Only 5 Machines Can Be Signed In At Once

[hlewton]

I got the message from Microsoft 365 that only 5 machines can be signed into my MS 365 account at one time and I had to click a button to reactivate the machine I was using. I DID NOT have 5 machines on at that time so it was very upsetting to see that message. First off, I don't know why I got that message and don't know if there is anything I can do about it. Next I signed into somewhere at Microsoft that shows me the activity which took place concerning my account. There were unsuccessful attempts to sign into my account from all over the world. I saw a message there saying the attempts were unsuccessful and there was no need to change my password. However, I don't feel I have a strong password. I do have a recovery or some kind of email account MS 365 sends a code to in order to verify me, but even that account is not all that secure in my estimation.

I am looking for suggestions on what to do, other than changing passwords, to make my account more secure. I'd feel better if MS used my phone number to verify my account and, maybe I missed it,but I didn't see that option. Does anyone know if they can use my mobile number as a second step verification? Also, do you think it is common for attempts to sign into a MS account comes from all over the world, especially Brazil, Russia, and China?

[hlewton]

You know what, apparently I had forgotten but I already have my mobile phone listed in my MS 365 account. I wonder why they didn't use that to verify me.

[HansV]

If you use your Microsoft 365 account on more than 5 devices in total (not at the same time), consider signing out of that account in Microsoft 365 when you're done working on a device for the moment.

See Set up multifactor authentication for Microsoft 365

[hlewton]

If you use your Microsoft 365 account on more than 5 devices in total (not at the same time), consider signing out of that account in Microsoft 365 when you're done working on a device for the moment.

See Set up multifactor authentication for Microsoft 365

OK, thanks. I have never before had that problem. I use it on 6 machines and have for years. I spent over an hour in chat with MS and found out they still had 2 devices listed that I no longer have, so I removed them but that still leaves me 6. If I have this problem again, I'll remember to sign out of one of them.

I did manage to get the verification code sent to my phone, I believe. The person in chat told me I had to delete the secondary email account in order for that to happen so hopefully it does happen the next time I need it to.

[hlewton]

If you use your Microsoft 365 account on more than 5 devices in total (not at the same time), consider signing out of that account in Microsoft 365 when you're done working on a device for the moment.

See Set up multifactor authentication for Microsoft 365

Hans to add to the confusion, please look at the answer I got in the above mentioned chat:

I apologize for any confusion. Microsoft 365 allows you to install and activate the software on up to 5 devices at the same time for a single subscription. This means that you can have Microsoft 365 installed on multiple devices, but only 5 of them can be actively using the subscription at any given time. If you try to activate Microsoft 365 on a 6th device while the maximum limit of 5 devices is already reached, you may receive a message stating that you have exceeded the device limit. To use Microsoft 365 on the 6th device, you would need to deactivate one of the other devices first. I hope this clarifies the device limit for you.

What does this say to you? To me it says I can be actively using it on multiple devices but only 5 at a time. I tend to believe what you said though.

[HansV]

I always understood the restriction to be on the number of devices you're simultaneously signed in on. But I might be wrong...

[hlewton]

I always understood the restriction to be on the number of devices you're simultaneously signed in on. But I might be wrong...

I don't know, it is very confusing. Another thing that the person in chat confused my with was they said I had a device named NEW-PC signed into my account. I used to have that but I eventually destroyed it and it is in the landfill now. However, I experimented with it and tried to get DOS installed to the point I could install and play around with Lotus 123, which I used to be fairly proficient at using. Never could get 123 installed so I reinstalled windows but assigned a different name than NEW-PC to it. So, when I went to remove it, it was not listed as NEW-PC but the new name that I let Windows assign. So, I have no idea how that person in chat saw it as it used to be a year ago when I removed it from my network. I never installed any software on it after I reinstalled Windows 10 on it yet they saw it as NEW-PC and I found it as the new name that was automatically assigned to it when Win 10 was installed.