Alternative Steps When You Don't Have Access to the Email for Your AWS Account

Summary

If you’ve lost access to the email address associated with your AWS account, this article outlines alternative steps to help you identify the email or recover access to it.

Table of Contents

• Identify the Email Address
• Recover Access to the Email Address
  • Restore a Deleted Email Address
  • Set Up a Catch-All Email Address
  • Contact Your IT Administrators
• AWS Shared Responsibility Model
• Next Steps
• Additional AWS References

Identify the Email Address

When you create an AWS account, you provide an email address and password for the root user. If you're unsure which email was used:

• Search for saved AWS messages ending in @signin.aws or @verify.signin.aws.
• Check all email inboxes that may have been used to open the account.
• Ask colleagues, team members, or family members who may have created or managed the account.

Recover Access to the Email Address

If you know the email address but no longer have access to it, try the following options:

Restore a Deleted Email Address

If you own the domain associated with the email:

• Restore the deleted email account through your domain or email hosting provider.
• Recreate the email address to receive AWS verification or password reset emails.

Set Up a Catch-All Email Address

A catch-all email configuration allows you to:

• Redirect all messages sent to non-existent email addresses under your domain to a designated inbox.
• Capture AWS messages sent to the original email address if it no longer exists.

Contact Your IT Administrators

If the email address is part of a corporate or organizational system:

• Reach out to your IT system administrators.
• They may be able to restore access or redirect incoming messages to a new address.

AWS Shared Responsibility Model

AWS operates under a Shared Responsibility Model, which means:

• AWS is responsible for securing the infrastructure that runs all of the services offered in the AWS Cloud.
• You are responsible for managing your account credentials, including access to the root user email address.

If you lose access to your root email and cannot recover it, AWS Support may not be able to verify your identity or grant access to the account. This is why it's critical to maintain control of the root email and consider setting up additional safeguards like:

• Alternate contacts in the AWS Management Console e.g. assign root email to a group email address
• Enable centralized root access
• IAM users with administrative privileges

Next Steps

Once you regain access to the email or can receive messages sent to it:

• Visit the AWS sign-in page to reset your password
• Update the root user email address to ensure future access

Additional AWS References

• Troubleshoot Lost Email
• Resetting your AWS access portal user password