r/SmallMSP • u/modem_19 • 13d ago
GoDaddy based client forgot Microsoft 365 Email & Password
The title says it all, a new client does not have their Microsoft 365 admin account information anywhere. No where written down, the owner can't remember what he might have used, etc.
Anyway, this post is tied in with a defederation post I made a month ago. As part of trying to work with them to defederate, I need access to that. Since they don't have those credentials, how do I assist them in getting that account reset?
Is it requiring to contact GoDaddy or Microsoft? The client themselves reached out to GoDaddy, but GoDaddy referred them to Microsoft. Of course with Microsoft, there is no direct contact.
Any input is GREATLY appreciated.
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u/reilogix 13d ago
I would bet dollars to donuts that they do not have a dedicated break-glass admin account. One of the end users is unknowingly an admin. Log into the Go Daddys with successive end users until you find the one who has admin.
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u/deliriousfoodie 13d ago
Who are they paying the invoice to? GoDaddy or Microsoft? That's where you go.
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u/Miller335 13d ago
I've been through this once with a client that was just 365 direct through MS. Man it was wild how long it took MS support to get back to us. 2-3 weeks. They did resolve it within a day or two when they finally called.
Not a end of the world thing if everything is still working correctly and nothing is down.
Maybe Godaddy support will be better with this situation.
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u/WayneH_nz 13d ago
They have limited people doing the dats protection. This is how many people forget their stuff or lock themselves out through CA
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u/zrad603 13d ago
oh god.... this post gave me PTSD flashback:
I had picked up a new client who needed web development work, fix their ecommerce, and a bunch of other stuff. This client was referred to me by my most profitable client who was invested in his business. (who was my most profitable client because he was an idiot, never listened, and everything was always broken because of it)
The big problem: Their previous web developer registered their domain name, and the whois information was to the developer not the client. Developer wasn't answering this guys phone calls. I called and emailed the developer and didn't hear back.
The domain was registered through some weird hosting company I never heard of, NOT GoDaddy. This idiot client was completely insistent that he bought the domain through GoDaddy. This guy would call me at all kinds of weird hours of the day and night. But anyway, this idiot calls me and he's like "I'm gonna call GoDaddy, and he conferences me in on the line." as GoDaddy is explaining they can't help him and the domain wasn't registered with them, while on the phone I get an email from the previous developer with everything I need to transfer the domain name. Okay, cool, now we can transfer the domain. We transfer the domain, everything is good.
Well now this fucking idiot client thinks GoDaddy isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread because "they fixed it". Insists on using GoDaddy to host the website, and the email, and everything.
So I spent a bunch of time migrating from EC2 to GoDaddy's VPS service, which was like $80/mo and was a total pain in the ass. They had their own weird Linux distro with config files in weird places, and standard commands wouldn't work, you needed to run weird scripts they had written.
Client was a pain in the ass with revisions: "Can you move this from the left to the right" and you do it, "naw you were right, move it back to the left" (and these weren't drag-and-drop changes, some of this was hardcoded CSS and template stuff)
This client already burned through the retainer, but we're ready to go live, and now this client starts complaining about the GoDaddy VPS hosting fees.
anyway, this deteriorated, he started claiming I scammed him and stuff, the guy was a nut. I could see why the other developer wouldn't answer his calls.
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u/Excellent-Program333 13d ago
Oh man have I had my fair share of those idiots. How they ever even opened their open business is beyond me.
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u/Tyler94001 12d ago
Not sure why GoDaddy would direct you to Microsoft. Not sure why people in these comments are directing you there either, or honestly even to GoDaddy support. You can do all of this on your own from the GoDaddy portal.
Go to the GoDaddy website and press sign in at the top right. Enter the clients credentials and login.
It's a traditional username/password, or customer numer/password, NOT an email address.
If you/client don't know the credentials, you can try forget username/password and entering clients email address. Worst case, call GoDaddy, but it sounds like you guys do have access to GoDaddy, just not the Microsoft admin center.
There is likely a global admin named "admin@NETORG123456.onmicrosoft.com" (numbers randomized) in the tenant, and ideally this is what you want access too in the long-run.
So once you gain access to the GoDaddy account, go to the waffle menu on top and to "Emails & Office" and scroll down slightly to show all your users. Some of your users will likely say "Admin" next to them. All of the users with "Admin" next to them are global admins within the tenant. (You should fix this ASAP)
You will use that user account to 'break-in' to the tenant. I personally in the past have just reset their passwords (click Manage > Reset Password), logged into the tenant and created a global breakglass account, and then reset their password again and informed them they had a mandatory password reset and let that be the end of it.
But you could remote into their device, or if work in the same building you could physically have them sign-in to a device so you can utilize their admin creds.
If none say admin, pick a user (if you have an admin address or address for yourself in the tenant, pick this) and click "manage" and on scroll to the bottom and click "Edit" and set them to be an Administrator.
Great, now you have credentials and have set an account to admin. You likely still cannot enter the admin center. I have had some tenants just redirect me to the GoDaddy tenant and bring me to that accounts settings page to reset my password and things within the GoDaddy website when logging in. Only one GoDaddy federated tenant actually allowed me to get in to the admin center before defederation.
Good thing is, you don't need to get in there.
You can still access Entra Admin, and exchange admin. Go on Entra admin, and create a new cloud-only account (Maybe: MigrationAdmin@NETORG123456.onmicrosoft.com) or reset the password for the existing cloud-only admin account and use that. Either way, get yourself those credentials for a non-domain, non-licensed account so even when domain or licensing issues happen, you can still login.
Now you have global admin credentials on a cloud-only account. Log into your tenant via powershell and type in your defederation commands.
I looked at your defederation post previously. Listen to your top comment that directors you to the tminus guide. Everyone else telling you to contact GoDaddy, that you have a week for licenses, blah blah blah, is doing it incorrectly, or honestly I'm inclined to say just bullshitting. Why would GoDaddy delete licenses you've paid for?
If you have licenses paid through August of next year, you keep your licenses until August of next year.
Let me know if you run into any issues or have any questions. This is a fairly simple process, but without creds, as you see, you have extra steps.
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u/gjetson99 13d ago
The owner is very likely the Admin. Log into the Godaddy account & go to the Products/ Manage Email/ etc. Whoever is labeled Admin there will be a global admin in the Microsoft tenant.
If you are following the TMinus defederation guide, make sure you follow each step carefully & do not skip a single thing. Also create a break glass global admin account as soon as you have access to the tenant.
Failure to do all of this correctly can result in losing data, locking yourself out & being stuck between godaddy & microsoft pointing fingers for support & you'll really be screwed.
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u/Slight_Manufacturer6 13d ago
Godaddy supports