you set up your own Microsoft account; however if it was done at a corporate level by an IT Admin or otherwise then you'll need to contact them - MFA resets can only be done by Global Admins/Authentication Administrator within a corporate Microsoft tenancy.

That sounds like what I need to do!