Lost Microsoft Authenticator access – Unable to sign in to Azure portal – Need MFA reset help

Gauthamkumar S 25 Reputation points
2026-03-17T12:36:19.94+00:00

Hi,

I am unable to access the Azure portal (portal.azure.com) due to MFA.

Situation:

  • I recently changed my phone and lost access to the Microsoft Authenticator app
  • I did NOT enable backup for the Authenticator
  • I do NOT have any alternate MFA methods (no SMS / no recovery codes)

Current status:

  • I am still able to sign in to account.microsoft.com
  • But when I try to access Azure portal, it asks for the Authenticator code which I no longer have

Issue:

  • I am completely blocked from accessing Azure resources due to MFA
  • I also have Azure credits in this account that I cannot use

Request:

Is there any way to reset or re-register MFA for a personal Microsoft account in this situation?

Since I can still access my Microsoft account, is there any identity verification process that can help regain Azure access?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Microsoft Security | Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Entra ID
Answer accepted by question author
Sridevi Machavarapu 33,675 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2026-03-17T13:23:19.4+00:00

Hello Gauthamkumar S,

As discussed over chat, you were able to log in to your Azure tenant at admin.cloud.microsoft.com. To reset your MFA, you created a new user with Global Administrator rights. Using this new account to log in to the Azure Portal, you successfully reset the MFA for your personal account, which had been added as a guest account in the tenant.

Below are the steps you followed to reset the MFA:

Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center.

Navigate to Identity > Users > All users.

Select the affected user, then choose Authentication methods.

At the top of the window, click on "Require re-register MFA".

Screenshot of manage authentication methods from the Microsoft Entra admin center.

After this is done, you should be able to sign in again and register a new MFA authentication method when prompted.

Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out for further queries.

If the resolution was helpful, kindly take a moment to click on 210246-screenshot-2021-12-10-121802.pngand Yes for was this answer helpful under my answer to close this question.

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