Microsoft365 Global Admin locked out, lost MFA (Authenticator) – need tenant recovery

Mosima Mabuela 20 Reputation points
2026-02-01T10:24:38.8166667+00:00

Hi, I’m locked out of our company Microsoft 365 admin account because my phone with the Authenticator app has crashed and so I no longer have access to it.

I’m the only Global Administrator. MFA is required and my only registered method was Microsoft Authenticator, which I obviously can't use any more.

I know the password, but I can’t complete MFA and I don’t have any other verification methods.

Because of this I can’t sign in to Microsoft365 admin portals to reset security info or open a support ticket.

Could a moderator please escalate this to Microsoft Support (Data Protection / Tenant Recovery) so they can verify ownership and help reset MFA registration?

Tenant domain and affected Global Admin UPN can be provided via private message (PII). Country: South Africa Time zone: GMT+2

I also have access to the domain DNS and can add any required TXT record for verification.

Microsoft Security | Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Entra ID
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Answer accepted by question author
Sridevi Machavarapu 33,820 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2026-02-02T01:37:39.1433333+00:00

Hello Mosima Mabuela,

Thanks for sharing requested details in Private messages tab.

The issue pertains to a tenant lockout, where no other global admin in the tenant has the necessary permissions to login and make changes in your tenant.

To resolve this, we have engaged our Data Protection team through a support ticket. They will reach out to you via email or phone to help restore access to the tenant and assist in resolving the issue.

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