Failed to create link to ’s OneDrive files.

Dear @Somesh M. Gaikwad,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based on my research, the message "Failed to create link to user's OneDrive files" in the Microsoft 365 admin center typically appears when trying to generate an admin link to a user’s OneDrive. This often happens if the personal site (OneDrive for Business) hasn’t been provisioned yet. This is particularly common for terminated or blocked users, as OneDrive provisioning generally requires the user to sign in at least once (or be temporarily allowed to sign in) to trigger site creation.

As a forum moderator, I wish I could directly access your account or investigate the backend to fix this issue for you. Unfortunately, our role is limited to providing general guidance and solutions that users can apply themselves.

OneDrive for Business is a SharePoint personal site, and provisioning depends on the following:

• The user having a valid license (e.g., Microsoft 365 E5 includes SharePoint Online/OneDrive).
• The user’s sign-in being allowed (i.e., not blocked).
• Microsoft's pre-provisioning method via PowerShell (Request-SPOPersonalSite) requires the user to have sign-in access. If sign-in is blocked, this cmdlet will not work, and you'll need to temporarily unblock the account.

There is no documented admin-only method to force-provision a OneDrive site purely for blocked or terminated users without temporarily enabling their sign-in. If the underlying site doesn’t exist or is in a broken state, attempts to create the admin access link will fail. Low storage usage (e.g., 3.13% of 1 TB) typically indicates the site was never fully provisioned, and OneDrive will show minimal/default metadata without actual content.

Please follow the standard Microsoft guidance for accessing a former/terminated employee's OneDrive (even if not fully provisioned yet):

1.Temporarily Unblock Sign-In (the most reliable method):

• Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center > Users > Active users (or Deleted users, but restore the account first if needed).
• Select the user > Account tab > Unblock sign-in.
• Confirm that the user has an E5 license active (this includes OneDrive and SharePoint).
• Wait a short time (minutes to hours) for sync/propagation.

2.Trigger OneDrive Provisioning:

Option A (preferred for a single user):

• As an admin, go back to the user’s profile in the admin center > OneDrive tab > Click Create link to view and edit OneDrive files. This often forces provisioning when sign-in is allowed.

Option B (via PowerShell after unblocking):

• Connect to SharePoint Online Management Shell: Connect-SPOService.
• Run: Request-SPOPersonalSite -UserEmails "******@domain.com".
• The site should provision within minutes to hours (monitor storage usage, it will increase slightly when ready).

3.Access the Files:

• Once the site is provisioned, the admin link should work.
• You can add yourself as a Site Collection Administrator using the SharePoint admin center or PowerShell:

Set-SPOUser -Site https://tenant-my.sharepoint.com/personal/user_domain_com -LoginName ******@domain.com -IsSiteCollectionAdmin $true

• Download or copy the files as needed, then re-block sign-in and remove the license if the account no longer needs to be active.

Microsoft retains terminated user data for a grace period (usually 30 days post-license removal, followed by a read-only period), but since storage shows usage, the data likely still exists once accessible.

If unblocking sign-in is not possible, I recommend that you create a service request with Microsoft Support. A technical support engineer can perform a remote session to investigate the situation, verify the backend configurations, and run any necessary synchronization tools to resolve the problem. If the issue requires further attention, they can escalate it to a specialized team for deeper analysis. Please create a service request with Microsoft support to get advanced technical assistance and diagnostics. For detailed instructions on how to get support, please refer to Get support - Microsoft 365 admin.

For additional assistance, use this link to find the appropriate contact number from your region: Global Customer Service phone numbers - Microsoft Support 

I truly hope you get your issue resolved swiftly. Please know that even though I can't directly intervene, directing you to the correct, specialized support is the most effective help I can provide from my position. Thank you for your patience and understanding. I'm looking forward to your reply. 

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The OneDrive link is now successfully created. After assigning the E5 license, it appears the OneDrive provisioning required additional time to complete in the backend. Approximately 24 hours after the license assignment, the OneDrive site was automatically provisioned, and I am now able to generate the access link without any issues.