Microsoft to Archive Unlicensed OneDrive Accounts This Month
Microsoft will start archiving unlicensed OneDrive for Business accounts on January 27.
Published: Jan 07, 2025
Key Takeaways:
- Microsoft will start archiving unlicensed OneDrive for Business accounts later this month.
- Businesses will incur fees to reactivate archived accounts, with reactivation taking up to 24 hours.
- IT administrators are encouraged to identify and manage unlicensed accounts through the SharePoint admin center.
Last year, Microsoft announced plans to begin archiving OneDrive for Business accounts that remain unlicensed for over 90 days. The archiving process is set to kick off on January 27, and data in these accounts could become inaccessible or even permanently deleted.
An unlicensed account is one that isn’t linked to a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription. Businesses may have unlicensed OneDrive accounts for several reasons, such as when an employee leaves the organization but their account remains active, or when an administrator removes the license. Microsoft says that these unlicensed accounts can create security and compliance issues, as well as lead to file duplication.
According to Microsoft, users will no longer have access to unlicensed accounts once they are archived. Customers who want to reactivate their accounts will need to pay $0.60/GB and then a monthly fee of $0.05/GB for storage in the Microsoft 365 Archive. The account reactivation process can take up to 24 hours and provides 30 days of access to the account.
“If you take no action for OneDrive accounts that have been unlicensed for longer than 90 days, these accounts will remain inaccessible to end users until you set up an Azure subscription and enable unlicensed account billing in the Microsoft SharePoint admin center. This action will not affect tenants who have not changed the default tenant retention settings,” the company explained on the Microsoft 365 admin center.
What do IT admins need to do to prepare for this change?
Microsoft has also provided guidance to help businesses manage any unlicensed accounts. Administrators can head over to the SharePoint admin center to identify these accounts across their organization. These reports will show details such as username, email address, account type, as well as the date of last activity of each unlicensed OneDrive account.
Once administrators have identified unlicensed accounts, they will have several options to manage them. They can choose to delete these unlicensed accounts, re-apply a license, or pay to keep them archived. Microsoft notes that these changes don’t apply to education, GCC, and DoD customers.