About unlinking your email address
Since an email address can only be associated with a single GitHub account, when you've lost your 2FA credentials and are unable to recover access, unlinking your email address from the locked account allows you to link that email address to a new or existing account. Additionally, linking a previously used commit email address to a new account will connect your commit history to that account. Unless you have chosen to keep your email address private, your account's commit email address is the same as your account's primary email address. See Setting your commit email address.
Note
The GitHub-provided noreply email address cannot be unlinked from an account. Commits authored with a noreply address cannot be reconnected to a different account.
Be aware that nothing else associated with your 2FA locked account, including your repositories, permissions, and profile, will transfer to your new account.
Unlinking your email address
Unlinking email addresses is only available for accounts with 2FA enabled. If you do not have 2FA enabled, you can sign in and remove your email address from your account settings.
Warning
Following these steps will not disable 2FA or provide access to a locked account, but will instead unlink the associated email address so it may be used for a different account. If you cannot regain access to the 2FA locked account, these steps will permanently break the link between the account and the linked email address. Before continuing with this article, be sure you have lost all access to your account. See Recovering your account if you lose your 2FA credentials.
Unlinking with your password
If you know your password, you can sign in with your password to unlink your email address
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Navigate to https://github.com/login.
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To prompt two-factor authentication, type your username and password, then click Sign in.
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Under "Having problems?", click Use a recovery code or begin 2FA account recovery.
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Under "Locked out?", click Try 2FA account recovery, or unlink your account email address(es).
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In the modal that appears, click I understand, get started.
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You may be required to verify an email address. To send an email containing a one-time password to each email address associated with your account, click Send one-time password.
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To verify your identity, type the one-time password from your email in the "One-time password" text field, then click Verify email address.
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To begin unlinking, click Start unlinking email.
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On the "Email unlink" screen, click Continue. GitHub will send a verification link to each email on the account.
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In the inbox of the email account you want to unlink, open the email with the subject "[GitHub] Unlink this email."
- Optionally, to unlink multiple email accounts, in the inbox of each account you want to unlink, open the email with the subject "[GitHub] Unlink this email," then complete the following steps.
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In the email, click Unlink this email.
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To finish unlinking your email, click Unlink.
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Optionally, to create a new account and link your newly unlinked email, click Create a new account.
Note
You can also link your unlinked email to an existing GitHub account. See Adding an email address to your GitHub account.
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Optionally, if you have any form of payment set up on the locked account, please contact us through the GitHub Support portal to cancel future payments. For example, you might have a paid subscription or sponsor developers through GitHub Sponsors. If you are sponsored through GitHub Sponsors, please mention this so that the team can help you migrate your sponsorships.
Unlinking without your password
If you do not know your account password, you can request a password reset link to unlink your email address.
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To request a new password, visit https://github.com/password_reset.
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Enter the email address associated with your account, then click Send password reset email.
Note
Only primary and backup email addresses can be used to request a new password. Unless you have previously chosen a specific backup email address, all verified emails are considered backup email addresses.
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GitHub will email you a link that will allow you to reset your password. You must click on this link within 3 hours of receiving the email. If you didn't receive an email from us, make sure to check your spam folder.
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On GitHub, you will be prompted for your 2FA credentials. Under "Having problems?", click Start a 2FA recovery request or unlink your account email address(es).
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In the modal that appears, click I understand, get started.
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To begin unlinking, click Start unlinking email.
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On the "Email unlink" screen, click Continue. GitHub will send a verification link to each email on the account.
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In the inbox of the email account you want to unlink, open the email with the subject "[GitHub] Unlink this email."
- Optionally, to unlink multiple email accounts, in the inbox of each account you want to unlink, open the email with the subject "[GitHub] Unlink this email," then complete the following steps.
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In the email, click Unlink this email.
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To finish unlinking your email, click Unlink.
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Optionally, to create a new account and link your newly unlinked email, click Create a new account.
Note
You can also link your unlinked email to an existing GitHub account. See Adding an email address to your GitHub account.
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Optionally, if you have any form of payment set up on the locked account, please contact us through the GitHub Support portal to cancel future payments. For example, you might have a paid subscription or sponsor developers through GitHub Sponsors. If you are sponsored through GitHub Sponsors, please mention this so that the team can help you migrate your sponsorships.