Can I have 2 onedrive accounts from same machine? Win10 w/MS 365

way2ob2se · 02 Oct 2020

This may not make a lot of sense, but here goes. I had a desktop with Office 2017. Motherboard fried so got new machine. Had access to FREE MS 365 through husband's university so installed that using his .edu email account instead of paying for old Office products. So far, so good. Until I looked in Windows Explorer and saw onedrive only had his onedrive folders...which makes perfect sense. But, I want to be able to continue using onedrive for MY stuff too, and not comingle it with his university items. What (if any) are my options? Can I set up a separate onedrive account from my machine so that I can see/use it in Windows explorer like the good 'ol days?

Any advice will be gratefully accepted. If I'm just banging my head on the desk for nothing, just let me know.

WinVer is 1909 (OS build 183.63.1082)
Microsoft 365 Apps for E nterprise

Berton · 02 Oct 2020

Is it Office 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 or 2019? Or Office 365? If you are signing onto the same computer, own User and Password, you should have your own OneDrive.

I just installed Office 2007 Enterprise and it does not include OneDrive nor does Office 2010 on a different computer. My main computer with Office 2013 has OneDrive for Business. Windows 10 has its own OneDrive, listed separately on the Start menu.

EDIT:

Sorry, just saw your "Microsoft 365 Apps for E nterprise", hiding just behind the Taskbar.

way2ob2se · 02 Oct 2020

I don't actually sign in to my machine. When I power it up it goes directly to my desktop. I can go to Outlook and see my 3 email addresses, go to Word, Xcel, etc. But if I go into Windows Explorer the top of the list (well, under the Quick Access area) is "One Drive - Cal State Fullerton." I assume this is because our FREE MS 365 was added with that his Cal State email. I'd like to have something like "One Drive - OurName" where we can both put our personal (non-school) files, in addition to his school one.

sygnus21 · 02 Oct 2020

way2ob2se said:

But, I want to be able to continue using onedrive for MY stuff too, and not comingle it with his university items. What (if any) are my options? Can I set up a separate onedrive account from my machine so that I can see/use it in Windows explorer like the good 'ol days?

Yes, you can have multiple OneDrive Accounts, you just need to add the account and supply your login credentials for that OneDrive account. Been there, done that....

Can I have 2 onedrive accounts from same machine? Win10 w/MS 365-onedrive-accounts.png

Just go open any Office 365 app and go to Account. Under Account you see "Connected services" click it and a dropdown box will appear showing OneDrive, and OneDrive for Business. One Drive for business is for school (.edu addresses) or business organizations. OneDrive is your personal OneDrive account.

Again, when adding the account you'll need to login with that account's credentials even though you may be logged into the PC with a different account.

Hope this helps.

way2ob2se · 04 Oct 2020

Sygnus21, sorry for the delayed response. Have a bad back and couldn't sit at the machine yesterday. I followed all your instructions and my Connected Services now include a OneDrive - Personal in my Accounts on each MS app. (I used a MS account/password that already existed.) I recycled the machine, and expected when I went to Windows Explorer I would see both his OneDrive edu account and an additional OneDrive-Personal. Only his is displayed. Did I do something wrong, or are my expectations wrong, or ?

Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it.

Kari · 04 Oct 2020

Once Office is installed and activated, all users of that computer may use it. In your case, I would simply create a new Windows user account using your own, personal MS account, and use it instead of the current user account.

Kari

way2ob2se · 04 Oct 2020

Thanks for the response, Kari. My goal is not to have multiple accounts, but to have separate OneDrive folders. One for the .edu files and one that would be Personal....all accessible through one login. Sygnus21 showed it was possible, but I'm asking whether they will both show up in Windows Explorer.

Kari · 04 Oct 2020

way2ob2se said:

I'm asking whether they will both show up in Windows Explorer.

Yes.

I have three different OneDrives set up. a personal one and two OneDrive for Business accounts. All three show in File Explorer:

Can I have 2 onedrive accounts from same machine? Win10 w/MS 365-image.png

(Click to enlarge.)

On Taskbar notification area, personal OD is shown with white icon, and OD for Business accounts with blue icon:

(My Taskbar is set to be vertical on left, so the screenshot might look different than notification area on your computer.)

Windows allows only one personal OD account on one user account, and in addition, unlimited number of OD for Business accounts. The EDU accounts are OD for Business, there's nothing stopping you to have both your personal OD account, and the EDU OD for Business accounts added to your Windows user account.

Kari

way2ob2se · 04 Oct 2020

That is exactly how I want my File Explorer to look/work.

Now it's dumb question time. Does the second account need to be a Microsoft user, or just a local user? If it's a separate MS user, will I have to log in to my PC with that account to see it? I want to be able to just have one login on the PC but still be able to use the second OneDrive.

It's not a coincidence my user name is way2ob2se.

Kari · 04 Oct 2020

Quoting your earlier reply to my post:

way2ob2se said:

My goal is not to have multiple accounts, but to have separate OneDrive folders. One for the .edu files and one that would be Personal....

You do not need a second user account. Signed in to your current Windows user account, right click the OneDrive icon in notification area / systray. Select Settings. Select Account tab, click Add an account button, and enter your personal OneDrive MS account email.

That's it. You will then have two OneDrive icons in systray, a blue one for your EDU OD for Business, and a white one for the personal OD. Both will also be shown in File Explorer, its navigation pane.

OneDrive, both personal and EDU (OD for Business) accounts can be added to Windows user account regardless if user signs in to Windows with a local or Microsoft account.

Kari