Forum Discussion

CarlosMoralesMX77's avatar
CarlosMoralesMX77
Copper Contributor
Aug 21, 2025
Solved

Block owners in OneDrive

Hi Team. I need to protect the information in OneDrive accounts. How can I prevent a user who is not the owner of a OneDrive account from becoming the owner? Only that person should be the owner of ...
  • NikolinoDE's avatar
    Aug 23, 2025

    Every OneDrive for Business site is actually a SharePoint site collection provisioned for a user.

    By default:

    • The user is the site collection admin (owner).
    • Global/SharePoint admins can also grant themselves access (that’s by design for compliance and recovery).

    There is no way to stop global admins from assigning themselves permissions — Microsoft designed it that way.

     

    What you can control?

    1. Default Ownership
      • The OneDrive is automatically owned by the user who the license belongs to.
      • No other “owner” is added unless done manually by an admin.
    2. Sharing Policies
      • In the Microsoft 365 admin center → SharePoint admin center → Sharing policies, you can control:
        • Who can share externally.
        • Whether sharing is allowed with specific people/groups.
        • Prevent others from granting access that would elevate someone effectively to “co-owner.”
    3. Prevent Admin Delegation
      • Normal users (non-admins) cannot make themselves owners of someone else’s OneDrive.
      • Only admins can elevate permissions.
      • You can audit this in the Microsoft Purview audit log.
    4. Policies You Can Apply
      • Block adding additional site collection admins automatically via PowerShell

     

    You cannot completely stop global/SharePoint admins from taking ownership if needed. That’s a safeguard for legal, compliance, and recovery scenarios.

     

    Recommended…

    • Accept that the user + global admins are always “owners.”
    • Use audit logging to detect if an admin adds themselves as an owner.
    • Apply sensitivity labels or DLP policies to protect sensitive data, so even if someone gains access, policies control what they can do.
    • Consider Customer Key or Double Key Encryption for high-security data.

     

     

    My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!

     

    Hope this will help you.

     

    Was the answer useful? Mark as best response and like it!

    This will help all forum participants.

Resources