Office 365 Asks for Wrong Credentials ("Choose a way to sign in")

Question

Office 365 Asks for Wrong Credentials ("Choose a way to sign in")

Dennis Kennedy 20

Whenever I'm asked to "approve the request by using the Microsoft app", the password, email, and text options are always those of my wife, the only other profile on our PC. I've tried changing my password and reinstalling Microsoft 365 with the assistance of a Microsoft support person, but nothing helps.

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Answer 1

Jeronimo Fuerte 48,700 Independent Advisor

Sorry to hear that you are having trouble with this. Please try the following:

Close all Microsoft 365 applications.
Open Settings > Accounts > Email & accounts.

Under Accounts used by other apps, check whether your wife’s Microsoft account appears there. If it does and it is not intended to be used from your Windows profile, select it and remove it.

If the problem continues, could you please confirm:

Are you and your wife using separate Windows user profiles, or do you both use the same Windows login? Does her account appear under Settings > Accounts > Email & accounts on your Windows profile? Does the incorrect “Choose a way to sign in” prompt appear in Word/Excel/Outlook, or also when you sign in through a web browser?

If possible, please share a screenshot of that screen, covering any email addresses or phone numbers.

Dennis Kennedy 20 Reputation points

2026-09-18T20:49:00.91+00:00

(My responses are embedded within your answer. Hope this helps)

Open Settings > Accounts > Email & accounts. [I could not find a path like this, but I'll include a screenshot of my account]

Under Accounts used by other apps, [I'm not sure what you mean by "Accounts used by other apps" but I'll include a screenshot of what you might mean] check whether your wife’s Microsoft account appears there. If it does and it is not intended to be used from your Windows profile, select it and remove it.

If the problem continues, could you please confirm:

Are you and your wife using separate Windows user profiles,[Yes] or do you both use the same Windows login? Does her account appear under Settings > Accounts > Email & accounts [No path like "Email & accounts. I'll include screenshot of something similar] on your Windows profile? Does the incorrect “Choose a way to sign in” prompt appear in Word/Excel/Outlook, or also when you sign in through a web browser? [Does not appear with these apps, but the included screenshot show its appearance in response to a notification to update Defender]

If possible, please share a screenshot of that screen, covering any email addresses or phone numbers.
Jeronimo Fuerte 48,700 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-18T23:11:30.49+00:00

Thanks for the screenshots. They clarify what is happening. In your first screenshot, the @zoominternet.net address that you identified as your wife's email is already associated with your Microsoft account under Account info.

More importantly, your second screenshot shows that same @zoominternet.net address as one of the available methods to verify the sign-in, together with a phone number ending in 04. This means those details are being offered as verification methods for the Microsoft account that Defender is asking you to authenticate. Microsoft allows an alternate email address — including a partner's email — or a phone number to be used to verify a Microsoft account.

So the email and text options you are seeing are not necessarily credentials for your wife's separate Windows account. They are security/sign-in information that has been associated with your Microsoft account.

Please sign in to your Microsoft account and go to Security > Manage how I sign in.

https://account.live.com/proofs/manage/additional

Review all the verification methods listed there. Check whether the @zoominternet.net address and the phone number ending in 04 are listed there. If they belong to your wife and you do not want them used to verify your account, you can add your own verification method first and then remove the unwanted ones.

I would not recommend removing the address from Account info / Sign-in preferences yet until we confirm whether it is also being used as an alias, because removing an alias is different from removing a verification method.

Also, there is no need to reinstall Microsoft 365 again at this point, since the screenshots indicate that this is related to the Microsoft account's sign-in/security configuration rather than the Office installation itself.