Lost access to my Github account and no access to 2FA methods or recovery codes (However my local devices still can communicate with my account's repositories)

[Aryang22]

Github 2FA

Lost access to my Github account and no access to 2FA methods or recovery codes (However my local devices still can communicate with my account's repositories)

Body

My account named aryanargupta is somehow locked out. It has been a while I used it for my local work (about 5-6 months). In the mean time I had switched my phone as well (and had reset the old phone before exchanging). Now, it appears that I have lost all access to my github account. I tried deep searching my local laptop, but couldn't find any recovery codes, nor do I remember of setting up an authenticator app fo it. The only 2FA (which I had set up long back 3 years prior from now I believe) I had setup was Github mobile, and I have lost access to it since I changed my phone.

My linux as well as windows OS are still connected with my repository with the personal access tokens (but none of them has that admin scope for generating other access tokens). So I can keep pulling and pushing code, but can't see the interface online on my browser.

I really have some important work right now to do, and I can't even raise a ticket because it shows "Cannot verify this device" and the SSH token and PAT token options are just greyed out.

I can't even raise a ticket to provide some old PAT and prove my access to my personal email account as well as the backup account. I have the access to my phone number but I don't even think I linked it in first place.

The funny thing is this account with which I am writing this post, had no 2FA, and I could simply recover this via my email (And this is even older than my main account, I had just created this some 4-5 years back for fun when I didn't know anything of git/github).

2FA is indeed a curse. But I look for someone who can lift this curse off me, or guide me on contacting github support for this. Idk how, but please help me guys if possible.

[davevad93]

Hi @Aryang22,

I recommend you contact support with this account by opening a ticket here, under Account select "Other", then select "Two-factor authentication recovery", finally under "What username do you need help with?" type aryanargupta and explain your problem with your former account.

[Aryang22]

Thanks, I did check your replies to other posts having similar issues, so I had already raised a ticket via that link after creating my post here. The issue was that the virtual assistant wouldn't let me to the ticket interface previously, but that link of yours directly took me there where I could raise a ticket.

[akash-d122]

Hey @Aryang22 ,

First off, I totally get how stressful this must feel, especially with urgent work on your plate. You’re definitely not alone—this sort of situation happens more often than people realize, and there are a couple of things you can try right now:

You need to contact GitHub Support directly.
Since you can’t log in to the account to raise a ticket from the usual support form, you should send an email from your registered email address (the one tied to your locked-out GitHub account) to support@github.com.

In the email, clearly explain your situation, including:

Your GitHub username (aryanargupta).

The fact you’ve lost access to your 2FA device and recovery codes.

That your local machines can still push and pull code using existing tokens, proving some level of account ownership.

Mention you still have access to the primary email tied to the account.

Gather proofs of ownership.
In your email, offer evidence like:

Screenshots of recent terminal commands showing successful pushes/pulls to your private repos.

Details about your last few commits (timestamps, commit hashes) from your local repo.

Any other billing receipts, if you had a paid plan on that account.

Keep using your local access cautiously.
While you still have working PATs or SSH tokens on your devices, avoid revoking or resetting anything locally. Those are your only lifelines for now, so don’t accidentally remove them from your machines.

About support verification issues.
You mentioned the support site says “Cannot verify this device.” This happens because GitHub tries to prevent hijacking by unknown devices, so going through email (support@github.com) is your best chance. They’ll manually verify your case.

Consider your email and security hygiene.
Make sure your email account tied to GitHub is secure, has a strong password, and ideally uses 2FA itself. GitHub Support will only proceed if they’re sure you control the email associated with your account.

Unfortunately, there’s no instant or guaranteed fix—GitHub Support has to manually review your case, and they might take a few days depending on their backlog. But as long as you reach out from your registered email with clear proof of ownership, they usually help you regain access or disable 2FA.

Hang in there, and don’t hesitate to update here if you get stuck along the way. Good luck—I hope you get back into your account soon!

[Aryang22]

Thanks for the detailed answer and being empathetic. Your idea of saving proofs of pushing to private repositories is actually smart, and I did create some commits to prove my ownership on the account. My emails and account are hygienic and the credentials aren't compromised in my knowledge. I have raised a ticket already, but I will mail at the support ID you shared so as to accelerate my case. Thanks again. Will update here whatever happens ahead.

[ArpitChoubey]

Hi @Aryang22 👋

I can understand how frustrating it is to lose access to your GitHub account, especially when you still have local access but can’t get past 2FA on the web. Unfortunately, no one in the community (including moderators) can directly reset or bypass your 2FA — this can only be done securely through GitHub Support.

