Start with the Text Message sign-in screen and the original attempt when your customer or staff member reports a missing code. A successful notification text to the account does not establish that the person enrolled the same phone for sign-in.

Check what the person sees

Review the displayed error, countdown and destination ending where shown. Use the current received code, preserving any leading zero. An expired or replaced code will not work, and repeated wrong guesses can make the current code unusable. Follow the offered new-code action and waiting period instead of repeatedly refreshing the page or guessing.

If the enrolled phone is no longer available, use the person’s WHMCS backup-code recovery route or the host’s normal verified recovery process. Changing the account’s notification number does not update an existing user’s sign-in enrolment.

Review the original delivery attempt

An authorised member of your hosting team can inspect SMS Manager → History for the time, gateway, destination and initial result. The history message records a sign-in-code event rather than providing a code for support to copy. A Sent result is initial gateway success, not proof of receipt at the phone.

Check whether the default was a real provider or Test / Debug Log only. Review the recorded provider refusal, sender and destination readiness. Sign-in codes are immediate and are not waiting for the normal cron queue or quiet-hours window, so changing those timing settings does not resolve this workflow.

Check missing or uncertain attempts

If no gateway attempt appears, check that the method and SMS Manager remain available and read the original on-screen error. If History shows Unknown, compare that attempt with the provider’s evidence; it does not establish a usable current code. Follow the challenge’s offered new-code action and displayed waiting period rather than generating repeated sends. A later request can replace an earlier code even when its text arrives afterwards.

Account access recovery remains separate: your customer uses their backup route or your verified client-user recovery process. A locked-out staff member needs an existing administrator recovery route; a report is not a replacement for that access.

See the PD SMS Manager WHMCS guide for related tasks, or explore PD SMS Manager.