Account Recovery Useless with MFA?

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  chorekchyan · Member · Apr 3, 2026 at 6:22 pm

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  I have a different account that I’m unable to log in with. I have the username, password, access to the email. At some point 2 years ago I apparently had MFA set up. This is a work account that I now need to start using to administer work DNS.

  I currently have no way to log in due to MFA.

  I have the correct credentials, but nothing works. Password reset lets me reset the password, but still asks for MFA during logon. Email link logon works, but still asks for MFA to complete the logon. Account recovery does not let me do anything since I dont have any of the methods, (and frustratingly says if you have access to the email you dont need the recovery page)

  I’m at a loss. What can I do?

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  staartmees · Member · Apr 4, 2026 at 7:24 am

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  If you set up that 2FA over here on the wordpress.com platform, you got a set of backup codes you had to save or print out. You must use one of the backup codes instead of the 2FA code.

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  chorekchyan · Member · Apr 4, 2026 at 1:42 pm

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  so it is totally unrecoverable and there is nothing WordPress can do? Not even delete / recreate the account? It’s literally part of a paid plan

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  staartmees · Member · Apr 4, 2026 at 2:57 pm

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  No it isn’t totally unrecoverable, I don’t know where you got that idea from. If and only if you have a paid plan on the wordpress.com platform, you must the Transaction ID to restore access – https://wordpress.com/support/account-recovery/?#transaction-id

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  chorekchyan · Member · Apr 4, 2026 at 3:55 pm

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  My account was created because I was invited to join the company by the owner of a particular site

  As a result, there are no receipts in my name

  There is no transaction number or link. I have all the emails sent to be from wordpress from 4 years ago, and there is no activation link in any of them, just things says 2fa was registered, I was invited, I have been added to the org to contribute. I tried any of the URLs in the emails to submit as activation links but no avail.

  In the account recovery area, there is nothing for me to successfully contact support and request help.

  So, there is nothing for me to do with support, its not possible or so obfuscated that it’s impossible.

  Luckily, I was able to access an old password manager where some credentials were stored and I was able to pull the recovery codes from there. I’m currently under the impression that if that old password manager was wiped or deprovisioned I’d be SOL.

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  justjennifer · Member · Apr 4, 2026 at 5:34 pm

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  Hi there @chorekchyan glad to hear that you were able to recover your other account’s 2FA codes in the end. This is why it really is important to print out and keep those codes in a safe place if 2FA is enabled on a site, as @staartmees mentioned.

  Just a heads up that you cannot “delete and recreate” a WordPress.com account. Once an account is deleted, after 30 days it cannot be recovered or reused. https://wordpress.com/support/close-account/#when-you-close-your-account

  Given your experience trying to recover and log in with your other account, I’m tagging your thread for staff to note your feedback on the issues you encountered.