In Microsoft 365, when an employee leaves the organization, administrators may need to transfer ownership of their OneDrive files to another user. This ensures that business-critical data is not lost and can be accessed by the appropriate person.
Using PnP PowerShell, administrators can quickly transfer OneDrive ownership and assign new permissions.
What You’ll Learn:
Connect to SharePoint Admin Center using PnP PowerShell
Find the OneDrive URL of a User
Grant Access to Another User
✔ Verify the Permission Changes
Step 1: Install and Import PnP PowerShell
Ensure you have PnP PowerShell installed. If not, install it:
Install-Module -Name PnP.PowerShell -Scope CurrentUser -AllowClobber -Force
Then, import the module:
Import-Module PnP.PowerShell
PnP PowerShell is ready!
Step 2: Connect to SharePoint Admin Center
To manage OneDrive ownership, first connect to the SharePoint Admin Center:
$AdminSiteUrl = "https://yourtenant-admin.sharepoint.com"
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $AdminSiteUrl -Interactive
🔹 Replace “yourtenant” with your actual Microsoft 365 tenant name.
🔹 This command will prompt you to sign in with admin credentials.
Connected to SharePoint Admin Center!
Step 3: Get OneDrive URL of the User
Each OneDrive site follows a standard URL pattern:
Get-PnPUserProfileProperty -Account "user@yourdomain.com" | Select -ExpandProperty PersonalUrl
🔹 Replace “user@yourdomain.com“ with the current owner’s email.
OneDrive URL retrieved!
Step 4: Grant Access to the New Owner
Now, grant full control to the new owner:
$OneDriveUrl = "https://yourtenant-my.sharepoint.com/personal/user_domain_com"
$NewOwner = "newowner@yourdomain.com"
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $OneDriveUrl -Interactive
Set-PnPAzureADUser -Identity $NewOwner -IsSiteCollectionAdmin $true
🔹 Replace “user_domain_com” with the current OneDrive owner’s UPN format.
🔹 Replace “newowner@yourdomain.com“ with the new owner’s email.
New owner granted full control!
Step 5: Remove Old Owner (Optional)
If necessary, remove the previous owner’s permissions:
Remove-PnPAzureADUser -Identity "oldowner@yourdomain.com"
🔹 Replace “oldowner@yourdomain.com“ with the previous owner’s email.
Old owner’s access removed!
Step 6: Verify the Changes
To check the new permissions:
Get-PnPSiteCollectionAdmin
This will display the current OneDrive site collection administrators.
Ownership transfer verified!
Step 7: Disconnect the Session
Once done, disconnect the session:
Disconnect-PnPOnline
Disconnected successfully!