OneDrive Access Failure, Microsoft 365 Sign-in Errors and File Recovery

t25660 0 Reputation points
2026-10-22T18:59:53.8+00:00

Hello, I need urgent technical assistance with OneDrive on my MacBook running macOS Sequoia 15.

I use a separately purchased Microsoft 365 subscription, and Word, Excel and PowerPoint are currently working. However, my administrator-provided OneDrive work account, [[Moderator note: Personally Identifiable Information removed]@365p1.top], has stopped working.

I have encountered the following errors:

OneDrive is not running, and files in my existing OneDrive folder cannot be opened or synchronised.

The SharePoint address [Moderator note: Personally Identifiable Information removed]-my.sharepoint.com returns ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS, including in Chrome Incognito.

The OneDrive application gets stuck on “Signing in”.

After installing the correct Mac version of OneDrive, setup failed with error 8004e4f3: “OneDrive is experiencing a high level of traffic.”

I have restarted my Mac and OneDrive and reinstalled the Mac application, but the issue persists.

Please help me determine whether this is an account authentication, service configuration, or application problem. I also need to establish whether my existing files are still safe and recoverable in the original OneDrive storage.

Please note that I need to preserve my existing local files and my separately purchased Microsoft 365 Office activation. I do not want to reset or delete my existing OneDrive folder before the files have been verified.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For business | MacOS
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  1. Ivory 2,610 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-10-22T19:32:38.8266667+00:00

    Hi t25660,

    The issue appears to be related to the Microsoft 365 work account or the SharePoint/OneDrive service configuration, rather than the local OneDrive application itself.

    I recommend contacting your IT administrator and asking them to verify the following:

    • The account is still enabled and active.
    • The appropriate SharePoint Online and OneDrive license is still assigned to the account.
    • The SharePoint user profile is valid and functioning correctly.
    • The original OneDrive personal site still exists and is accessible.
    • The OneDrive site is configured to allow synchronization.
    • There are no OneDrive sync restrictions or SharePoint configuration issues affecting the account.
    • No recent UPN, SMTP, SIP, or other identity changes have occurred that could impact access to the existing OneDrive site.
    • The account is correctly associated with its OneDrive personal site.

    Please do not reprovision or delete the existing OneDrive site until the cloud data has been verified and confirmed to be intact.

    In the meantime, as an isolation test, please try accessing the work account from a different network (for example, a mobile hotspot) in a private/incognito browser window and from a different device.

    If the issue persists across multiple networks, browsers, and devices, it would suggest that the problem is more likely occurring on the server side rather than on the local MacBook or OneDrive client.

    Given the nature of the problem, the most effective next step is reaching out to your IT admin and ask them to use their admin credentials to submit a support request through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center on your behalf.

     

    Microsoft also provides customer service phone numbers based on your region. Your IT admin can find the appropriate contact number here: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support  This route ensures that a Microsoft support engineer can initiate a remote session to investigate backend configurations, run advanced diagnostic tools, and, if necessary, they can request to escalate the case to specialized teams with access to internal systems and logs. These backend resources are essential for resolving issues that go beyond what’s visible in the user interface.

    As community moderators, we’re here to guide you, but due to privacy and security limitations, we don’t have access to the backend tools required for a full resolution. For this reason, contacting Microsoft Support via the Admin Center is the most secure and efficient way forward.

     

    In case you do not know who is your IT admin, kindly refer to this article: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support 

     

    I hope this helps you resolve the issue quickly. I’m glad to assist and truly hope the information provided has been useful. Please feel free to reach out anytime if you need further assistance.  

    If you find my post helpful, kindly consider marking it as the accepted answer. Doing so can assist others in the community who may have similar questions in finding solutions more quickly.  

    Thank you for your kindness and contributions to the forum. 

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.  

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  2. AI answer

    2026-10-22T19:01:52.58+00:00

    Because error 8004e4f3 reports high traffic, stop all OneDrive and browser sign-in attempts temporarily, allow the throttling period to expire, and then perform only one clean sign-in test before changing the Mac configuration.^1^

    1. Preserve recoverable files first

    Do not delete, rename, move, unlink, or reset the existing OneDrive folder yet.

