This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(147.20000000000002, 30%, 24%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ENB%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
I have successfully restored Authenticator to a new phone. All the accounts are working except for the five Microsoft 365 work accounts that I use.
They all tell me, "Action required. Scan the QR code provided by your organization to finish recovering this account".
When I log into My Account (myaccount.microsoft.com), I can't find anywhere where a QR code is displayed.
Where do I find the QR codes that Authenticator is looking for?
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(246.4, 45%, 33%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EGM%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Thank you so much (Takudzwa A Vafana). A really helpful and clear solution to the hours I've spent elsewhere. Awesome.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(188.79999999999998, 82%, 28%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ECM%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
As of Sep 2023 you can find the QR code for "Action Required. Scan the QR code provided..." here:
https://mysignins.microsoft.com/security-info
Security info > + Add sign-in method > Choose a method > Authenticator App > Add
Then click 'Next' through all the prompts until it says 'Set up your account' and a QR code is generated.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(140.8, 16%, 23%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EBH%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
As of 3/23/24 Charlotte Miriam Rogers seems to still be accurate - thank you. My problem with this entire behavior is the how Microsoft is misleading during the process. If this app has the ability to be backed up and restored, then let it do that. If it can't restore the Microsoft account, tell me. Do NOT tell me to scan the QR code "provided by your organization" when there's no such thing and you waste my time and my Admin's time trying to find such a code. Tell me to reset this account from scratch, because that's what's taking place. Tangent topic: why is the backup process limited to a personal MS account - how does that make sense?
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(188.79999999999998, 81%, 28%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EAO%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Bill Halfmann has it bang on - it is a terrible error dialogue that MS have chosen and causes lots of fraught conversations between IT support teams and staff/ users who ALL INSIST you must give them a QR code when actually you need to 're-require multi factor authentication' (and since MS Entra, that's moved to a different place than with Azure. Dumb move MS !!! PLEASE fix it
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(57.599999999999994, 54%, 15%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ECH%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
I agree with both of the above folks. How many people that work in IT have had to get a new phone.. What a horror when I have to re do 100's of accounts. Also being the owner of my business, who thought it was a great idea to let people use their business email for a personal account. Talk about double confusion when they leave the company, we delete the address and not they can't reset it. Microsoft needs to work on the basics.. AI,, your guys need to just figure out the intelligence part first.
Try here.
https://account.activedirectory.windowsazure.com/r/#/profile
then additional security verification
This comment has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The comment was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(230.39999999999998, 35%, 32%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ECH%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
This does NOT show the QR code that Authenticator needs to restore an existing account following its Restore from Backup on the phone.
This comment has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The comment was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(256, 53%, 34%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EMB%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
"then additional security verification" this options doesn't exist.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(272, 34%, 36%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EMH%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The problem with this solution is accessing the security info in your account settings requires successful authentication (at least in my environments), which you can't complete if your authenticator isn't working. Someone from your IT department (me) has to require re-registeration of your MFA. As an admin, I've been unable to find a way to help someone recover their Microsoft Authenticator other than clicking the option "Require re-register multifactor authentication" within Entra. Having backups enabled in Microsoft Authenticator doesn't seem to do anything for enterprise accounts. My personal Microsoft Account was recovered, but none of my enterprise or business accounts were. All of those say I need to scan a QR code from my organization to finish recovering those, which is basically the same process as not having backups turned on in the first place.
If you're a 365 admin, you can go here https://aad.portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_AAD_IAM/ActiveDirectoryMenuBlade, look up the user, click authentication methods in the left pane (it's also displayed as a center tile for me) then click the Require re-register multifactor authentication option at the top. Now, when the user tries to access their security info at office.com or http://aka.ms/mfasetup, instead of being prompted to complete an authentication request, they'll instead be prompted that their organization requires additional setup. Follow the wizard (next, next, etc.), and it will display the QR code.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(0, 57.99999999999999%, 10%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ELE%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Still stuck in a loop asking for verification on authenticator (which I can't access)
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(140.8, 14.000000000000002%, 23%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ES%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
yes i found the answer
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(172.8, 76%, 26%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EMA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
where is it?? I cannot login
Thanks, DSPatrick, but I hope that not the only way. Account admins have better things to do than reset 2FA every time an employee swaps phones.
One of my accounts is a vendor account in Microsoft's tenant. They must have hundreds of thousands of accounts and there's got to be a better way than trying to raise a ticket to get an admin to perform a 2FA reset.
I was able to reset one of the accounts by deleting it and adding it again. I was asked for a 2FA method and chose SMS, and that worked. Perhaps I'll try that for the others.
Ok, sounds good then. You can try signing in on desktop (https://www.office.com/) then account\security info to Add a new sign in method.
Thanks, I explored all the pages of the My Account area within Microsoft 365. I had to authenticate with every page I visited (very annoying) but wasn't able to find a QR code anywhere.
Go to your profile, then additional security verification