Fix OneDrive Shared Folder Access Denied After Account Recreation
Question details
A newly recreated Microsoft 365 account cannot access previously shared OneDrive folders despite having the exact same user principal name as the deleted account.
- Product
- Microsoft OneDrive
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- A user is attempting to open a shared OneDrive folder after their Microsoft 365 account was deleted and subsequently recreated.
- Observed behavior
- The user receives an 'Access Denied' error message when trying to access the shared folder, and local troubleshooting such as clearing browser cache or removing stale profiles does not restore access.
Ensure you have contact with your organization's Microsoft 365 Administrator, as resolving underlying identity conflicts requires backend access to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
Request Backend Identity Investigation via Microsoft 365 Support
Since the recreated account possesses a different underlying internal identity from the original account, this issue requires administrative intervention to reset permissions and potentially escalate to Microsoft Support.
When an account is deleted and recreated with the identical email address, Microsoft 365 assigns it a new unique identifier (PUID). SharePoint and OneDrive often retain the old identifier in their backend, creating a mismatch that denies access even when the username is identical.
Ask the owner of the shared OneDrive folder to completely remove your email address from the folder's share and access lists.
Once the old permissions are removed, have the folder owner share the folder with you again to associate the permissions with your new account identity.
If access is still denied, contact your IT administrator to verify and clear the stale SharePoint user identity from the site collection.
If the administrator cannot resolve the identity mismatch, they must log into the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, navigate to 'Support' > 'New service request', and ask Microsoft to fix the backend synchronization.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why does recreating my Microsoft 365 account cause a OneDrive access denied error?
Even if the recreated account uses the exact same email and username, Microsoft assigns it a completely new internal identifier. The shared OneDrive folder still recognizes the old identifier, which blocks the new account from accessing it.
Can I fix this identity mismatch error by clearing my browser cache?
No. Clearing your browser cache only resolves local browser session issues. Since this is a server-level identity conflict within Microsoft 365, it requires an administrator to update the backend permissions.
How can a Microsoft 365 admin remove the old SharePoint profile?
An admin can remove old user records by accessing the SharePoint Admin Center, deleting the user from the specific site collection via permissions settings, or by executing specific SharePoint Online Management Shell PowerShell commands to remove stale identities.