    1. Quit OneDrive so it cannot process local changes.
    2. In Finder, inspect the files you need:
      • If a file opens normally, it has local content. Copy it—not move it—to a new folder outside OneDrive or to an external drive.
      • If it shows a cloud icon, is zero bytes on disk, or cannot open without OneDrive, it may be an online-only placeholder. Files On-Demand requires an active connection and sign-in to access online-only content.^2^
    3. Preserve the original folder unchanged after copying everything currently readable.

    This precaution is important because although the general reset procedure says files are not lost, Microsoft documents a specific Files On-Demand migration-failure scenario in which resetting can remove local content that was never synchronized.^2^

    2. Test after the throttling cooldown

    After waiting without further attempts:

    1. Use a private browser window with extensions disabled.
    2. Sign in once with the work account—not the personal account used for the separately purchased Microsoft 365 subscription.
    3. If practical, test once through a mobile hotspot. Microsoft identifies firewalls, VPN configuration, and internet-provider filtering as possible causes when OneDrive cannot connect.^3^

    Since Incognito already produced the redirect loop, do not keep repeating browser tests. If the work OneDrive site still redirects and the desktop client still hangs, escalate to the organization’s administrator before resetting the Mac. Microsoft directs work/school users who still cannot sign in with their organizational identity to their IT helpdesk or administrator.^4^

    3. Administrator checks

    Ask the administrator who issued the work account to verify:

    1. Microsoft 365 admin center → Users → Active users → your account
      • The account exists and Sign in blocked is not displayed.
      • Licenses and Apps includes a license with the SharePoint Online service enabled.^5^
    2. SharePoint admin center → More features → User profiles → Manage User Profiles
      • Your SharePoint user profile exists. OneDrive requires that profile to provision the personal site.^6^
    3. Check OneDrive and SharePoint service health and determine whether your personal OneDrive site still exists.
    4. If unresolved, open a Microsoft 365 business support case with:
      • Error 8004e4f3
      • Approximate timestamps and time zone
      • The affected account and OneDrive site, shared privately
      • Any correlation/request IDs shown

    Failure from both web and desktop strongly indicates an account, tenant, network, or service-side issue, but it does not by itself eliminate every possible Mac-side problem.

    4. Mac credential repair—only after tenant access is confirmed

    Because reinstalling did not help, the next new client-side action is clearing the cached OneDrive credential:

    1. Open Spotlight → Keychain Access.
    2. Search for OneDrive.
    3. Delete only OneDrive Cached Credential.
    4. Start OneDrive and sign in with the work account.^7^

    Do not delete unrelated Office or Microsoft identity entries; that helps avoid disturbing the separately activated Office apps.

    If that fails and all readable local files have been copied safely, reset OneDrive:

    1. Quit OneDrive.
    2. Open Applications.
    3. Control-click OneDrive → Show Package Contents.
    4. Open Contents → Resources.
    5. Run ResetOneDriveApp.command, or ResetOneDriveAppStandalone.command for the standalone build.
    6. Start OneDrive and, when asked for a location, select the previous OneDrive syncing location.^8^

    Resetting disconnects every configured personal and work/school sync connection and triggers a full resynchronization, so use it only after preservation and tenant verification.

    File safety and recovery

    A sign-in failure does not itself establish that cloud files were deleted. OneDrive cleanup begins when the Microsoft Entra user account is deleted; merely blocking sign-in or removing the license does not initiate that deletion process.^9^

    If the administrator deleted the account, the OneDrive is retained for the configured period—30 days by default—and then remains in a deleted state for 93 days, during which a SharePoint administrator can restore it.^10^ Request restoration immediately if account deletion is discovered.

    References

    1. how to solve too many requests in the sign in - Microsoft Q&A
    2. Fix OneDrive Files On-Demand issues on macOS 12.1 or later | Microsoft Support
    3. Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in OneDrive
    4. Can't sign in to OneDrive | Microsoft Support
    5. Troubleshooting guide to OneDrive for Business sites stopped at provisioning stage
    6. OneDrive for Business stopped at "Setting up..." or "We're still setting up a few things" screen
    7. [Error messages](https://support.microsoft.com/onedrive/what-do-the-onedrive-error-codes-mean)
    8. Reset OneDrive | Microsoft Support
    9. OneDrive retention and deletion
    10. Restore a deleted OneDrive
    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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