New guidelines for unlicensed OneDrive accounts: What’s changing in 2025
Significant changes to the management of unlicensed OneDrive accounts have been in place since January. In future, these accounts will be automatically archived for a fee. Costs will also be incurred in the event of reactivation.
A typical scenario in companies: An employee leaves the organization, the assigned Microsoft 365 license is revoked - but the associated OneDrive account remains. People often forget to deactivate the account manually. With the new Microsoft guidelines, this account is now automatically included in the archiving process, which can lead to unexpected costs. Companies should therefore adapt their user management processes in order to recognize such cases at an early stage and act accordingly.
Timetable for the enforcement of the new guidelines
For accounts not licensed before February 17, 2025
- April 2025: All unlicensed accounts will switch to read-only mode.
- May 2025: These accounts will be automatically archived.
For accounts that were not licensed after February 17, 2025
- Day 60 after license revocation: The account will be placed in read-only mode.
- Day 93 after license revocation: The account is either archived (if a retention policy exists) or moved to the recycle bin (without a retention policy).
What are the costs for archiving and reactivation?
The archiving of unlicensed OneDrive accounts takes place via the Microsoft 365 archive and is associated with the following costs:
- Storage costs: 0.05 USD per GB and month for storing archived data.
- Reactivation costs: 0.60 USD per GB for restoring archived accounts.
These fees apply once archiving billing has been activated in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. If no payment method is stored, the costs are only incurred when an archived account is reactivated. It is therefore advisable to regularly monitor the status of unlicensed accounts to avoid unexpected expenses.
Recommended actions for administrators
1. identify unlicensed accounts
Use the SharePoint Admin Center to create reports on unlicensed OneDrive accounts and monitor the current status.
2. make decisions about further contact
- Delete unnecessary accounts: To avoid unnecessary costs, unused or obsolete accounts should be removed.
- Assigning licenses: If an account is still needed, an appropriate license should be assigned early.
3. check retention policies
Existing policies should be regularly reviewed and adapted to the new Microsoft requirements in order to avoid unwanted data loss or archiving costs.
Questions about implementation? We are happy to support you!
The new regulations for managing unlicensed OneDrive accounts require a proactive approach in order to minimize security risks and avoid unnecessary costs. If you need support in analyzing or implementing the new guidelines, our team of experts with many years of experience in the Microsoft environment will be happy to assist you. Please contact us for an individual consultation.
Georg Weber
Microsoft Solutions
Phone: +49 1520 1655438
E-Mail: gweber@spirit21.com
In his role at SPIRIT/21, Georg focuses on the seamless integration of voice services into M365 support, with a particular focus on Teams, SharePoint Online and Exchange Online.
