5gb storage but I have a subscription to free 100gb

Question

Hello. I bought a laptop around January of this year. Along with that I have a free Microsoft 365 that comes with 100gb cloud storage. But it just so happens that I reached full storage already. When checked, I only have access to the 5gb free storage that Microsoft. How so?

Answer 1

Hello

Did you redeem your Microsoft 365 that should come with your laptop purchase?

If you go to your account https://account.live.com > subscription, do you see anything listed there?

Answer 2

The most likely reason is that the account signed into OneDrive/Microsoft storage is not actually using a Microsoft 365 subscription that includes 100 GB of cloud storage, so only the default 5 GB free storage is available.

From the available information:

• A personal Microsoft account without a Microsoft 365 subscription gets 5 GB of cloud storage and 15 GB of Outlook.com email storage.
• A Microsoft 365 Basic subscription includes 100 GB of OneDrive cloud storage and 100 GB mailbox storage.
• Other Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions (Personal, Family, Premium) include 1 TB of OneDrive storage per user.

If storage shows as 5 GB/5 GB used, then either:

1. The signed-in account has no active Microsoft 365 subscription, or
2. The subscription that exists is not associated with the account currently signed into OneDrive/Windows, or
3. The “free Microsoft 365” from the laptop is a trial or limited offer that has expired or never activated on the account being used.

To verify which storage quota applies and which account is in use:

1. Sign in to the account dashboard and open the Microsoft storage section to see the storage quota and usage for that account: Open account dashboard.
2. Check whether the account shows as Free, Microsoft 365 Basic, Personal, Family, or Premium, and confirm the corresponding storage quota described under What is my storage quota?
3. If the account is shown as Free, then the 5 GB limit is correct and the 100 GB offer is not applied to that account. In that case, either:
   • Sign in with the account that actually has the Microsoft 365 subscription, or
   • Purchase/upgrade to a subscription that includes more storage.

If the account is already a Microsoft 365 subscriber but storage still shows as 5 GB, confirm that the subscription is active and that the correct Microsoft account is being used on the device and in OneDrive.

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References:

• Microsoft storage quotas
• Microsoft storage FAQs
• What is Microsoft cloud storage?
• Storage limits in Outlook.com
• What's the difference between a Microsoft 365 subscription and free web apps
• No license associated with my email account - Microsoft Q&A