Troubleshoot and Resolve: Your Sign-In Was Blocked in Microsoft Teams (2024)

Today, I’m here to help you tackle a little hiccup in the Microsoft Teams – specifically, the sign-in block issue. So, picture this: one of our users was all set to dive into a channel shared by a client, and bam! They got hit with an unexpected message: “Your sign-in was blocked; we’ve detected suspicious activity on your account.”

Now, this user breezes through internal channels and other services like a champ, but this quirky error, with the whole “Your account is blocked; we’ve detected suspicious activity” jazz, pops up only when trying to access an external channel.

Figuring out this puzzle turned into a bit of a head-scratcher since the usual fixes weren’t playing nice. My first instinct was to go for the multi-factor authentication (MFA) route, thanks to a hint from the Entra portal’s error code.

For those grappling with specific error codes (like the notorious 53004), a handy link is at your service to decode the mystery.

Instead of jumping on the MFA train right away, I took a little detour to check out risky users in the Microsoft Entra admin center. These folks are like the guardians of sign-in activities, so it made sense that our issue might have something to do with the user’s account status.

• Navigate to the “Microsoft Entra admin center.”
• Click on “Protection.”
• Take a stroll to “Identity Protection.”
• Hit up “Report” and find “Risky users.”

• Pick the affected user.
• Choose “Dismiss user(s) risk.”

Guess what? An old, unnoticed risky sign-in event was hitching a ride on the user’s account. Once I gave it the boot, the whole your sign-in was blocked; we’ve detected suspicious activity thing disappeared, and MFA didn’t need to crash the party.

Now, I’m all ears:

Did I miss any high-fives? Any questions or bright ideas? Drop a line in the comments below.

If you’re up for boosting your Microsoft Teams for some extra productivity magic, check out the tips and tricks waiting for you in thisguide. Because remember, a little your account is blocked we’ve detected suspicious activity on your account hiccup doesn’t have to steal the show!