My Authenticator app is sending me through a loophole, how do I fix it?

Austin Kolasinski 0 Reputation points
2025-11-04T01:33:22.4966667+00:00

I’m trying to send an email, but in order to do that I need to log into my school account. Every time I try to, it says I need to verify with my Authenticator app. However, I don’t have this account set up in my app and every time I try to add it, it says I need to verify the account through the app which I’m already using to try and add the account. I’m so confused because I have no way of verifying it if it’s not in the account so why would it even ask me to try to do it?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Subscription, account, billing | For business | Other
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  1. Mia - Tr 3,645 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-11-04T11:03:49.52+00:00

    Hi @Austin Kolasinski,

    Thank you for posting in Microsoft Q&A Forum.

    Based on your description, could you kindly confirm whether the school account you mentioned is provided by your institution? Typically, these accounts have a format such as @schooldomain or @edu.

    If that is the case, the situation you are experiencing is likely due to the MFA policy in your tenant requiring Authenticator number matching for all sign-in sessions. Since you have not yet added the account to the app, you are unable to complete verification. Therefore, you will need to reach out to your school’s administrator (the person who provided your account and has full permissions to manage accounts within your institution).

    If you're unsure who the admin is, please see: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support 

    Please kindly ask them to refer to this article to help reset your MFA settings: Manage user authentication methods for Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication.User's image

    Once the reset is complete, please follow this article to add your account back to the Microsoft Authenticator app: How to add your accounts to Microsoft Authenticator.

    I hope this helps. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any further questions or concern.

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

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