Unable to add school account to OneDrive

Question

Unable to add school account to OneDrive

Brayden Chatlain 0

My school microsoft account on OneDrive stopped syncing and told me it needed me to re-enter my credentials, upon which it would promptly error out before giving me the chance. so I removed the account and tried to re-add it, but after I enter my password it tells me that something went wrong, and I should try again. ive tried about 5 times now, what do i do? it doesnt give me an error code or anything, as far as I can see.

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2 answers

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Answer 1

Jack-Bu 7,220 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Brayden,

Since OneDrive was previously syncing and started prompting for credentials before failing during sign-in, there are a few troubleshooting steps worth trying:

Confirm the account can still sign in through the web
- Sign in to https://portal.office.com using the same school account.
- Open OneDrive from the web portal.
- If you cannot sign in online, or receive an account-related error, contact your school's IT administrator because the account itself may need attention.
Reset OneDrive: Please follow the guidance in this article: Reset OneDrive | Microsoft Support
Remove cached work or school account credentials
- Close OneDrive completely.
  - Open Credential Manager > Windows Credentials.
    - Remove any entries related to OneDrive, Office, MicrosoftOffice, ADAL, or your school account.
      - Restart the computer and try adding the account again.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post.

If the answer is helpful, please click 'Yes' and kindly upvote it.

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Brayden Chatlain 0 Reputation points

2026-11-04T05:55:53.3366667+00:00

These three solutions did not solve the problem, I was able to open my onedrive/sharepoint through the webpage, resetting Onedrive did not solve it, and i could not locate any entries in the credential manager related to the problem account.
Jack-Bu 7,220 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-11-04T16:37:47.7666667+00:00
Hi Brayden,

Because this is an authentication‑related issue, resolution generally involves restoring the trust relationship between the device and the associated account.

You can try the following steps to clear your credentials cache to ensure a clean reset

Please sign out your accounts from Office applications, then close all Office applications. 

Open File Explorer, paste the following path, and delete all files and folders. %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin_cw5n1h2txyewy 

In the Windows search bar, search for "Access Work or School". 

Check if you can see your school account in "Access Work or School"

If you don't see it, please select Connect and add your business account. 

If you can see it, please select it and select Disconnect. After that, please click "Connect" and log into your account again to register the device. 

Open the Control Panel on your PC. 

Go to User Accounts > Credential Manager. 

Under both Windows Credentials and Generic Credentials, look for any entries related to your Microsoft 365 business account and Office apps. 

Select and remove those entries. 

Restart your computer and try adding your account in Office again. 

Download OLicenseCleanup.vbs and run it. In this way, you can use this package to remove the license, clear the stored identities in the registry, and remove the credentials. You can follow this: Reset activation state for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise - Microsoft 365 Apps | Microsoft Learn to reset activation state

Restart your device.

Reopen Office apps and sign in with the correct account.

If the issue persists after clearing your credentials cache, please reach out to your IT admin and ask them to remove the affected device from your Azure or Microsoft 365 account and re-registering it creates a clean directory entry, often resolving trust or identity mismatches.
Brayden Chatlain 0 Reputation points

2026-11-04T19:46:32.1166667+00:00

I tried all of the steps you gave, and it ended up working afterwards. thank you! Im not entirely sure which of these solutions worked, but one of them did, and thats all that matters to me.

Answer 2

Brayden Chatlain 0

I tried all of the steps given, and it ended up working afterwards. thank you! Im not entirely sure which of these solutions worked, but one of them did, so just try them all i guess

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