Disable or Re-Enable Multi-Factor Authentication for Your Zoho Account

Disable/Re-Enable Multi-Factor Authentication Within Zoho

If you want to disable MFA on your own Zoho account, or re-enable it once you have, the steps depend on whether you can currently sign in.

If You Don't Have Access to Your Account

If you're currently locked out:

  • Recover your account using your previously saved backup verification codes, or your passphrase if you use OneAuth.
  • If you're an organisation user, contact your organisation administrator and ask them to disable MFA for your account.
See recovering your account with a backup verification code for the full recovery steps by MFA mode.

If You Do Have Access: Disabling MFA

Think before you disable. Zoho recommends against disabling MFA for security reasons. If you're switching it off temporarily, for example to troubleshoot a specific issue, re-enable it as soon as you can.
  1. Sign in at accounts.zoho.com.
  2. Click Multi-Factor Authentication in the left menu, then go to MFA Modes.
  3. Use the toggle in the top-right corner to disable MFA.
No toggle visible? If your admin has enforced MFA for your account, you won't see this toggle at all. Instead you'll see a label next to MFA Modes, and you'll need to contact your admin.

Once MFA is disabled, any backup codes you previously generated stop working immediately. If you re-enable MFA later, you'll need to generate a new set of backup codes, and you'll also need to reconfigure application-specific passwords for every third-party app that used them.

Re-Enabling MFA

  1. Go to accounts.zoho.com.
  2. Click Multi-Factor Authentication in the left menu, then go to MFA Modes.
  3. Use the toggle in the top-right corner and click Enable.
  4. If prompted, select any active sessions you want to terminate, then click Continue.
  5. Click Generate New Codes and save the new backup verification codes securely.

Your previously configured MFA modes are reactivated once you complete these steps.

If you're an administrator managing this for other users rather than yourself, see how administrators can disable or re-enable MFA for users.
Need help? 1 Cloud Consultants can help you decide whether disabling MFA is genuinely necessary, and get it safely re-enabled afterwards. Book a discovery call with 1 Cloud Consultants.