Be sure to set it up before you need it.
One of the important aspects of keeping your Microsoft account secure is to set up account recovery methods in case you ever lose access.
Your recovery email address is one of those things.
I’ll show you how to find out if you have one set already, add it if you don’t, and change it if you need to.
Your Microsoft account recovery email
Setting a recovery email address for your Microsoft account is crucial for account security and recovery. To check, add, or change your recovery email, sign into your account, navigate to Security, Advanced security options, and follow the prompts to update your recovery settings. Make sure you have at least one recovery address configured and that it’s correct.
Your existing recovery email address
Let’s check to see if you have a recovery email set up. Start by clicking on your profile picture icon or letters in the upper right of your Outlook.com email page.
(You must be able to sign in to your Microsoft account to see or change this sensitive account information. If you cannot, you’ll need to recover access to your account first. The following assumes you have access to your account.)
Click on the My Microsoft account link.
This will open a new page.
Click on the Security link in the left-hand pane.
This will cause a variety of Security options to be displayed.
Click on Advanced security options.
This will open a page called “Ways to prove who you are”.
If you see an envelope followed by “Email a code”, that line lists a recovery email address. You can see I have two configured for this account: leo@askleo.com and an additional one. I also have options to send a sign-in notification to the Microsoft authenticator on my smartphone or use Windows Hello on two other machines.
If you don’t see “Email a code”, you have no recovery email address configured. You should add one now.
Adding a recovery email address
Click on Add a new way to sign in or verify at the bottom of the existing list.
You’ll be asked which approach you want to add.
Click on Email a code.
Enter the alternate email address you want to add. It must be different than the email address of this account, but it can be any other email address to which you have access.
Click on Next. A code will be sent to the email address you’ve specified.
This proves you have access to the alternate account you’re attempting to set up. Enter the code, click Next, and you’ll find this new email address listed in the “Ways to prove who you are”.
Note: At some points during this process, you may be asked to prove who you are to be allowed to make the change. This prevents someone from walking up to your computer and making changes to your already-signed-in account without your knowledge or permission.
Changing a recovery email address
Changing your recovery email address once you’ve set it up is easy.
In the “Ways to prove who you are” list, click on the item you want to remove. Additional information about that entry will be displayed.
Click on Remove. You’ll be asked to confirm.
Click on Remove, and the alternate email address will be removed.
Do this
It’s crucial to have account recovery information set up for your account. Not doing so is the number one reason people lose access to their accounts permanently. As you can see in the examples above, you can set up multiple email addresses and other methods.
Check to see that you have at least one set up. Make sure it’s correct and that it’s an active account you currently have access to. If not, add or change as needed.
I also recommend you subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week.
OK Leo, pardon my 86 year old density, but I never used Outlook. Do I even HAVE a Microsoft account? I have a password to get into Windows but ??? am I messing out by not using Outlook? I don’t know what Outlook even does. Should I care? I’m never the only one that’s puzzled so please, for people who don’t and probably won’t use Outlook (whatever it is), do I have a Microsoft account and how do I secure access to it?
First, “what is Outlook” has a sadly complicated answer: https://askleo.com/how_do_outlook_and_outlookcom_relate/
If you sign in to your Windows machine with an email address, that’s a Microsoft account.
From the context of your question, I’d guess the Outlook, in this case, is an Outlook.com email address. Hotmail.com, Live.com, and MSN.com are all Outlook.com email addresses. The account is Outlook.com and it can have Hotmail.com, Live.com, and MSN.com addresses.
And of course the recovery e-mail address should have protection & recovery options enabled
Excellent article and video as always. However, clicking on “Security” in the left-hand pane just now brings up a bunch of Security options in a format different than that shown in your screenshot. The “Advanced security options” link isn’t included. I can’t see any obvious way to change my account recovery email address.
In Windows 11 25H2, things are set up differently. To sign in from Windows, Open Settings, Select Accounts @left, Under Account settings in the list in the right pane scroll down and open the Your accounts item by clicking the right arrow at the right. In the resulting screen, click the down arrow at the right of your Microsoft account to expand the listing, then click the Manage button to open your Microsoft account in your browser.
On your Microsoft account’s home page, click the hamburger icon (left) to expand the menu and choose Security to access the Security page. On this screen, click the “Manage how I sign in” button to access the option for ways to sign in. The first option “Email a code” is used for account verification. There are several other options available too that you may want to set up. At the bottom of the page is an option to generate a new recovery code. I suggest you get that and store it somewhere secure so you can recover access to your account, even if you lose access to all the other options you’ve configured.
