The "Keep access to your account with a recovery method" box in Outlook.com is real. Microsoft shows it so you can still get back in if you forget your password, and its Review recovery method button opens Microsoft's own account page.
It usually keeps coming back because Outlook remembers your answer in the browser, not in your account. Private windows and cookies that clear when the browser closes wipe it, so the box asks again at the next sign-in.
Finish the check once in a normal window and keep Microsoft's cookies, and it should stop. A box with no Not now button is a different one, covered further down.
In this guide
Is the recovery method pop-up real or a scam?
The genuine box sits on top of your inbox right after you sign in to Outlook.com. Select Review recovery method and a new tab opens on account.live.com, Microsoft's own account site. If the address bar shows any other site, close that tab without typing anything.
Emails are where scammers copy the wording. Microsoft's account emails come from addresses ending in @accountprotection.microsoft.com, and its guide to trusting account email says a message from that domain is safe to open.
Even with the right sender, I'd skip the link. Type account.microsoft.com into the address bar yourself, sign in, and check your recovery info under Security.
1. Finish the check, including Looks good
Select Review recovery method, and in the tab that opens make sure your backup email address and phone number are ones you can still reach. Fix any that aren't.
Then switch back to the Outlook tab. A second screen there asks whether your info is up to date, and it's easy to miss because it sits in the tab you left: select Looks good. Close Outlook and open it again to test.
2. Clear Outlook's cookies once, then repeat the check
When the box still returns in a normal window, clear Outlook's cookies once and do step 1 again. It worked for an owner on Microsoft's Q&A forum.
After clearing Firefox's history and cookies and repeating the steps, they saw the box once per sign-in, then not again for the rest of the session.
In Firefox, the shield icon left of the address bar has Clear cookies and site data for the site you're on. The clearing cookies page covers the other browsers and what else clearing signs you out of.
3. Stop the browser deleting Microsoft's cookies
A browser that deletes cookies when it closes forgets your answer each time, so the box returns at every sign-in. Turn that setting off in your browser's privacy settings, or keep it and let Microsoft's addresses keep their cookies.
One owner allowed Outlook's own cookies and still saw the box, so I'd allow the sign-in addresses too: outlook.live.com, login.live.com and account.live.com.
4. Keep Outlook out of private windows
Private and incognito windows throw away their cookies when they close. A volunteer on the same forum tested it: the box came back after every sign-in in a private window, and only once per account in a normal one.
So open Outlook.com in a normal window and keep private browsing for everything else. If you browse privately all the time, the box will keep asking, because nothing survives the window closing.
5. Change one recovery detail, then put it back
When the first four steps don't stop it, a change to the account itself has worked. One owner whose methods all showed Up to date removed their recovery email while signed in normally, and the box stopped at once.
Adding the same address back didn't bring the box back. Do this only when a second working method is listed, such as another email address or the Microsoft Authenticator app, so you're never left without a way to prove it's you.
6. Press Not now when you're busy
Not now closes the box and leaves your account exactly as it was, so you can do the check another day. It will ask again at a later sign-in.
When the box has no Not now button
That's a different request, tied to Microsoft's move away from text-message codes. Microsoft says it "will start phasing out SMS as a method of authentication and account recovery for personal Microsoft accounts".
Instead of text-message codes to your phone, it wants a verified backup email and a passkey. The option to add a new phone number may not be offered any more.
To add one, go to account.microsoft.com, sign in, select Security, then Manage how I sign in, and choose Add a new way to sign in or verify.
Pick an email address you can open. It doesn't have to be yours: a partner's or family member's works, and it gets a code to confirm it. A passkey is the other choice, and it signs you in with your face, fingerprint or device PIN.
What didn't help
Changing the password didn't stop it for one owner, who also marked their methods up to date several times. Another reviewed the recovery details again and again, and the box kept coming.
Adding yet another recovery method isn't the cure for the repeat either: owners who already had several still saw it.
If the press and hold check blocks your sign-in before you even reach the inbox, the press and hold page covers that.
If none of this stops it, Microsoft can check the account itself. Go to support.microsoft.com, select Contact Support, and describe the repeating box.
Its agents never send password reset links or change account details for you, so treat anyone who offers to as a scammer.
Is there a setting to turn off the recovery method reminder?
Microsoft doesn't offer one. Not now puts it off, and finishing the check with Looks good, in a browser that keeps Microsoft's cookies, is what stops the repeats.
Why does the recovery method box keep coming back?
Outlook appears to check your browser for a marker saying you've already done the check. Private windows and cookies that clear on exit remove that marker, so it asks again. A box with no Not now button is Microsoft asking for a backup email or passkey as it moves away from text-message codes.
Has Microsoft fixed the repeating pop-up?
Not as of November 8, 2026. It isn't on Microsoft's list of known Outlook.com issues, and the forum threads about it have no fix from Microsoft.
The Short Version
- The box is real when it appears in Outlook.com and its button opens account.live.com.
- It repeats when your browser loses its data: private windows and cookies that clear on exit.
- Finish the check, then select Looks good back in the Outlook tab.
- Clear Outlook's cookies once and do the check again.
- Let Microsoft's sign-in sites keep their cookies, and use a normal window.
- Still there? Remove and re-add your recovery email, with another method in place.
- No Not now button means Microsoft wants a backup email or passkey instead of text codes.
Checked November 8, 2026.
