OneDrive Keeps Logging Out

When Microsoft OneDrive repeatedly asks you to sign in, prompts you to “Fix Account”, or logs out automatically upon system reboot, it indicates a breakdown in the persistent credential storage. The application is unable to read or refresh its secure authentication tokens from your operating system’s credential store.

This manual explains the root causes of token rejection and provides steps to clean your authentication vaults on Windows and macOS.

Understand why OneDrive keeps signing out

Frequent logout requests are typically triggered by these underlying issues:

1. Vault Corruption: The Windows Credential Manager or macOS Keychain has a corrupted encryption block, preventing OneDrive from writing or reading the Refresh Token.
2. Web Account Manager (WAM) Errors: Windows WAM fails to execute silent authentication handshakes with Azure Active Directory.
3. Enterprise Session Policies: Group policies or Microsoft Intune Conditional Access rules enforce strict session limits, forcing re-authentication at short intervals.
4. Multi-Tenant Conflicts: Stale tokens from other Microsoft apps (Teams, Outlook, Word) conflict with the active OneDrive account profile.

1. Close the Client

taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe

2. Purge Saved OneDrive Profiles

Delete the local configuration folder where cached profile metadata is stored:

rmdir /s /q "%localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\settings"

cmdkey /list | findstr /i "OneDrive"

4. Enable ADAL WAM Override (If Logging Out Persists)

If your corporate account keeps logging out due to a WAM handshake bug, add this registry override via Command Prompt (Admin required):

reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Identity" /v "DisableADALatopWAMOverride" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

5. Reset and Restart OneDrive

%localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset

1. Close OneDrive

killall OneDrive 2>/dev/null

security delete-generic-password -s "OneDrive Cached Credential" 2>/dev/null
security delete-generic-password -s "Microsoft Office Identities Settings 2" 2>/dev/null

3. Clear Cached App Configurations

Remove sandboxed cache and configuration files:

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/OneDrive/settings
rm -rf ~/Library/Group\ Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/OneDriveStandingInfo.plist

4. Run the Standalone Reset Script

/Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Resources/ResetOneDriveAppStandalone.command

Deconflict multi-account sync profiles

If you sync both a Personal OneDrive and a OneDrive for Business (Work/School) account:

1. Link Order: Sign in to your Personal account first, let it finish initial sync, then click Add an Account under settings to link your business profile.
2. Avoid Syncing Identical Names: Ensure that the target folders on your local system have distinct paths (e.g., C:\Users\Name\OneDrive and C:\Users\Name\OneDrive - CompanyName).

Review Enterprise GPO and conditional access policies

If you are using a work-managed device, repeated sign-outs may be mandated by organization-wide security configurations:

• MFA Requirements: Your IT department might require Multi-Factor Authentication verification every few days.
• Compliant Device Rules: If your device fails a security policy check (e.g., firewall is disabled or Windows is outdated), the system will revoke your session tokens and sign you out.

Summary Checklist