Sign in to the AWS Management Console as the root user

When you first create an AWS account, you begin with one sign-in identity that has complete access to all AWS services and resources in the account. This identity is called the AWS account root user and is accessed by signing in with the email address and password that you used to create the account.

Important

We strongly recommend that you don't use the root user for your everyday tasks. Safeguard your root user credentials and use them to perform the tasks that only the root user can perform. For the complete list of tasks that require you to sign in as the root user, see Tasks that require root user credentials in the IAM User Guide.

To sign in as the root user

1. Open the AWS Management Console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/.

   Note

   If you signed in previously as an IAM user using this browser, your browser might display the IAM user sign-in page instead. To return to the main sign-in page, choose Sign in using root user email.

2. Choose Root user.

3. Under Root user email address, enter the email address associated with your root user. Then, select Next.

4. If you’re prompted to complete a security check, enter the characters presented to you to continue. If you can't complete the security check, try listening to the audio or refreshing the security check for a new set of characters.

   Tip

   Type the alphanumeric characters you see (or hear) in order without spaces.

5. Enter your password.

6. If MFA is enabled for your root user, you will then authenticate using it. For your security, we strongly recommend that you activate MFA on the root user. If MFA is not enabled for your root user, you may be requested to complete a one-time passcode (OTP) challenge to verify your sign-in attempt.

7. Choose Sign in. The AWS Management Console appears.

After authentication the AWS Management Console opens to the Console Home page.

Additional information

If you want more information about the AWS account root user, refer to the following resources.

• For an overview of the root user see AWS account root user.

• For details about using the root user, see Using the AWS account root user.

• For step-by-step directions on how to reset your root user password, see I forgot my root user password for my AWS account.