Apparently Microsoft locks paying customers out of their accounts. I had to reinstall Windows and when I tried installing MSFS2020, I put in my usual one of two passwords and now Microsoft doesn't recognize it. I clicked on the forgot password and it tells me it will mail me a verification code. It never showed up. I don't even remember any screenname for Microsoft. So after three attempts, they locked me out for 24 HOURS??? The password I saved is not working now. I cannot start my sim to install it past the loading screen. I have over a thousand dollars in payware I cannot access now. I see I'll have to create a new Microdix account and re-buy MSFS2020 and then pay for all the airports again? What a total scam they are running. Locking out paying customers is total BS. I'm beyond angry. This is absurd. I'm disabled and flight simming is all I got in life. I guess not anymore!

 

I am assuming there are no solutions that will not drive me further nutso dealing with this, and as mad as I am, I am not expecting anyone to help me, so I guess I'm just ranting and out of my only hobby now. Maybe I'll try rock collecting. That should be fun.

 

Caveat Emptor!

Edited March 5, 20251 yr by gryper

Do you use a password manager like LastPass or 1Password?  Sounds like it might be beneficial and while it is understandable to be upset this is a security decision on their part.  If you try multiple attempts with incorrect info they question if it is a brute force attack and lock it down.  Standard industry practice and something I seem to run into more and more as my brain tries to push out the old information to make room for new because it's a finite space in my head and if something new comes in something old has to go out!  

Can you file a helpdesk ticket?  Also, for MS remember it is probably going to be a hotmail address they send the reset link to, not necessarily your primary email... I forget this all the time and never check hotmail so I often miss them!!  I bought Office 2x once because of that LOL.

Edited March 5, 20251 yr by psolk

I think you should see this in a different perspective: they are not locking you out. They are locking out a person that is attempting to connect to your account three times in a row with an incorrect password, because that person shouldn't be allowed too many tries.

 

As a general remark:

If you can't remember your password (or if you think you remember, but it doesn't work), clicking on the 'forgot password' is the only way to go. Don't attempt to enter your password anymore until you received that email, and if you don't receive it, then wait a bit more and double-check your spam folder (or your other email accounts, if you have any).

Finally, double check that Windows is not changing your keyboard layout to another language... happened to me a few times 😕

Check your CapsLock and NumLock keys as well. 😉

34 minutes ago, Daube said:

As a general remark:

If you can't remember your password (or if you think you remember, but it doesn't work), clicking on the 'forgot password' is the only way to go. Don't attempt to enter your password anymore until you received that email, and if you don't receive it, then wait a bit more and double-check your spam folder (or your other email accounts, if you have any).

Finally, double check that Windows is not changing your keyboard layout to another language... happened to me a few times 😕

Check your CapsLock and NumLock keys as well. 😉

THIS.  As a retired IT Security Professional of 30+ years this advice is spot on.

-B

I can understand his frustration. Sometimes those "forgotten password" emails never arrive.

1. Did you perhaps install Windows with a different MS account? Perhaps the system is expecting a password from another account you might have.

2. Do or did you perhaps use another account for XBox than for Windows?

3. Did you perhaps buy MSFS on Steam?

1 hour ago, Daube said:

Finally, double check that Windows is not changing your keyboard layout to another language... happened to me a few times 😕

4. Could be it too indeed. Because you (the OP) just reinstalled Windows you might have another keyboard layout active without knowing it.
Did you try to type your known password in something like Notepad or in a browser (where you'd type a link) or at least anywhere else than on the login screen, simply to check of the password is typed as intended?
 

1 hour ago, gryper said:

I put in my usual one of two passwords

5. This sounds scary... do you really use two passwords for everything...? If that is so: regardless how all this with MSFS works out I'd advice you to NOT (and never) do that. Could well be your account has been hacked and someone changed your password AND your e-mailadress which is used for password recovery.
But anyway, did you also try the other password you apparently have?

6. Do you perhaps have multiple e-mail accounts? Did you check them all (also in the spam folder)?

Edited March 5, 20251 yr by mistolip

For those who plan to purchase MSFS2024 in the near (or not near) future, think about buying on Steam. It's so simple!

I understand your frustration but your impulsive actions won't justify more frustrating outcome. I've been locked out of Microsoft account several times few of them when I "flashed" my bios. There is always work around!  Microsoft Authenticator app is one of the way to go. You can install it on your phone and it will help you to unlock your account or recover you forgotten password. Give it a go!

24 minutes ago, edpatino said:

For those who plan to purchase MSFS2024 in the near (or not near) future, think about buying on Steam. It's so simple!

No, this won't help in this case. Even if you buy it on steam, you still need to sign in with your Xbox/Ms account to actually play the game - and if you lose that account, buying from Steam won't bring back all your in-sim purchases.

Edited March 5, 20251 yr by JonathanC

Call MS/Xbox support if that's still an option.  I did very early in 2020 and got thru and they resolved the issue quickly.

1 minute ago, JonathanC said:

No, this won't help in this case. Even if you buy it on steam, you still need to sign in with your Xbox/Ms account to actually play the game - and if you lose that account, buying from Steam won't bring back all your in-sim purchases.

Yes, you're right. I forgot that.

But, in general I would still recommend to purchase through Steam for daily use, as you wouldn't normally have to re-enter your credentials often to your Xbox account (in fact, me personally don't remember when was the last time I needed to sign up on Xbox for playing MSFS). In general, according to the last four years experience, as shown in the different threads here on Avsim, the Steam platform doesn't give you issues for playing the game compared to MS Store.

4 hours ago, Daube said:

I think you should see this in a different perspective: they are not locking you out. They are locking out a person that is attempting to connect to your account three times in a row with an incorrect password, because that person shouldn't be allowed too many tries.

 

Adding onto this, Microsoft is a many billions of dollars enterprise software company, if they didn’t comply with these sort of standards, no major companies would be able to use them. My company has an entire process for vetting new vendors and this is basic compliance stuff. 

Don't get me started on 2 step verification for non financial critical logins. 

"Dear user we have mandated 2 step verification for your account and found an old phone number in your profile that obviously no longer is accessible to you to make our service impossible for you to access from now on". 

2 hours ago, edpatino said:

as you wouldn't normally have to re-enter your credentials often to your Xbox account (in fact, me personally don't remember when was the last time I needed to sign up on Xbox for playing MSFS).

Yeah, but this has nothing to do with the delivery platform (Steam/MS Store). I also don't need to sign in, my Windows account is always signed in and it takes care of Single Sign On.

I'm not disagreeing with you per se, certainly Steam is a good place to buy the game, but buying on Steam will not save you from issues with Xbox/MS accounts. Steam is responsible for delivering the initial set of files to your computer, after which the rest of the install/running is managed exactly like it would be if you bought from the Store. 

Regardless, your sugesstion of buying from Steam is perfectly valid, just that account issues can bite you regardless.