While creating a Microsoft account, the sign-up page asks you to add an alternative email address and a phone number as security information to your Microsoft account. The alternative email address and phone number will be used when you want to change or reset forgotten Microsoft account password or to alert you if Microsoft finds suspicious activity on your account.
It’s a good idea to keep the phone number and alternative email address associated with your Microsoft account to up-to-date. Therefore, when you change your phone number or alternative email address, be sure to change the phone number or alternative email address linked to your Microsoft account as well.
In this guide, we will explain how to change the phone number associated with your Microsoft account.
Complete the given below instructions to change or remove your Microsoft account phone number.
Changing phone number associated with your Microsoft account
Step 1: First of all, head over to this page of Microsoft in a web browser. As always, sign in to your Microsoft account.
Step 2: Once you sign-in, you will see the following page with various details about your Microsoft account. Click the Security tab.
Step 3: On this page, you should see options to change your password, update security information, and review recent activity. Click Update info button.
Step 4: Clicking the Update info button will take you to the following page where you need to verify your identity by either selecting your current contact number or secondary email address.
Choose one of the options, enter last four digits of your phone number currently associated with your Microsoft account or type the secondary email address, and then click Send code button to receive the verification code to your phone number or secondary email address.
Step 5: Type in the verification code. Click the Submit button to verify your identity.
Step 6: Upon successfully verifying your identity, you will see this page with security information. To change your Microsoft account phone number, click the Remove link next to your contact number. If you don’t have a contact number for your account, skip to the next step to add one.
When you see the confirmation dialog, click Remove button to remove the phone number from your account.
Step 7: Now, on the same page, click Add security info link.
Step 8: Select A phone number from the first drop-down box, select your country, enter your phone number which you want to associate with your Microsoft account, and select a method to verify the contact number (text or call).
Click Next button.
Step 9: If you have chosen text method to verify your number, you will receive a code to your phone. Finally, enter the code received on the phone in the field and then click Next button. And if you opted for a call, you will receive a call from Microsoft to verity the contact number. That’s it! You have successfully changed or added your phone number to your Microsoft account.
If you want to receive alerts (when Microsoft finds unusual activity on your account), click Change alert options link on the same page, and simply check the box next to your phone number.
Hope you find this guide helpful!
Norma K Hosea says
My husband is unable to access his computer. Microsoft Outlook account. It is requesting a pin number which he does not have. The number for receiving is a landline number so it is impossible to get what he needs to enter the pin number. Our son set up the computer for us, we are in our 80’s and all of this is past our understanding. I have put in a call to him to help us with this issue. He had to help me with my account about a month ago. landline number issue with my account as well.
Beverley Williams says
When trying to place my comment here, it has been wiped. Starting again.
My emails have been held to ransom for my free account. Security Verification has been held over my emails for 8weeks now, the computer has been in a technical shop several times, microsoft allows access one day, only to have the verification placed on my accounts the next day. Of course I try to access, and am blocked out again for trying too many times. I give the required info and next day am blocked again. Microsoft has sent emails and codes, only to have the same problem next day and redo everything again. And trying to eliminate my house landline phone from the account is herondeous, even giving another person’s account to receive my codes, that person’s emails has been stopped. This security verification needs a complete scraping and rewritten. Not everyone can continue to pay for computer geru to try and fix computer. I have been told to get another computer and forget about microsoft.
Thomas Smart says
Hi,
In my Microsoft account the text-able phone number is wrong and when Microsoft want me to identify it is me, the texted code Microsoft sends is trying to go to a landline phone and not to a mobile. I tried to change the number, but I need a code, which I can’t receive. Not being tech savvy at my age it is too confusing to try all the other stuff on the site.
Does anyone have an easy solution to change the phone number to a mobile phone number without going through all the B.S.
feedback says
Typical M$ rubbish. Irrelevant instructions and screenshots. Does NOT work. Instead of linking to the update, there is a link to a page that does NOT match the description and images.
Giancarlo says
It works great. Thanks.
sandy says
Over a time period of a year or so, I created 3 Outlook accounts; one for me to take advantage of email aliases, one for a not so tech savvy friend to exchange pics of my Road Trip, and one for my father so he could migrate from Gmail. I tested each one by sending a single email. Within several days, all 3 were “Temporarily Suspended”! Microsoft claim was that these accounts had been used in a manner that they violated their terms of use. And of course, Microsoft would not show any proof that they were in violation. When creating these accounts I used the “alternate email” option. To gain access to the accounts they demanded a text-able phone number, an access code would be sent and I had 10 minutes to use the access code. My opinion; the option to use the “alternate email” option is to have accounts created by people who do not want to fork over their personal contact info only to extort that info later by holding the accounts hostage. I also believe Microsoft wants to use these phone numbers later for spamming purposes later, especially if they ever get back into providing window based phones. One other thing, for the Outlook account I have, over 90% of the rules I have created are to block the barrage of spam from Microsoft. The notifications were driving me nuts! And when you create these rules, it is not straight forward to create a rule for a specific domain. Microsoft uses a wide variety of email addresses to push their spam,