Expectations for automatic guest creation when sharing through OneDrive using Azure B2B integration

Question

Can anyone confirm, after enabling Azure B2B integration, whether guest accounts are automatically created when using sharing links in OneDrive?

I can confirm that guest accounts are automatically created when using sharing links through SharePoint. But I'm not finding that guest accounts are created when using sharing links through OneDrive.

Furthermore, the documentation for the article SharePoint and OneDrive integration with Azure B2B seems to indicate that guest are invited when sharing from SharePoint (implying perhaps not OneDrive).

Here's more info on our enviornment:

• OneDrive sharing settings: Anyone: users can share files and folders using links that don't require sign-in
• Azure AD external collaboration settings: Anyone in the org can invite guest users including guest and non-admins

Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi @GregT8 ,

According to the article SharePoint and OneDrive integration with Azure AD B2B, guest accounts are automatically created when using sharing links in OneDrive, just like in SharePoint. The article states:

Once the integration is enabled you and your users don’t have to reshare or do any manual migration for guests previously shared with. Instead, when someone outside your organization clicks on a link that was created before Azure AD B2B integration was enabled, SharePoint will automatically create a B2B guest account. This guest account is created for the user who originally created the sharing link. (If the user who created the link is no longer in the organization or no longer has permission to share, the guest won’t be added to the directory and the file will need to be reshared.)

This implies that the same behavior applies to both SharePoint and OneDrive, since they are both part of the same integration. In your environment, since OneDrive sharing settings are set to "Anyone: users can share files and folders using links that don't require sign-in" and Azure AD external collaboration settings are set to "Anyone in the org can invite guest users including guest and non-admins", guest accounts should be created automatically when sharing links through OneDrive. However, there are some caveats and limitations that you should be aware of, such as:

• The guest account creation may take some time to complete after the link is clicked. You can check the status of the guest account in the Azure portal under Azure Active Directory > Users.
• The guest account creation may fail if the email address of the guest user is already associated with another account in your directory or another directory that you have a trust relationship with.

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Answer 2

As a follow up for others visiting this thread experiencing the same problem...

The root cause turned out to be related to the default sharing link type configured in SharePoint Admin. By default, invites are sent out with Anyone with the link. This applies for OneDrive and for SharePoint's root site. But it does not apply for other SharePoint sites, including sites linked to Microsoft Teams.

When you send a sharing link from a non-root SharePoint site, the sharing link defaults to Only people in your organization. When you then share with an external person, the sharing link type changes to Specific people.

Here's the catch: guest accounts are only created when using a sharing link type Specific people.

When you share a link in OneDrive, the default sharing link type is Anyone with the link. This sharing link type doesn't create guest accounts.

The fix here is to update the default sharing link type in SharePoint Admin to Only people in your organization or Specific people. This changes the default OneDrive sharing link type and subsequently enables for guest accounts to be created.