How can i sign in to my old one drive account

Question

I have a one drive account from an expired Microsoft 365 account that I cannot access. I have taken out a new trial of having been told that this would enable me to access my old files & photos but i cannot access it. any advice / suggestions would be most welcome.

Answer 1

Hello!

I'm Yasllame. I'm happy to help and clarify.

How to find out which account is the actual organizer

This scenario is quite common and, in most cases, the files haven't been deleted — they're just associated with the correct Microsoft account that originally had the Microsoft 365 subscription.

When a Microsoft 365 subscription expires, Microsoft doesn't immediately delete the OneDrive data. What changes is only the account status (it reverts to the free plan). To access the files, you need to sign in to the same Microsoft account that was used when OneDrive was created.

1. Sign in directly to OneDrive with each account you've ever used

Go to:

https://onedrive.live.com

Sign in with:

the email you used in the old Microsoft 365

any other Microsoft email you've ever had (Hotmail, Outlook, Live, MSN, etc.)

If the files exist, they will appear as soon as you sign in to the correct account.

2. Trials or new subscriptions do not "free up" old accounts

Creating a new Microsoft 365 trial or purchasing a new subscription does not restore an old account or its files.

Each subscription and each OneDrive is linked to the specific Microsoft account that created it.

If you created a new trial with a different email, it will have an empty OneDrive.

3. If you don't remember which account you used

Use the official Microsoft tool to locate accounts associated with your name or phone number:

https://account.live.com/acsr

Select "I can't access my account" → "I forgot my username".

This allows you to recover:

email addresses

old accounts linked to your recovery number or email

4. If the account still exists, the files still exist

Microsoft only permanently deletes OneDrive if:

the account is closed, or

it remains inactive for a long period after the subscription ends

If you can still log in to the account, the data remains there, even without an active subscription.

Next step.

Log in to https://onedrive.live.com

using each Microsoft email you've ever had.

If none show your files, recover the correct login using https://account.live.com/acsr

I hope this information has been helpful! If you need anything else, I'm here.

Sincerely,