Microsoft 365 renewed but OneDrive and SharePoint files missing

Question

My Microsoft 365 Business subscription expired and I recently renewed it. Since renewing, my OneDrive and SharePoint site ([Moderator note: personal info removed]) appear empty. I did not delete any files. I am the Global Administrator and need help restoring my data or confirming retention status.

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Mod moved from : Microsoft 365 and Office

Answer 1

Hi @Natasa Sariova, 

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

Thank you very much for reaching out regarding the issue you’re experiencing after renewing your Microsoft 365 Business subscription. I appreciate your patience and the details you provided. 

This behavior typically occurs when a subscription is renewed after expiration under conditions such as being linked to a different tenant, progressing through the Expired‑to‑Disabled lifecycle stages that limit or remove access, or when SharePoint and OneDrive content has been moved into Deleted Sites or Recycle Bin locations with limited retention windows. 

Here are my recommendations, please follow the steps below:  

1/ Confirm you’re accessing the correct tenant 

Sign out of all Microsoft 365 sessions completely. Then sign back in using the admin account historically associated with your organization’s environment. 

This ensures you are viewing the correct tenant/domain rather than a newly created or unrelated one. 

2/ Check the SharePoint Admin Center 

• Go to Microsoft Admin Center > SharePoint Admin Center > Sites > Active sites and review the list for any expected sites. 
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• If you don’t see the site you’re looking for, go to Sites > Deleted sites and check whether it appears there. 
• If it is present in the Deleted sites list, it can be restored directly from that page as long as it’s still within the 93‑day retention window.  

3/ Check the site’s Recycle Bins (both stages) 
If the site is accessible: 

• Open the SharePoint site > Recycle Bin > Then scroll down and open the Second‑stage Recycle Bin 
• 
• This is where items remain for the remainder of the retention period if they were previously deleted or removed during subscription downtime. 

4/ Review OneDrive status for affected users 

• Confirm that valid licenses are currently assigned to the relevant user accounts. 
• Open OneDrive > Recycle Bin to check whether files were moved there. 
• If the accounts were unlicensed for an extended period, the OneDrive content may have been archived as part of the standard OneDrive retention/cleanup process. Next steps can be determined based on the account state and retention timing. 

5/ Use PowerShell to review or restore deleted SharePoint sites (If necessary)  
If a site was removed and is still inside the deleted‑sites retention period, it can be restored via SharePoint Online Management Shell: 

Connect-SPOService -Url https://<tenant>-admin.sharepoint.com 

Get-SPODeletedSite -Limit All 

Restore-SPODeletedSite -Identity <site URL> 

Replace <tenant> and <site URL> with your actual tenant admin endpoint and the URL of the site you want to recover. 

For additional information, you can refer to these articles: 

• Ex-Employee OneDrive Retention: Why Data Is Kept Forever 
• Prepare for Major Changes to Microsoft’s OneDrive Retention Policy - Vitanium 

Please note that this information is being provided by the moderator solely for your convenience. The referenced sites are not managed or overseen by the moderator, and therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy, security, or suitability of any software or content available there. We recommend reviewing all information carefully and ensuring you understand any associated risks before following suggestions from the provided link.  

6/ Contact Microsoft Support   

If the missing data is time‑sensitive or you suspect there may be a deeper service‑level issue affecting your environment, I recommend opening a support ticket with Microsoft Support directly through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. The support team can run tenant‑level diagnostics, verify subscription and retention behaviors, and investigate what happened behind the scenes. They can also provide the most appropriate next steps or recovery options to help you resolve the issue as efficiently and securely as possible. 

We kindly ask for your understanding that, as moderators, we do not have access to the administrative tools or permissions required to investigate or modify these configurations. We also do not have the capability to initiate remote sessions for direct assistance. Our role is to guide users to the appropriate resources and support channels.     

I hope this information is helpful. Should you have any further questions or need additional assistance, feel free to reach out.   

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this. 

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