accessing expired one drive account

Question

I added family to my microsoft 365 account. one added user has an expired microsoft account. Can we migrate documents from expired one drive to new account?

Answer 1

Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

If it’s just the subscription that expired, files are usually still there for some time, and you can still download them after signing in.

But if the account itself is no longer accessible, direct migration is not possible. You would need access first, then manually download and upload to the new account.

To help narrow down the issue:

1. When you say the account is “expired,” what exactly do you mean? Is it a Microsoft 365 subscription that expired? Or the Microsoft account itself can’t be signed in anymore?
2. Can the user still sign in to that account at all (even on web)? Is this a personal Microsoft 365 Family account or a work/school account?

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Answer 2

Yes, documents can still be migrated, but the subscription benefits of the expired account are lost.

From the documentation about expired Microsoft 365 subscriptions and shared accounts:

• When a Microsoft 365 subscription expires, files in OneDrive remain intact.
• The user loses the 1 TB OneDrive storage benefit (it reverts to the free quota) and loses access to fully functional desktop Office apps.
• The user can still view and print Office files, but cannot edit or create new documents with the desktop apps.

This means that as long as the expired account can still sign in to OneDrive (even if over quota or without an active subscription), the files are still there and can be moved or downloaded, then uploaded into the new account’s OneDrive.

Practical migration approach (high level):

1. Sign in to OneDrive with the expired Microsoft account in a browser.
2. Download the needed files and folders to a local device.
3. Sign in to OneDrive with the new Microsoft 365 account.
4. Upload those files/folders into the new account’s OneDrive.

If OneDrive sync clients are in use, a similar pattern is used in Microsoft’s migration guides: stop syncing with the old account, ensure all files are present locally, then configure OneDrive with the new account and upload/sync from the local copy.

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References:

• Microsoft 365 subscription sharing FAQs
• Migrate From Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise to Microsoft 365 Personal for Mac
• Migrate from Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise to Microsoft 365 Personal for Windows 10