Microsoft will let users access accounts without a password from today by using Microsoft Authenticator, Windows Hello, a security key, or a verification code
You can delete your Microsoft account password — Microsoft now lets you remove passwords from Microsoft accounts to embrace a passwordless future. Source: Windows Experience Blog .
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft had already been replacing password entry in narrower settings: phone-based account authentication arrived in 2017, followed by standards-based FIDO2 security-key support for Windows 10 users. The current move turns those methods into a full account-level alternative rather than merely an additional sign-in option.
The arc later advances from optional adoption to account setup: Microsoft subsequently said new accounts would be passwordless by default, using passkeys, push notifications, and security keys. That makes this rollout an important transition point in Microsoft’s authentication strategy.
First-order effects
- Microsoft account holders can remove their passwords and sign in through Microsoft Authenticator, Windows Hello, a security key, or verification codes.
- Windows Hello, Authenticator, and security-key users gain a common set of passwordless routes for their Microsoft accounts.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft’s earlier phone-authentication and FIDO2 investments become more valuable because they now support password removal at the account level, not only selected Windows or organizational use cases.
- Users who choose to delete passwords must rely on one of Microsoft’s supported alternative authentication methods, concentrating account access around those credentials and recovery flows.
Third-order effects
- Microsoft is moving passwordless access from an opt-in feature toward a default account design, as indicated by its later passwordless-by-default plan.
- If that progression holds, account authentication will be organized around device-, app-, and security-key-based credentials rather than a password as the universal fallback.
The trend: Microsoft is steadily shifting account identity from passwords toward authentication methods tied to apps, devices, and security keys.