Microsoft wants you to make sure that you never lose access to Microsoft account when signed into Windows 11. As a result, it’s now experimenting with a push notification (toast or pop-up) to remind you to set up a backup email or phone number and protect your Microsoft account.

Microsoft believes that life could become difficult if you lose access to your Microsoft account on Windows 11. What would happen to your pictures, files, videos, settings, and everything synced to OneDrive? Windows Hello? Or your Xbox game achievements? And everything else powered by a Microsoft account, including Start menu recommendations?

Windows 11 KB5053660 (Build 26120.3380), which is rolling out to testers in the Dev and Beta channels, has this new pop-up mechanism. It’s not yet live for everyone, and I haven’t seen any alerts on “add a phone number or email for recovery” for the Microsoft account so far, but I assume it will follow up soon.

In a support document, Microsoft warns that these pop-ups will appear when Microsoft detects that your account does not have a secondary email or recovery phone number and that you’re signed in to your desktop.

“Adding these account proofs will help you recover your Microsoft account if you ever forget your password or get locked out for any reason,” the company added, so it decided to nag you with frequent alerts.

You’ll be redirected to the Settings app when you click on these push notifications.

It’s not yet clear if the company will let you turn off these notifications, but Windows Latest understands that turning off all these toggles should disable the Microsoft account nagging.

It should also turn off the Xbox Game Pass and other related ads you might see in Windows 11, including the one for Call of Duty.

Microsoft account-related reminders in Windows 11

Start menu with Microsoft account manager | Image Courtesy: WindowsLatest.comIt’s worth noting that the new push alerts (notifications) are a new addition to the existing “Never lose access” to Microsoft account pop-ups within the Start menu.

More Microsoft accounts, OneDrive nagging in Windows 11

Windows Latest also spotted a similar ad for a Microsoft account on Settings, and it doesn’t go away unless you go to your Microsoft account and add a recovery method. Of course, you can dismiss the alert, and it will disappear, but we’ve observed that the nagging never stops until you add a recovery email or phone number.

The same goes for OneDrive-related alerts when the backup is turned off.

And yes, there’s one alert for OneDrive backup in Settings, too:

How often do you see alerts to add recovery method to Microsoft account or backup everything to OneDrive? Let us know in the comments below.

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