I created an AWS account on the free tier about a year ago for a personal project. Recently, I received emails indicating I'll be billed for running resources, but now I'm locked out of my root user account. My MFA won't resync and when I try alternative logins, it just says 'authentication failed.' I've submitted support tickets, but they all require me to be logged in, which I can't do since I don't have an IAM user account. Is there any way to terminate this account remotely or get some help without logging in? I have my email, username, password, and secret key, but nothing seems to be working so far.
3 Answers
I've been in a similar situation before! If you keep getting 'authentication failed' messages, consider that it could be a gradual syncing issue with the MFA. Just keep attempting and it might eventually work. Check this link for more details on how to resynchronize MFA devices: [AWS MFA Resync](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_credentials_mfa_sync.html).
It sounds like your MFA might not be syncing properly due to a date and time issue on your device. If the device’s time is out of sync, the MFA codes generated won't match. Have you tried checking if your device has automatic time sync enabled? That could help get it back on track!
You might want to reach out to AWS Support requesting to remove your MFA. They typically require some manual account verification, like answering security questions. They'll likely get in touch with you via your registered email or phone number. Also, if it's purely a time sync issue, keep trying multiple attempts to log in; sometimes that helps the device recalibrate over time.
Thanks for the tip! I’ll definitely give that a shot.