The administrator of an AWS account has left the company. How do I access this AWS account?

Resolution

To access an account as a root user, you must have the email address and password associated with the account.

To access the account as an AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) user, you must have the user name and password for that IAM user.

If your multi-factor authentication (MFA) device is lost or broken, see How do I remove a lost or broken MFA device from my AWS account?

The simplest way to get the credentials for the account is to ask the former administrator of the account.

If that's not possible, try the following:

• If the email address is associated with a corporate domain, it's a best practice that you contact your email administrator. Ask your email administrator if they can give you access to the email address, or pass along a password reset email for the account.
  Note: The password reset email is sent from account-update@amazon.com if the account was created before August 28, 2017, or from password-reset-noreply@aws.amazon.com if the account was created after August 28, 2017.
• If you have root access to the account but don't know the password for a particular IAM user, sign in as the root user. Then, change the password.

Important: AWS Support can't change the root user or IAM credentials on an account for any reason.

Related information

I can't sign in because my credentials don't work

How do I recover a lost or forgotten AWS password?

How do I change the email address associated with my AWS account?

How do I transfer my AWS account to another person or business?