Here’s what you can do:

Check for recovery codes

If you saved your 2FA recovery codes when you set up GitHub Mobile, those are the fastest way back in.
👉 Recovering your account if you lose 2FA credentials

Verify with existing sessions

Since you mentioned your local machines can still pull/push, check if you still have an active browser session on any device. If yes, you can update your 2FA settings or generate new recovery codes from there.

Account recovery request

If no recovery codes or active sessions are available, the only option is to submit an account recovery request to GitHub:
👉 Submit a request here

Provide as much information as possible (username, linked emails, repositories you own, billing details if any). This helps the Support team verify ownership.

Important note

Even though you can still push and pull via PAT or SSH, GitHub cannot treat that as account ownership proof for 2FA reset. You’ll need to go through Support verification.

Don’t share personal details (like email/phone numbers) here — only provide those securely via the Support form.

I know this process takes time, but GitHub Support is the only secure way to recover access. In the meantime, since your repos are accessible locally, you can continue your work, and once you regain account access, sync everything back up.

Hope this helps 🙏

[PRIYAtechky]

If you’ve lost access to your GitHub account due to 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) issues, here’s what you can do:

1. Check for Recovery Options

• Look for recovery codes on your local machine, backup storage, or emails (if you had downloaded them earlier).
• Check if you had set up an Authenticator App or SMS-based 2FA.

2. Use Personal Access Tokens (PAT)

• Since you still have active PATs on your local systems, you can continue pushing and pulling code.
• However, PATs without admin scope won’t allow you to regenerate or manage 2FA settings.

3. Contact GitHub Support

• You need to directly contact GitHub Support through this link:
  👉 GitHub Support Contact
• Even if you cannot verify your device, you can submit a request using:
  • Your GitHub username (aryanargupta)
  • The primary email address linked to your account
  • Proof of identity (GitHub may ask for logs of old PAT tokens, commits, or repository access details)

4. Provide Strong Proof

When raising a ticket, include:

• Commit history (commits made with your email linked to GitHub)
• PAT token details still valid on your local system
• Email ownership proof (from your registered GitHub email account)

5. Last Resort

If recovery codes and 2FA devices are lost, GitHub Support is the only way to regain access. They will manually verify your ownership and disable/reset 2FA for your account.

---

⚠️ Note:
GitHub takes security very seriously. Without recovery codes or authenticator, only GitHub’s support team can unlock your account after verifying your identity. Continue working with your local repositories using your existing PATs until recovery is complete.

[sayandip007]

✅ What You Can Try Right Now

1. Check if Any Session is Still Active

   • If you’ve logged into GitHub on a browser and didn’t clear cookies, you might still be logged in somewhere.
   • If yes, immediately go to → Settings → Password and Authentication → Disable 2FA or generate recovery codes.
   • Even a mobile browser session could save you here.

2. Verify You Can Still Push/Pull with Existing PAT

   • You mentioned your local repos can push/pull — great.
   • Unfortunately, PATs without admin:public_key or admin:repo_hook scope can’t change auth settings, but they prove ownership when you talk to GitHub support.

3. Account Recovery via GitHub Support

   • This is your best shot. Since you lost all 2FA methods and recovery codes, only GitHub can reset it.
   • Open this form (you don’t need to be logged in):
     👉 [GitHub Support – Locked out of account](https://support.github.com/contact?tags=rr-2fa)

---

📩 Draft Message to GitHub Support

You can paste this in the support form (just tweak your details):

---

Subject: Locked out of my GitHub account due to 2FA

Hi GitHub Support,

My account @aryanargupta is locked due to 2FA. I had GitHub Mobile set up as the only 2FA method on an old phone that I no longer have. I do not have recovery codes or backup methods available.

However, I can still access my repositories locally using personal access tokens from my Linux and Windows devices (though these tokens don’t have admin scope). I can provide proof of ownership by:

• Sharing commit history signed with my account
• Using existing SSH keys / PATs still linked to my account
• Verifying access to my registered email: [your email here]

Please help me reset 2FA or recover my account so I can access the web interface and manage my repositories again.

Thank you for your support.
— Aryan

[Nishant-0203]

Unfortunately, no one in the community (or even moderators) can disable 2FA for you — only GitHub Support can do that after verifying ownership. Since you’ve lost your 2FA device and recovery codes, here’s what you can do:

Check for active sessions
– If you’re still logged into GitHub on any browser or device, go to Settings → Password and authentication → Two-factor authentication to disable 2FA or download recovery codes.

Use your local proof
– Keep using your local PAT/SSH access so you don’t lose repo access.
– Gather evidence of ownership (commit history, SSH keys, billing info if applicable).

