Microsoft 365 Authenticator App problems

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Pat Duffy

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Sep 6, 2023, 11:08:14 AM9/6/23
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Hi all
relatively new to Microsoft 365 Education here as we're a "Google School", so apologies if this question is daft !! 
Got some classes of students to register for Microsoft 365 A1 accounts, no issues until it came to the second day login. It required the Microsoft Authenticator app, students downloaded it, but most couldn't still log in. The phone network coverage in the room is practically zero, could that be the issue? 

Also, it is possible as an admin to completely turn off all 2FA for these accounts? It's over the top if you ask me. Spent ages rummaging through settings & reading forums, no luck. 

Opinions appreciated. Thanks in advance 
P 

Amanda O Farrell

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Sep 6, 2023, 11:17:47 AM9/6/23
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This is from Maynooth Uni's website


What you want to do it to change the 2nd form if identification from SMS to App - so that the App generates a code so you don't need a cellular signal.
See the last link on the image.

Hope this helps

Amanda O’Farrell (She/Her) B.Sc., M.Sc. in Computing
Lecturer in Computing
School of Enterprise Computing & Digital Transformation

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Subject: [CESI List] Microsoft 365 Authenticator App problems
 

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Greg Ashe

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Sep 6, 2023, 12:10:57 PM9/6/23
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2FA / MFA / 2SV - can be a PITA for students as it generally requires access to smartphone which students may not be allowed to use/have in class.

We enforce 2SV (Google) for teachers but not for students. We also advise using Authenticator app to avoid reliance on SMS.

Gregory Ashe
IT Manager



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Pat Duffy

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Sep 6, 2023, 3:10:46 PM9/6/23
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Agree
And our students use Yondr phone pouches which makes this even more of a PITA!
Have any schools just turned off 2FA completely, or has Microsoft enforced it for all users? 

Think I'll just stick to Google 🙈


Evan Dunne

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Sep 6, 2023, 3:44:22 PM9/6/23
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Hi Pat,

 

We use M365 in out school 2FA is turned off for students and turned on for teachers. You can turn off 2FA for students in the M365 admin centre, if you click in to users, it will say multifactor authentication at the top. Clicking that will bring you to the 2FA menu where you can bulk update accounts if you wish.

 

Best practice is probably to keep it on for all and create a tutorial on how to login to M365 using the authenticator app as opposed to a text message.

 

If you need any more help let me know.

 

Kind regards,

Evan Dunne

IT Coordinator

St.Mary’s CBS

 

 

 

From: cesi...@googlegroups.com <cesi...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Pat Duffy <padraigo...@gmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, 6 September 2023 at 16:08
To: CESI-List <cesi...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [CESI List] Microsoft 365 Authenticator App problems

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Amanda O Farrell

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Sep 6, 2023, 4:05:05 PM9/6/23
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Yeah its a bit painful for schools in fairness. 

You can urn off 2FA on individual accounts as easily enough, but if its a school account it may be part of the security policy.


If you are using tablets Pat does your school use Wriggle? They should be able to help.

Good luck with it..

P.s. its a challenging in third level too. Our students are allowed phones, but they forget them, or lose  them etc.

Regards
A

Amanda O’Farrell (She/Her) B.Sc., M.Sc. in Computing
Lecturer in Computing
School of Enterprise Computing & Digital Transformation

________________________________________

–  353 1 220 7859  – tudublin.ie

OT Baile Átha Cliath - Campas Thamhlachta D24 FKT9, Éire

TU Dublin - Tallaght Campus D24 FKT9, Ireland

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-o-farrell-0b55553/

Twitter: @BecomeAnITGirl



    


Sent: Wednesday 6 September 2023 20:10
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Subject: Re: [CESI List] Microsoft 365 Authenticator App problems
 

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Agree

Kelan O'Connell

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Sep 6, 2023, 4:57:38 PM9/6/23
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Hi All, 

We have MFA enabled for all users including students. We also have yonder pouches for smart phones. We enabled MFA using the app for authentication. We then configured conditional access settings in our tenancy to never ask for MFA if our users are connected to our school network. We could even stop MFA from taking effect if the user is in Dublin using geo conditional access as well as network-based access.

What we did then was have an MFA day where we enabled MFA for students year by year and had an instructional step by step guide and student digital leaders floating to help. 

This was all done early last academic year. It's been very successful, and we haven't had any issues with MFA since.

You can find documentation regarding conditional access and MFA on Microsoft Learn. Hope this is helpful. 

Kind regards,

Kelan
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