Sole Admin Locked Out – Lost MFA Device – Need Access Reset

Dear @Natalie Karhu,

Thank you for contacting the Microsoft 365 Q&A forum community support team. I understand the critical issue you are facing you are locked out of your Microsoft 365 admin account because you no longer have access to the mobile device or app required for Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). 

Crucially, the Microsoft 365 Q&A forum community team, including myself, cannot directly reset MFA settings or issue temporary bypass codes. This is a security-sensitive action that can only be performed by Microsoft's Data Protection Team (sometimes referred to as the Business or Technical Support team) after a rigorous identity verification process. 

As a member of the community support team, I’m limited in my ability to access or make changes within your administrator account. For security and privacy reasons, only Microsoft’s dedicated support team has the necessary tools and authorization to assist with account-level issues such as resetting or troubleshooting deep within your account.  

Scenario 1: In case you are the Global Administrator and have another Global Admin in your organization. Please ask them to follow the step in the instruction above to reset your MFA. 

Scenario 2: In case you are the only Global Administrator and you are completely locked out from the tenant.  

Option 1: Contact Microsoft Support by Phone  

You might need to contact us via phone service number: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support. The agent will be able to create a ticket for you under the affected tenant and then transfer this ticket to Data Protection team who could help you to regain access.     

To help you navigate the automated phone system (IVR), here’s an example of how the conversation might go: 

• IVR: What kind of problem are you concerned about?  You: Multi-factor authentication (MFA) 
• IVR: What kind of product do you use?  You: Office 365 for business 
• IVR: Education or business account?  You: For business 
• IVR: Are you an administrator?  You: Yes 
• IVR: Do you have another administrator in your organization?  You: No 
• IVR: Do you need a service request?  You: Yes 

This should help you get connected to a live support agent who can assist you directly. 

Option 2: Create a Temporary Tenant to Submit a Support Ticket  

• Visit Microsoft 365 Business Standard—Free One-Month Trial | Microsoft 365  
• Select any plan and click Try for free.  
• Complete the setup to create a new tenant.  
• Ticket support: In the Microsoft 365 admin center>support>help & support. You can create a support ticket: https://admin.microsoft.com/#/support/requests   

Important: Please remember to cancel the trial subscription once your issue is resolved to avoid any charges.  

   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 the above information is clear. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Please let me know how it goes after trying the steps above. I’m here to help further if needed. 

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.