Submit an account recovery request
– Use this link (works even if you can’t log in):
👉 GitHub Support – Locked out of account

– Provide your username (aryanargupta), the email tied to the account, and any proofs of ownership.

⚠️ Important: GitHub cannot accept forum posts, PATs, or SSH access as recovery — everything must go through Support so they can securely verify you.

Until Support resets 2FA, you can keep coding locally and pushing with your existing tokens, but the only way back into the web interface is through their recovery process.

[shinybrightstar]

Hi @Aryang22 👋

If you’ve lost access to your two-factor authentication (2FA) credentials, you can regain access to your account by using your recovery codes or another recovery option. Please visit GitHub’s Virtual Assistant to explore your available options.

If GitHub doesn’t support 2FA via text message in your country, you’ll need to set up authentication using a TOTP application. For more information on configuring 2FA with a TOTP app, here is the documentation.

I highly recommend you read through our GitHub 2FA Troubleshooting & Prevention Guide 🔐 or visit our FAQ if you have additional questions.

If you’re unable to resolve your issue with the resources above, please open a ticket in our Support Portal as no other Community Discussions team members will be able to assist with account-related questions. We appreciate your understanding!

[samrojk]

Since you’ve lost access to your 2FA and recovery codes but still have local devices authenticated, here’s what you should do:

Open a support ticket with GitHub at GitHub Support
. Only GitHub can disable 2FA when all recovery methods are lost.

In your ticket, provide proof of account ownership like: repository names, commit hashes, billing info (if any), or details of your activity.

Keep your local device sessions active so you don’t lose push/pull access until GitHub restores your account.

⚠️ You cannot disable 2FA or regain full access on your own without GitHub Support. They must manually verify and reset your account.

Do you want me to draft a ready-to-send message to GitHub Support that includes all the details they usually require for faster recovery?

[Aryang22]

Got the access back to my account! And it was not easy to be frank. Patience was the key. I waited 1 month without any reply from the github support team. Was almost going to lose hope and start unlinking my account, when I saw a ray of hope. Mark from their team asked me to reach out from my original email on the support email and have that ticket in the quoted text (otherwise you would simply receive a reply that the support email doesn't work anymore). It exists, that means there's someone reviewing the emails sent. And this time my main account's email got added in CC in the same ticket.

On confirmation from my main account, Mark shared info on different logins and 2FA methods (or attempts to set them up) with timeline. And, somehow, only 1 particular browser, among my whole 2 OS'es, consisting of 6-7 browser sessions in total, could have that "verify with this device" option not greyed out. Clicking that, I got a link to disable 2FA temporarily (works for 72 hours only). And the moment I logged back into my account, immediately I set up each and every authentication method, to avoid such a scenario in future. And finally took a sigh of relief.

Finally, I decided to come here where it started from. And I want to thank everyone in this discussion and in the community who were driven to help me in this unfortunate situation!

And for the last treat, I will come from my main account and comment here lol.

Important Note: Even commits to private repositories, or the ability of a PAT to create or delete repos, doesn't work as an ownership proof unless the PAT has full admin access. It's not a valid proof!

[aryanargupta]

Hello guys! :)

[Aryang22]

Thereby I close this discussion now! Once, again thanks everyone!

[mikel-codes]

Github, has become a thorn in the flesh, I opened account 2fa locked out ticket with github and after 2months of waiting , see their reaction
For over a period of 2months they did not reply and when they did all they replied was their their previous responses are the same and all of that is a lie because I never had any previous other than waiting on the queue for them

My work is urgent to me , i have appealed in every way possible and told them the reason behind my lockout was due to a failed SSD which removed all i saved earlier and used for github

Here is my github support ticket
Request to Retrieve Repositories from my Locked Account due to 2FA: @iamunadike #3595101

and the worst aspect is no relevant response has been given to me since , because I only got messages of I am on the waiting queue
I submitted literally everything i had , snapshots of previous emails CI/CD pipelines, Personal Access token I had one time tied to the account and my email and password

All the feedback is a lie here

I never had any responses, this was the only response after a month and 3weeks of waiting , and the worst aspect the person went ahead to close the ticket without any form of remorse

I had asked github to help me download my repositories on their platform and send to my email or something as a last option , but it seems the platform is something of dark and sinister or strangely evil because they aka github don't have any right to hold any developers code , its almost like a bank saying you can not remove your money from your account assuming you lost some passkey to authenticate , but definitely the bank must give you your money if you prove with ownership you own that account

Github return my work to me , I want all my work from your platform and its a shame github has stooped this low, this is why many developer and people are not abandoning github for safer and more efficient git platforms