Some of the accounts in Microsoft Authenticator are disabled, why?

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RodAtWork asked Apr 1, '22 DSPatrick edited Apr 7, '22

Some of the accounts in Microsoft Authenticator are disabled, why?

I've been using Microsoft Authenticator on my Samsung phone for over a year. At work they're introducing MFA. We're going to be using Microsoft Authenticator. I thought I'd be OK, since I already have the app installed. However, there appears to be a problem. All of the services I would use with Microsoft Authenticator are dimmed out in Microsoft Authenticator. They have a gray background and are disabled. I cannot do anything with them.

Why is that? What can I do to actually use them in Microsoft Authenticator?

microsoft-authenticator

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Answer 1 · 2022-04-01T16:17:16.253Z

DSPatrick answered Apr 1, '22 RodAtWork commented Apr 5, '22

It may be the two factor was turn off on the service provider's side. You could try setting them up again.

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RodAtWork · Apr 03 at 02:17 PM

Hi @DSPatrick, do I try to set things up again from the provider's side? I can't see how I can remove them from within Microsoft Authenticator.

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RodAtWork RodAtWork · Apr 05 at 01:59 PM

Yesterday I tried, repeatedly, to reset one of the accounts that is grayed out on my phone. My other Microsoft account. I went to the Microsoft account in a web browser. Then I tried to turn on MFA. It had me enter my Microsoft email address, which I did. Then it said it would send me a code to continue with the setup process.

I waited 30 minutes for that code to arrive. It never arrived.

I tried doing it two more times, with the same result of nothing being sent to me.

After wasting 90 minutes trying to turn MFA on to that Microsoft account, with it NEVER sending me any code at all, I gave up! What in heck is the point of setting up MFA, if the provider (Microsoft in this case) refuses to work with me?

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Answer 2 · 2022-04-03T14:31:49.987Z

DSPatrick answered Apr 3, '22 RodAtWork commented Apr 3, '22

do I try to set things up again from the provider's side?

Yes

I can't see how I can remove them from within Microsoft Authenticator.

If the account appears greyed out try removing the account from the phone settings.

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RodAtWork · Apr 03 at 03:00 PM

OK, then I'll go over some of these to try and figure this out. Most are with my employer, but one is with my personal Microsoft account. I'll start with that one, because it's also confusing.

On my personal Microsoft account, I have two in MS Authenticator. One says "Microsoft", it has my email address, and it is enabled. The second one says, "live.com", it has the same email address as the first one, but it is disabled. That doesn't make sense to me, but it's what I've got.

(cont.)

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RodAtWork RodAtWork · Apr 03 at 03:00 PM

Oops, I just discovered that I've got a second, personal Microsoft account in MS Authenticator, that's associated with another personal Microsoft account I have. It says, "Outlook", then it gives the email address for the other personal Microsoft account I have, but it is disabled. There's only one entry in MS Authenticator for that second Microsoft account.

Now onto the entries for my work. This is where things get complicated. I'll say up front that what I'm about to describe, I have never understood. And I've asked several people at work why this situation exists. No one has given me an explanation. I'm getting the feeling that no one knows. It exists, no one can explain it, but we all must deal with it.

(cont)

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RodAtWork RodAtWork · Apr 03 at 03:01 PM

Now I'll make this more concrete to try and keep things straight. I work for a large state department in the state of New Mexico. We all have two email addresses. One is associated with the domain nmhealth.org. It is what I log into Windows with, what all my licenses are associated with, where our Office 365 for Business is associated, etc. However, and this is very important, there is no Inbox at my nmhealth.org email address. Then I have another email address associated with the domain state.nm.us. Nothing is associated with that, except that this is where I get email. You have no idea how much confusion this causes and the problems that happen. I have contacted Microsoft technical support or other vendors to get help on an issue, but I must try and explain that yes, my licenses are associated with my nmhealth.org email address, but there's no email there, you must send it to my state.nm.us email address, which isn't associated with my license.... I have lost MANY emails from technical support because of this duality email, etc.

(cont)

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Answer 3 · 2022-04-03T15:01:39.007Z

RodAtWork answered Apr 3, '22

So, in MS Authenticator my account associated with the domain nmhealth.org is named "Nmhealth", it is disabled and shows my email nmhealth.org email address (but like I said, there's no email Inbox there). Then I've got another entry in MS Authenticator associated with my state.nm.us email named "State", that shows my email address with the state.nm.us domain. Both are disabled. How do I fix these two work related accounts?

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Answer 4 · 2022-04-03T15:37:25.313Z

DSPatrick answered Apr 3, '22 DSPatrick commented Apr 4, '22

If you need to reestablish them then I'd contact the site admins for assistance. If you simply wanted them gone then try removing the accounts from the phone settings.

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DSPatrick · Apr 04 at 12:45 PM

Just checking if there's any progress or updates?

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Answer 5 · 2022-04-05T15:45:15.513Z

DSPatrick answered Apr 5, '22 DSPatrick edited Apr 6, '22

I can't see how I can remove them from within Microsoft Authenticator. Yesterday I tried, repeatedly, to reset one of the accounts that is grayed out on my phone.

How are you trying? Try removing the account from the phone settings. On my android phone it is Settings\Passwords and accounts

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RodAtWork · Apr 06 at 10:59 PM

There is no Settings\Passwords and accounts on my Samsung phone.

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Answer 6 · 2022-04-06T23:37:30.253Z

DSPatrick answered Apr 6, '22 DSPatrick edited Apr 7, '22

Sorry, I didn't have a samsung phone to look at. You can follow along here.
https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00062033/

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