-
Written By
Simran Bhatia -
Approved By
Sonika Rawat -
Updated on
May 25th, 2026 -
Read Time
8 minutes
How to Migrate OneDrive to Another Tenant Securely in 2026
Cross-tenant migrations are absolutely a complex task if you don’t have a correct idea of them. It contains duplicates, a large bulk of files, broken permissions, and your CFO asking why the drive links won’t open. Therefore, many organizations in 2026 tend to migrate OneDrive to another tenant more frequently due to M&A, restructuring, divestiture, and compliance. However, the challenge is to preserve the data during this migration and not the migration itself. Hence, we have this guide for you with feasible solutions, including a SysInfo Microsoft 365 Tenant to Tenant Migration Tool for ease.
Why is it Complex to Migrate OneDrive Between Tenants?
Migrating OneDrive involves a lot more than simply copying the data files, like identifying mapping, inheriting permissions, version history, shared links, client relationships, and compliance policies.
Since the OneDrive account is coupled with the Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), changing the tenants results in changed identities too. This explains that if you migrate data, the files are moved successfully, but permissions may collapse.
Real Problems As Discussed on Forums
“Admins struggle to preserve item-level permissions while migrating between the Microsoft environments. It is confirmed that native Microsoft operations don’t always preserve the granular permissions.”
-Microsoft Q&A Thread, May 2026
“Reporting of massive duplicate accumulation after OneDrive migrations and no pre-cleanup. Organizations often face storage issues and a mess of files and folders that is unstructured and huge.”
“I needed to migrate around 700GB of the OneDrive folder between users. However, I faced Microsoft’s operational large transfer limits and file count issues, only to realize how important API based migration approaches are.”
-EllMarcola, r/microsoft365, Reddit
How to Migrate OneDrive to Another Tenant Securely?
Use the native manual Microsoft migration or a dedicated SysInfo OneDrive Tenant Migrator to perform a secure and simplified migration. However, ensure to confirm the pre-migration checklist, especially for free migration.
Prerequisites:
Source OneDrive Tenant Needs
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Destination Tenant Needs
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Common Requirements:
Remember that identity mapping is critical to ensure migrated permissions don’t become orphaned references like a forgotten DNS Record. Treat them as foundational requirements. -Microsoft Community |
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Free Migrate OneDrive from One Tenant to Another
Before beginning with the actual migration, there are some other important checks that you cannot bypass. These are:
- Incremental migrations not supported
- OneDrive tenant account mustn’t already exist
- Source OneDrive users must have read/write permissions
- 400-character path limit prevails and ensures reducing nested folders
- 5 TB per one drive, i..e, 1 million items is the maximum supported size
- Gov. Cloud tenants are unsupported, and licenses are essential
Steps to Migrate OneDrive to Another Tenant
1) Verify Licence Requirements
Ensure to have eligible M365 subscription plans and cross-tenant migration user data add-on licences. The supported plans here include: M365 E3/E5, Business Premium, OneDrive for Business, and SharePoint Online.
2) Install SharePoint PowerShell & Connect Tenants
- Start by downloading and installing SharePoint PowerShell as:
- Then, open it as an administrator and connect to the source OneDrive tenant with:
- Further, in a separate window, connect to the target OneDrive tenant account:
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Get-Module -Name Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell -ListAvailable |
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Connect-SPOService -Url https://source-admin.sharepoint.com |
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Connect-SPOService -Url https://target-admin.sharepoint.com |
3) Configure Trust & Verify Relationship
- To establish trust between source and target tenant accounts, run these commands in their windows:
- Afterward, verify cross-tenant relationship with the command:
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In Source: Set-SPOCrossTenantRelationship -Scenario MnA -PartnerRole Target -PartnerCrossTenantHostUrl https://target-admin.sharepoint.com In Target: Set-SPOCrossTenantRelationship -Scenario MnA -PartnerRole Source -PartnerCrossTenantHostUrl https://source-admin.sharepoint.com |
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Get-SPOCrossTenantRelationship |
4) Create Target Users & Map Identities
Now, you need to create the target users and assign their licences. Ensure to not create the OneDrive site. This is because Microsoft explicitly states that,
“OneDrive accounts shouldn’t be created during or before the migration.”
- Use the given command to create the target tenant users:
- Then assign their Microsoft 365 licences and OneDrive access.
- Do not log into the OneDrive account yet.
- Later, create a CSV file for the mapping as given below:
- It will preserve your permissions and associations. Also ensure you have both read/write permissions over it.
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user@targettenant.onmicrosoft.com |
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SourceUPN,TargetUPN,SourceOneDriveUrl,TargetOneDriveUrl user1@source.com,user1@target.com,https://source-my.sharepoint.com/personal/user1_source_com,https://target-my.sharepoint.com/personal/user1_target_com |
5) Migrate OneDrive to Another Tenant
- Finally, use the given command scripts to initiate the OneDrive to tenant migration:
- Further, monitor the migration status with:
- Verify your redirections, reconfigure the synced clients, and validate the data once the migration completes.
