OneDrive confusion

Question

OneDrive confusion

S BYH 21

I have a desktop and laptop at home (both Windows 10) and a Windows 11 desktop at work. I have a work OneDrive account and a personal OneDrive account, both are 365. On my personal desktop, OneDrive works fine for both accounts. On my personal laptop (which has been sitting for about a year unused) I can see the synched directory structure for my personal OneDrive in File Explorer, but it appears to not have updated in a while (it missing about 200 GB of data). I know this is because it's not synching but I can't seem to get it to synch. When I click the OneDrive icon in the System Tray, it wants me to log into my WORK account but there is no option to switch the account I am logging into. Only the WORK Office 365 account. I'm able to log into the WORK account just fine but not the personal account. It's like it doesn't know I have a personal account. Right clicking the personal account directory in File Explorer gives nothing useful.

OneDrive always seems to me to be lacking user controls. I mean, why isn't there a single place where I can see all my accounts, and specify which ones I want to synch (not sure that's the right word - back up?) with File Explorer on my hard drive. Seems like a straightforward specification but with OneDrive it's always a holy mess.

Can anyone help get my personal OneDrive synching again?

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Answer 1

A personal Microsoft account and a work or school Microsoft 365 account cannot be merged, but they can be used side by side in OneDrive. The storage stays separate, and files must be copied between them rather than merged.

For the laptop, the most likely issue is that the personal account is no longer properly connected in the OneDrive sync app, even though the old local OneDrive - Personal folder is still visible in File Explorer.

Try this on the personal laptop:

Open the OneDrive app from the notification area.
Open Settings.
Go to the Account tab.
Check whether the personal account is listed.
If only the work account is listed, select Add an account.
Sign in with the personal Microsoft account.

On Windows, after setup completes, the synced folders should appear separately in File Explorer:

OneDrive – Personal for personal files
OneDrive - CompanyName for work or school files

Important limits and behavior:

Only one personal OneDrive account can be added.
Work and personal OneDrive remain separate.
Work or school folders cannot be synced or shared into personal OneDrive folders.
Files can be copied or dragged from one OneDrive folder to the other on the PC.

If the personal account is already present but still not updating, use the OneDrive sync troubleshooting flow for Windows and check whether OneDrive is running and signed in. If storage has been exceeded, OneDrive will not upload, edit, or sync new files.

If the sync app still only prompts for the work account and does not let the personal account reconnect, use Microsoft personal account support through Contact Microsoft Support. If the issue is with the work account, contact the organization IT helpdesk.

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