An account you cannot reach has not necessarily been hacked. The message on screen separates three very different situations.
Account "locked", "suspended", or simply refusing the password : these messages do not cover the same causes or the same steps. Start by reading exactly what it says.
Check the obvious things first : caps lock on, the keyboard layout switched to QWERTY, an accidental space at the end. Only then start a reset from Microsoft's official recovery page. See also forgotten Windows password.
Microsoft locks an account after several failed attempts, or when an unusual sign-in is detected - a trip abroad, a new device. Unlocking is done with a code sent to the registered verification method, and the matter is settled in a few minutes.
Rarer and more serious : Microsoft suspends an account when it detects mass sending of messages, a sign of a hijacked account. You then have to follow the reinstatement procedure given, and afterwards treat the account as compromised and secure everything.
This is the trickiest situation : phone number changed, recovery address abandoned. Microsoft offers a recovery form in which you prove your identity through a range of details - old passwords, subjects of recent messages, frequent contacts, the date the account was created. Processing generally takes a few days and does not always succeed first time. Answer as precisely as you can, from a device and a place you normally use.
Once you are back in, do not stop at changing the password. Check the automatic forwarding rules on the mailbox, the registered recovery addresses, the connected devices and the authorised apps. That is how access is quietly kept after a password change. See after a fraudulent link.
On a modern Windows machine, the Microsoft account often carries far more than the session : documents synced in OneDrive, the drive's BitLocker recovery key, the licences of certain programs. Permanently losing access to the account can therefore mean losing access to the drive itself if it is encrypted. That is why it is worth keeping a verification method up to date.
We cannot unlock an account for you - only Microsoft can - but we can help you build a solid recovery case, retrieve the data held on the machine, and set up clean access again. That is usually handled remotely.
Unlocking with a code is immediate. The identity recovery form generally takes a few days, and may need several attempts if the details given are too vague.
Yes, a local account is still possible. You lose syncing and the online backup of the BitLocker key, but the machine works normally.
Those that exist only in the cloud, yes. Those downloaded locally stay on the machine. It is a good argument for not depending on the cloud alone.
Would you rather we took care of it ? See our computer repair at home service, in Lyon and across the Rhone.
We guide you through recovery and secure everything afterwards.
Automatic assistant: it can make mistakes. Never share a password or a card number.