A while back, I got a new phone, and after setting it up, I wiped my old phone with a factory reset for security purposes, without considering that I hadn’t set up the Microsoft Authenticator app on my new phone yet. Shortly after that, I performed a clean install of Windows 11 on my primary laptop, but when it came to signing into my Microsoft account, I couldn’t because I didn’t have the authenticator app set up on my new phone. Fortunately, I had a recovery code stored in my safe, so I was able to regain access to my account and set up multiple ways to sign in, including getting the Authenticator app set up on my new phone and saving a passkey in my 1passwoed vault. Since then, I’ve generated a new recovery code, saving a hard copy of the print out to store in my office safe, and I’ve stored the code itself into a note in my 1password vault. Following that experience, I’ve become a belt & suspenders man! I prefer the convenience of the passkey, especially because I can use it from any of my three computers, or any device from which I can access my 1password account, but I also have my alternate email account and my emergency recovery code as backups, just in case!
I hope this helps,
Ernie
Good day to you Leo,
Excellent tutorial! Thank you. Allow me to suggest a small addition, specifically with regards to the part “Advanced security options”.
For one reason or the other I did not get that window/panel.
At clicking [Security] I am getting a panel reading “Microsoft helps you stay protected online” with subsections “Account”, “Data” and “Devices”. Expanding “Account” there is a button “Manage how I sign in”. Once clicking on that the “Ways to prove who you are” window shows up. The rest is the same. Was a bit puzzled as to how to get to the ‘Advanced Security options’ window. 🙂
Keep up the good work!
Microsoft is constantly changing their user interface. This article’s a little over a year old, and it doesn’t surprise me that they might be making changes in that time.
Hello all.
Is it possible that the version of Windows operating system might have something to do with the layout of the page? Meaning Windows 10 might appear different than Windows 11, or even Windows 11 Pro having a different layout?
Thanks.
You mean the web page? That seems very unlikely.
Thank you for this article, it helped me work out how to add a recovery email to my outlook/hotmail account when the MS search box didn’t come up with an answer.
Can you help to sigh in my youtube?
YouTube is Google. You sign in to YouTube via your Google (Gmail) account. If you’s lost your Google login, see this article:
https://askleo.com/access-gmail-without-phone-verification/
Hello Leo, Thanks for you youtube. I have 2 questions
1. Can I add my mobile phone to my microsoft account besides a recovery email? if yes how I do that.
2. I have a second question, my wife cannot access het outlook email acoount & is getting error:”Please retry with a different device or other authentication method to sign in.”
I have no idea how to repair it, can you help on this.
Hello Leo, Thanks for you youtube. I have 2 questions
1. Can I add my mobile phone to my microsoft account besides a recovery email? if yes how I do that.
2. I have a second question, my wife cannot access het outlook email acoount & is getting error:”Please retry with a different device or other authentication method to sign in.”
I have no idea how to repair it, can you help on this.
I answered this question when you sent it through our Ask a Question page. Please only ask in one place. I’ll include the answer here for the benefit of others who may have the same problem.
1. Yes
Go to https://account.microsoft.com/security.
Sign in with your Microsoft account.
Under Security info, click Update info.
Select Add a new way to sign in or verify.
Choose Phone number.
Enter your mobile number and select Text or Call for verification.
Enter the verification code sent to your phone.
2. On the sign-in screen, click Sign in another way.
Use backup options like email, alternate phone, or recovery codes.
From a different device, go to https://account.microsoft.com/security.
Check if the correct phone number or email is listed.
Add or update methods if needed.
If Locked Out, go to https://account.live.com/password/reset.
Follow prompts using available recovery options.
I have 3 or 4 recovery email addresses and 1 phone number for account recovery for all my accounts, email. social media etc. Be as redundant sd xou possibly can. The first thing I learned as an Ask Leo! reader was the importance of backing up and account recovery backup is essential.
This article focuses on Microsoft accounts because Microsoft is pushing connecting your computer to a Microsoft (outlook.com) and most people are signing up because it’s the path of least resistance. Lose your Microsoft account, you can lose access to a lot on your computer.
There is no ‘Advanced security options’ displaying in my Microsoft account Security section.
I’m using Microsoft Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024 in Windows 11 Pro 24H2.
However, if you click on ‘Manage how I sign in’, it will take you to the page displaying the Account Recovery options.
You might want to add that as an addendum to your posting.
By the way, I find your AskLeo clips extremely useful and informative, and I tell everyone I support to subscribe.
Very glad you’ve recovered.
Interestingly, when I went to my Microsoft home page to ensure my proper alternate email account is still up to date and correct, I noticed that the only device my account shows is my desktop computer. Why don’t I see my two laptops any more? Since this doesn’t seem to affect my use of my computers, or access to my Microsoft account, this doesn’t appear to be a critical issue, but I’m still curious about it and whether it may represent an issue going forward,
Ernie