Is Microsoft Locking OneDrive Users Out of Their Accounts?

If you pay to store files on Microsoft's OneDrive cloud service, the software giant may just block you from accessing them for 24 hours or more with no specific reason given, according to Patrick Moorhead.

That's the situation the tech industry analyst was dealing with on Friday, Moorhead told PCMag. Moorhead, principal analyst for Moor Insights & Strategy, said he received the notice pictured below after trying to access his OneDrive files.

"Microsoft locks me out of my files for what they say could be 24 hours, then they say they will 'examine' my files and may shut down my account in 48 hours. This is no way to run an online storage service. The worst part is that I am a paying customer," he said.

Microsoft OneDrive Blocked Account

Per Microsoft's message to Moorhead, the block on his OneDrive account was initiated due to either "an unusually large volume of traffic," "suspicious activity," or "a violation of the Microsoft services agreement or code of conduct." The analyst said further correspondence with the company yielded no more specifics for the action they had taken with his account.

However, in response to a request that he be let back into his account, Moorhead said Microsoft informed him that they had "reexamined the content and determined that the files are not in violation of the Microsoft COC or TOU."

That would seem to narrow the issue down to "an unusually large volume of traffic" or "suspicious activity" on the account, but as Moorhead noted, the new mystery is what Microsoft does when it "examines" and "reexamines" a OneDrive user's content.

Microsoft did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Microsoft rebranded its SkyDrive storage and syncing service as OneDrive earlier this year, with the name change becoming official in February.

Redmond was forced to change the name of its cloud storage and syncing service after it lost a trademark lawsuit filed by satellite TV operator British Sky Broadcasting Group. But the move also offered Microsoft a chance to tie its cloud service branding to the Xbox One and the One Microsoft push outlined by outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer last July.

Ultimately, the name change reflects the service's goal to store "everything in one place," Microsoft's vice president for OS Services Chris Jones wrote in a post on the OneDrive Blog in February.

OneDrive storage and syncing was also tied in to Microsoft's recent release of Office for iPad.

With additional reporting by Michael Muchmore.