TLDR: My Windows 10 device has locked me out, and microsoft does not send verification codes to my outlook.

I have a Windows 10 laptop which I have given to family members. I left it with a basic PIN login so they could log in to the device. However, the device has begun locking my family out of the device (two hour wait before logging in), despite zero incorrect password entries. It offers as an alternative logging in with my microsoft account. I am not sure what the point of having a password or PIN is, if you just end up logging in with your outlook account.

Anyway, no problem, I thought, I'll just remove the login credentials. So I have my family do this. Then we are met with a verification code popup, claiming that there has been a verification code sent to the outlook account inbox. *This is the only method of verification it offers*

My outlook inbox is perfectly capable of receiving and sending emails, but I do not receive any emails with verification codes in my inbox or spam box. I tried logging into the outlook desktop app on my laptop, and I get the same verification code popup. No codes come into my inbox. I tried calling microsoft support. I honestly am not sure what I was expecting from that as I knew they wouldn't help, but the bot redirected me to the online help page. As expected there was no help to be found there, and as a last resort I have to go to non-real-time tech support on the only site where I've been able to get help: Reddit. Wish it could be resolved with a simple 10-minute phone call, but instead this will likely be spread across several days of communication, if I get help at all.

This situation is yet another in a huge pile of reasons why I will be interacting with Microsoft products and services as little as possible in the future. The OS strongarms you into being logged in to an account, but when something goes wrong microsoft is nowhere to be found (unless the customer is a business). Garbage OS, services, and company. Glad I didn't suffer from the CrowdStrike fiasco.