Help needed: Remove orphaned OneDrive data on Mac (144 GB) — OneDrive won't launch

Question

I'm using a MacBook Pro and have an old university OneDrive folder occupying approximately 144 GB of storage. I no longer have access to the university Microsoft account, and the OneDrive application won't launch.

Most of the storage is taken up by folders from 2018 (104 GB) and 2019 (36 GB).

I now use a personal OneDrive account, and I want to remove the old university data without affecting my personal account or its files. Both accounts' data/configuration appear to be associated with the same OneDrive container, so I'm concerned about deleting the wrong files or damaging the macOS File Provider setup.

I've also found that some Word documents in the old folder won't open. A document copied to an external drive appears to contain zero-filled data, so I can't be certain that my backup is usable.

Has anyone experienced this on macOS?

I'm looking for advice on:

Why OneDrive won't launch and how to troubleshoot it.

How to safely remove an old, inaccessible university OneDrive account and its local data.

How to reclaim the 144 GB without damaging my personal OneDrive installation.

Whether there is a supported Microsoft procedure for removing an orphaned OneDrive File Provider folder.

I'd particularly appreciate safe, step-by-step instructions. I want to avoid deleting the entire OneDrive container or using destructive Terminal commands that could affect my personal files.

Answer 1

OneDrive will not launch on my Mac. Under ~/Library/CloudStorage, I have an old OneDrive folder containing only 1.3 MB and three metadata files. Microsoft's recommended Delete banner isn't available because OneDrive won't launch. Is it safe to move this specific folder to the Bin manually, or must the File Provider registration be removed first?