External User log in issue

[joanna_natial]

User Jessie Coulter (external user) is unable to access Jira due to an MFA authentication issue. During login, she is prompted to enter a verification code from an authenticator app. However, our authentication policy is configured to use one-time passwords (OTP) sent via email, not an authenticator app.

The user confirmed that while she has an authenticator app installed, there is no Atlassian account configured in it.

Troubleshooting actions taken:

• MFA was reset by IT → issue persists
• User account was deleted and re-created → issue persists

Despite these steps, the user is still blocked at the authentication step and unable to log in.

Request:
Please advise if there are additional settings or configurations (e.g., Atlassian Access, SSO, or MFA policy enforcement) that need to be reviewed to ensure the user can log in successfully using the intended OTP via email.

[Tomislav Tobijas]

Hey @joanna_natial ,

Can the user try to check how their verification is set up (via id.atlassian.com/manage-profile/security)? It kinda depends on how this account is managed - like, are we talking about a personal managed account or a company managed?

If they can also reach out to their Org Admin where the account is managed (where domain is verified), they should do so in order to check how access policies for managed accounts are configured.

On your end (your Org admin), can check admin.atlassian.com > Security > User security > External users and see how policies are set there.

The user (or your end) can also raise a request via official Atlassian Support > select "Account Login and Email Issues" and raise a request from there 👈
The support team should be able to see login attempts and what's actually blocking the user from receiving the code.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Tobi

[joanna_natial]

Hello Tomislav,

Here is the External User Policy set up. 

But I don't know why whenever she tried to log in it is asking for verification code from the authenticator app.