Share via

my phone died, bought a new phone, microsoft authenticator wont work, help took me to resetting password which needs authenticator, i am in an endless loop and have lost access to email and admin center

Henry Edwards 5 Reputation points
2025-08-07T13:59:48.91+00:00

so, new phone downloaded microsoft authenticator, which then asks for a code from microsoft authenticator... endless loop..

cannot log into microsoft admin center because it asks for code from authenticator and for some reason refuses to send a text message to my phone, just gives me error messages

another rabbithole took me to resetting passwords, the supposed solution, which of course needed authenticator and has now locked me out of even my outlook emails.....

how do i solve this when NO actual live support exists

Microsoft 365 and Office | Subscription, account, billing | For business | Windows
0 comments

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Tamara-Hu 1,950 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-08-07T15:07:34.89+00:00

    Hello @Henry Edwards ,  

    Thank you for posting your question the Microsoft Q&A forum.  

    I am very sorry for the inconvenience you have experienced based on the details you have shared. Can I ask if you have any alternative login method besides Authenticator (e.g. email, SMS,...)? If so, try signing in using this alternative method.  

    If you're an IT admin, please check to see if there are other IT admins in your organization who can help you with the reset. They can follow this instruction to revoke your MFA Manage authentication methods for Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication - Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft Learn.

    User's image

    If you are the only administrator in your organization, then you need to involve Microsoft data protection team. Please try to find the related hotline number to call the frontline let them raise a ticket for you: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support  

    Depending on your country or region. For some countries, when calling the support number, although there are about 30 seconds opening as something "you can visit the link...." But you can ignore this opening and wait until the option, then "1" as a business email user, "1" again for technical help. 

    For some countries, it will be an automated conversation like:  

    First, when you call the hotline, it asks what kind of problem you are worried about. 

    Answered: authenticator. 

    A: What kind of product are you using? 

    B: Office 365 for business. 

    A confirmation: education or company account? 

    B: For companies 

    A: Are you an administrator? 

    B: Yes. 

    A: Do you have the other admin in your organization? 

    B: No. 

    A: You need one.... Service request? 

    B: Yes 

    In this situation, only Microsoft Data Protection team has tools and processes in place to verify identity and regain access to administrator accounts.   

    If your organization's Office 365 Business/Education subscription is from a partner or reseller, and the global administrator is unable to open a service request on your end, contact the reseller's support provider to help open a service request on behalf of you instead. 

    I hope this information helps you to reach data protection team to open ticket and everything is going well for you. 

    Thank you for your precious time and your understanding would be highly appreciated. 

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". 

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. User's image

    1 person found this answer helpful.

Your answer

Answers can be marked as Accepted Answers by the question author, which helps users to know the answer solved the author's problem.