How to Change OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time in Windows 10


OneDrive is a cloud-based storage service where you can view, browse, upload, and share the files you saved online to OneDrive.

OneDrive runs on the trusted Microsoft cloud, which has many security measures in place to keep your files safe. But Microsoft understands that some people want more protection for their most important and sensitive files, which is why they are introducing Personal Vault.

Personal Vault is a protected area in OneDrive where you can store your most important or sensitive files and photos without sacrificing the convenience of anywhere access.

Personal Vault adds to the robust privacy and security that OneDrive currently offers, including file encryption at rest and in transit, suspicious activity monitoring, ransomware detection and recovery, mass file deletion notification and recovery, virus scanning on download for known threats, and version history for all file types.

You will need to set up OneDrive Personal Vault separately on each device where you want to use it.

Just enter a PIN, or use your fingerprint, face, or a code delivered by email or SMS1 to unlock and access your files—no need to remember multiple passwords. Additionally, Personal Vault can be unlocked with the Microsoft Authenticator app. Whichever way you choose, unlocking is quick, convenient, and helps secure your data.

Personal Vault uses more than just two-step verification to help keep your files safe and private. On Windows 10 PCs, OneDrive syncs your Personal Vault files to a BitLocker-encrypted area of your local hard drive. And like all files in OneDrive, the contents of your Personal Vault are encrypted at-rest in the Microsoft cloud and in-transit to your device. For further protection on mobile devices, it is recommend that you enable encryption on your iOS or Android device. Together, these measures help keep your files protected even if your Windows 10 PC or mobile device is lost, stolen, or someone gains access to it.

Personal Vault automatically locks after a period of inactivity (20 minutes on the web, 3 minutes on a mobile app) and then you need to unlock it to get at your files again. All your documents, photos, and videos in Personal Vault are easy to access from onedrive.com, your PC, or other capable devices.

Starting with OneDrive version 2020 (Build 19.232.1124.0004), you can now change the Personal Vault inactivity lock time to be 20 minutes (default), 1 hour, 2 hours, or 4 hours.

This tutorial will show you how to change the OneDrive Personal Vault inactivity lock time for your account in Windows 10.


Contents

  • Option One: Change OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time in OneDrive Settings
  • Option Two: Change OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time using a REG file



EXAMPLE: OneDrive Personal Vault locked and unlocked
Change OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time in Windows 10-onedrive_personal_vault_locked.png Change OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time in Windows 10-onedrive_personal_vault_unlocked.png






OPTION ONE

Change OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time in OneDrive Settings


1 Start OneDrive, and sign in to OneDrive if not already.

2 Click/tap on the OneDrive notification area icon on the taskbar, click/tap on the More (3 dots) button, and click/tap on Settings. (see screenshot below)

Change OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time in Windows 10-onedrive_personal_vault_settings-1.png

3 Click/tap on the Account tab, select (dot) 20 minutes (default), 1 hour, 2 hours, or 4 hours for what you want under Personal Vault Inactivity Lock, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

Change OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time in Windows 10-onedrive_personal_vault_settings-2.png






OPTION TWO

Change OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time using a REG file


The downloadable .reg files below will modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OneDrive

VaultInactivityTimeout DWORD

0 = 20 minutes (default)
1 = 1 hour
2 = 2 hours
4 = 4 hours


1 Do step 2 (20 minutes), step 3 (1 hour), step 4 (2 hours), or step 5 (3 hours) below for Personal Vault inactivity lock time you want to use.


2 To Set OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time to 20 minutes

This is the default setting.

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 6 below.

Default_20-minutes_OneDrive_Personal_Vault_inactivity_lock.reg

Download


3 To Set OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time to 1 hour

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 6 below.

1-hour_OneDrive_Personal_Vault_inactivity_lock.reg

Download


4 To Set OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time to 2 hours

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 6 below.

2-hours_OneDrive_Personal_Vault_inactivity_lock.reg

Download


5 To Set OneDrive Personal Vault Inactivity Lock Time to 4 hours

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 6 below.

4-hours_OneDrive_Personal_Vault_inactivity_lock.reg

Download


6 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

7 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

8 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

9 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.


That's it,
Shawn