If you tried to sign in with your Microsoft account and you received a message that said:
"Your security info change is still pending" or "You can't access this site right now"
It's because all the security info (such as alternate contact methods) that you previously added to your account was removed and replaced with new info. You need to wait 30-days for the changes to take effect.
Tips:
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Security info is any alternate contact info such as an email or phone number that you added for account verification purposes. SeeMicrosoft account security info and verification codes for more information.
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If you're not the person who made the security change and suspect your account was compromised, see the "You didn't make the changes" section below.
What you can and can't do during the pending request
Whenall security info is removed from a Microsoft account, theaccount is put into a restricted state for 30-days.
While we understand this 30-day period might be frustrating,thisis done to protect and alert you in case the security info was removed by someone who had unauthorized access to your account.
We'll send notifications during the 30-days to the original security info, which could be a phone number or email address. These notifications are sent to alert you thatchanges were made to your security info.
If youremoved this security, you might have the optionto cancel the request. See below.
Cancel the request to remove security info
We can't expedite the 30-day process unless you cancel the request.
You can cancel the request if you removed the security info yourself. If you didn't remove the info, and you think this may have been done by someone with unauthorized access, follow the steps to alert us of this.
You were the person who removed the security info
If you're the person who removed all the security verification methods for your Microsoft account, you can go ahead and cancel the request from the Security info change is still pending window.
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Sign in to the Security page for your Microsoft account.
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On the Your security info change is still pending window, select the link,cancel this request and follow the prompts. You'll need access to these security proofs to complete the cancel request.
You didn't make the security info changes to your account
If you're not the person who made the security change and suspect your account was compromised, do the following:
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Sign in to the Security page for your Microsoft account.
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On the Your security info change is still pending window, select the link,let us know towards the bottom of the window and follow the prompts.
What you can do during the 30-day pending period
The table below lists what you can or can'taccess to during the 30-day period.
Important:If 2-factor verification was turned on, you won't haveaccess to anything in the table below. Your options are to wait the 30-days or cancel the request following the steps above.
When trying to access a page or perform a specific task, you might see a message that says,"You can't access this site right now." This message occurs because these pagescontain sensitive info and requireadditional security verification.To access anything marked as You won't below,wait for the 30-days period to end or cancel the request.
You want to... | What you can and can't do |
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Access services | You can: Youwon't: |
Manage payments | You can:
You won't: |
Make updates that require a security code | You won't:
|
Security best practices
Here are a few things you can do to help you avoid endingup in this pending state again.
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Use an authenticator app
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Avoid changing all security info at once.
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Set reminders to regularly review all your security info and make sure it'sstill valid.
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Make sure there's more than one security option on your account.
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If a phone number is one of your security options, make sure the number is still valid and this number can receive text messages.
See Also
How to recover a hacked or compromised Microsoft account