Documents appearing via university OneDrive account on a PC I've logged out of months ago. Unable to remove account.

Liam C 0 Reputation points
2026-09-18T08:24:53.1766667+00:00

All of a sudden documents are showing up on friend's PC via OneDrive. They are ALL of the documents on my student OneDrive account.

My friend looked and found my account buried in the windows settings, not the Microsoft account or onedrive settings (listed in Accounts > Your Accounts). But, he is unable to delete the account. Even changing my password made no difference.

Theres only one option, "manage", which opens a browser link to sign in to Microsoft. Once I have signed in, in devices settings there are 4 PCs listed, one active one which is mine, and three which have been inert for 6+ months. But, my friend's PC is not showing!

He was also able to 'sign-out and forget' my device from one of the account settings pages, but that also didn't remove it from the accounts listed on his windows settings page.

So, I am very confused as to how to proceed.

Thank you

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For education | Windows
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  1. AI answer

    2026-09-18T08:25:12.1833333+00:00

    Use this order:

    1. Remove the work or school account from Windows on the friend’s PC:
      • Open Settings > Accounts > Access work or school.
      • If the old university account appears there, select it and choose Disconnect.
      • Confirm with Yes.
      • This removes the sign-in information and data from that device; it does not delete the account itself.
    2. If the account is only visible under OneDrive, remove it from OneDrive:
      • Select the OneDrive cloud icon in the notification area.
      • Select Help and Settings > Settings.
      • Open the Account tab.
      • Select Unlink this PC > Unlink account.
      • This does not delete files from OneDrive on the web.
    3. If the account still keeps reappearing or sign-in is stuck, clear cached credentials on that PC:
      • Press Windows key + R.
      • Run: %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\settings
      • Delete PreSignInSettingsConfig.json.
      • Then start OneDrive again.
    4. If that still does not resolve it, uninstall and reinstall OneDrive on the friend’s PC.
      • This can clear stale account state.
      • Files are not lost by disabling or uninstalling OneDrive; they remain accessible on OneDrive on the web.
    5. If the old school account still shows in Windows and only Manage appears instead of Disconnect, contact the organization’s IT helpdesk, service desk, or admin for the work/school account.

    Important notes for this scenario:

    • Changing the password alone does not remove the account from Windows or OneDrive on that PC.
    • Removing or disconnecting the account from the device removes local sign-in information from the device, not the Microsoft account itself.
    • If the account is a work or school account, device/account cleanup may need to be completed from Access work or school, not from Microsoft account device pages.
    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. Jayden-P 3,045 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-09-18T09:04:05.74+00:00

    Hi @Liam C

    You are seeing something like this right?

    User's image

    Can you please go to Settings > Account > Access work or school and check if you can disconnect the account there?

    User's image

    If the issue persists, may I ask is the PC managed by a school, or is it a personal device?

    Have you tried signing out of all sessions for your student account through My Sign-Ins?

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