How do I reclaim the auto-created Power BI tenant when the previous admin has left the organisation?

[mattw]

I'd like to know whether the process described to manage a tenant automatically created by microsoft described on the link below can be rerun.
 
https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-admin-administering-power-bi-in-your-organ...
 
We signed up for Power BI (free) earlier this year to trial the Power BI service. The tenant that was automatically created was claimed by someone in the IT team who then left the organisation and, whilst we have the ability to verify ownership of the domain, cannot see how to restart the process i.e. make the 'become the admin'  appear again.

Is anyone aware of how / whether the process to claim a tenant can be rerun or if there's any other way to claim ownership of a tenant?

[v-jiascu-msft]

Hi @mattw,

It's not a good idea to rerun this process for security reason. Maybe we need to find out or reset the password of that admin. Did you have another administrator in your organisation (admin of office 365)? Or is the email still active? Please refer to 

Admins-Reset-Office-365-passwords

Best Regards!

Dale

[mattw]

Thanks for your response Dale.

Unfortunately, we don't have another admin on this tenant and the secondary email and phone associated with this admin account are both personal contacts for the person who has left and we're not able to reach. 

You mention that it's not a good idea to rerun this process for security reasons but are you aware if it's possible?

Many thanks

Matt.

[v-jiascu-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @mattw,

I have consulted some professional. The tenant is a part of Office. So I can only post some suggestions here:

1. According to this what-is-the-process-to-manage-a-tenant-created-by-Microsoft-for-my-users you posted, the email of the Global Admin couldn't be personal account. It should belong to your organization. Maybe you could recreate it to receive the email of "Retrieve password" from Microsoft. (I don't know if it satisfies the policy of your organization)

"Join the tenant, by signing up for Power BI, using an email address domain that matches the tenant domain you want to manage."

2. Follow this and try to reset the password of the Admin.

3. Call Microsoft for help. Contact-Office-365-for-business-support-Admin-Help

4. Go to Office Forum for more advice.

 

Best Regards!

Dale

[mattw]

Solution was to contact Microsoft support. They have a process for elevating an account to admin, obviously including ownership verification etc. Support from Microsoft was excellent and we've regained control of the tenant. Thanks Dale for the info.

[mattw]

Thanks Dale,

Unfortunately, the account recovery options for admin require verification from alternate email / phone, both of which are personal (even though, as you rightly say, the primary email is from the tenant primary domain).

The link to reset the admin password requires admin access so that is also, unfortunately a non starter,

As this is a free tenant, I don't believe I can use the phone support option but will try give that a try.

Thanks Matt.