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Start-SPOCrossTenantUserContentMove ` -SourceUserPrincipalName user1@source.com ` -TargetUserPrincipalName user1@target.com ` -TargetCrossTenantHostUrl https://target-my.sharepoint.com |
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Get-SPOCrossTenantUserContentMoveState |
Loopholes of the Method
- No support for delta migrations or merge and overwrite support
- Target OneDrive doesn’t exist, and no option for duplicate detection
- Cannot perform selective data migration, and it is complex to map
- Users must have technical expertise, and it has high chance of human error
- Options for advanced customization aren’t available, and no guarantee for data security
Savvy Migrate OneDrive for Business to Another Tenant
If you want to avoid the hassle of the manual migration and want a simplified, rapid, and secure data migration, then use the SysInfo OneDrive to Tenant Migrator Tool. It allows migrating OneDrive accounts as well as migrate SharePoint site to Another Tenant with full accuracy, precise mapping, and defined folders. The software ensures that no data is lost in the process, and data is migrated incrementally for large enterprises with complex permissions. Moreover, it prevents duplicates and automates access with OAuth 2.0 Authentication, and even provides audit and report logs. Usable on all Mac and Windows OS, it ensures a streamlined, secure, and fast migration.
Working Process to Migrate OneDrive to Another Tenant
- Launch the SysInfo Tenant to Tenant Migration Tool and press Copy OneDrive.
- Then, select the source tenant and authenticate the account in any way.
- Choose the OneDrive IDs that you want to migrate data from and click Continue.
- Further, pick a mode to login to the destination tenant account and authenticate.
- Afterward, select the destination mailboxes where you want to save the OneDrive data. Tap Continue to Mapping.
- Proceed ahead and map the source and destination accounts, and click Next after verifying.
- Later, choose the filters that you want to apply, and finally, tap Start Migration to move data.
- In the end, check the migration report from OneDrive to another tenant migration.
Are you interested in saving the OneDrive files externally for access across platforms and devices? If it’s a yes, explore the guide to backup OneDrive to External Drive besides understanding migrating OneDrive files to another tenant.
Real Migration Scenario
A medium-sized consulting company is prepared to transfer 480 users between 2 Microsoft 365 tenants. The first one has 18TB of OneDrive data, externally shared links, library files by department, and duplicated content with compliance retention policies.
Using SysInfo Microsoft OneDrive Tenant Migrator’s automated content mapping and pre-migration duplication analysis, the company has:
- Reduced duplicate storage by 31%
- Completed migration in minimal time
- Maintained continuity of access to user information
- Preserved original permissions for over 92% of externally shared files.
Manually attempting this would have created an operational difficulty for all users, especially from the non-tech background.
Final Remarks
If organizations and users need to migrate OneDrive to another tenant, then they need a strategic mindset and admin controls. Microsoft ecosystems are often deeply interconnected with each other, which means all permissions, links, mapping, sync behaviors, etc., are also simultaneously related to eachother. Native migration capability in this case helps, but only with technical proficiency, time, and small migrations. With demanding spaces and large enterprises, intelligent software solutions like SysInfo Microsoft 365 OneDrive to Tenant Migrator are more efficient and reliable for ideal outcomes and no data loss or migration downtime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How can I migrate OneDrive from one tenant to another without data loss?
Ans. Migrate OneDrive between tenants without data loss using the specialized SysInfo Tenant to Tenant Migration Software. It effectively moves all the file metadata, sharing permissions, folder structure, and versioned docs without any interruptions or loss.
Q2. Can I migrate OneDrive for Business to another tenant with permissions?
Ans. Yes, you can move OneDrive for Business to another tenant with permissions using both SharePoint PowerShell and SysInfo M365 Migration Tool. However, it may depend on the mapping and method you opted. Native method has some limits.
Q3. What are the prerequisites for OneDrive tenant-to-tenant migration?
Ans. The prerequisites for OneDrive tenant-to-tenant migration are admin access with a valid licence, target users with proper configuration, storage availability check, and identity mapping.
Q4. Can I migrate multiple OneDrive accounts to another tenant at once?
Ans. Yes, you can perform multiple OneDrive to single tenant or multiple OneDrive to multiple tenant migrations using the Office 365 Tenant to Tenant Migration Software by SysInfo. It allows mapping the folders for efficiency, either manually or automatically.
Q5. How do I avoid duplicate files during OneDrive migration?
Ans. Use the deduplication of OneDrive available in the SysInfo Microsoft 365 Tenant to Tenant Migration Tool before the migration. Or, you can use the Remove Duplicate feature during the copy of OneDrive tenant data to another tenant.
About The Author:
Simran Bhatia is a technical content writer engaged in writing clear, concise, and SEO-optimized content. With a background in computer science and a passion for writing, I thrive to deliver complex technical content in simple layman terms.
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