I made a rookie mistake while trying to figure out AWS. Instead of adding a user through IAM, I accidentally created a new member account via AWS Organizations using my secondary email. This mistake resulted in a completely separate AWS account, which I can't access because I never set a root password. Now I'm stuck—password reset is disabled, I can't remove the account from my organization, and I can't add billing info since I can't log in. Is contacting AWS Support my only option? I already closed the account from the management account, but I'm worried about the 90-day wait period. I'm just looking for any advice on how to resolve this situation.
3 Answers
If you closed the account already, you don't need to worry. In 90 days, that account will completely disappear. Just a heads-up, avoid using IAM users moving forward. Stick to IAM Identity Center for human logins—it’s a lot easier to manage multiple accounts!
Here's a link that might help you understand closing accounts better: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/userguide/orgs_manage_accounts_close.html
I actually closed the account and reached out to support to see if I should reopen it, just to be safe.
You can use the "OrganizationAccountAccessRole" to access that new member account you created. You definitely have to do some research on AWS organizations since they can be really useful for managing billing later on. You'll get through this, just look into assuming the right role for access!
I'm missing the option to switch roles in the dropdown too! I tried a fix, but it didn't work out for me. I went through the steps to create a role in my management account that could access the member account, but switching to it didn't help.
Got it! Just trying to repeat this process correctly this time. Creating another account, but really want to make sure I do it right this round.
That makes sense! I used to think of the accounts as just separate users, but now I see they're more like environments. Having one user through IAM Identity Center for logging in is definitely the way to go!