Windows 10: Unlock OneDrive Personal Vault in Windows 10

How to: Unlock OneDrive Personal Vault in Windows 10

How to Unlock OneDrive Personal Vault in Windows 10


OneDrive is a cloud-based storage service where you can view, browse, upload, and share the files you saved online to OneDrive.

OneDrive runs on the trusted Microsoft cloud, which has many security measures in place to keep your files safe. But Microsoft understands that some people want more protection for their most important and sensitive files, which is why they are introducing Personal Vault.

Personal Vault is a protected area in OneDrive where you can store your most important or sensitive files and photos without sacrificing the convenience of anywhere access.

Personal Vault adds to the robust privacy and security that OneDrive currently offers, including file encryption at rest and in transit, suspicious activity monitoring, ransomware detection and recovery, mass file deletion notification and recovery, virus scanning on download for known threats, and version history for all file types.

You will need to set up OneDrive Personal Vault separately on each device where you want to use it.

Just enter a PIN, or use your fingerprint, face, or a code delivered by email or SMS1 to unlock and access your filesno need to remember multiple passwords. Additionally, Personal Vault can be unlocked with the Microsoft Authenticator app. Whichever way you choose, unlocking is quick, convenient, and helps secure your data.

Personal Vault uses more than just two-step verification to help keep your files safe and private. On Windows 10 PCs, OneDrive syncs your Personal Vault files to a BitLocker-encrypted area of your local hard drive. And like all files in OneDrive, the contents of your Personal Vault are encrypted at-rest in the Microsoft cloud and in-transit to your device. For further protection on mobile devices, it is recommend that you enable encryption on your iOS or Android device. Together, these measures help keep your files protected even if your Windows 10 PC or mobile device is lost, stolen, or someone gains access to it.

Personal Vault automatically locks after a period of inactivity (20 minutes on the web, 3 minutes on a mobile app) and then you need to unlock it to get at your files again. All your documents, photos, and videos in Personal Vault are easy to access from onedrive.com, your PC, or other capable devices.

These new Personal Vault capabilities will be provided to people who use OneDrive on the web, with the OneDrive mobile app or on a Windows 10 PC. Personal Vault started rolling out in all regions worldwide on September 6, 2019 and is expected to be available to everyone in October. You will know it's available when you see the special Personal Vault folder in OneDrive.

If you already have OneDrive, Personal Vault will appear as a feature update when it launches later this year in your region. And if you arent yet a OneDrive customer, you can download the app or go to www.onedrive.com to start using it on your PC or on the web. If you are using OneDrives free or standalone 100 GB plan, you can try Personal Vault with a limited number of files. Office 365 subscribers can store as many files as they want in Personal Vault, up to their storage limit.

If you don't have an Office 365 Home or Personal subscription, you can only add up to three files in your Personal Vault. If you do have a subscription, you can add as many files as you want (up to your storage limit).


See also:

• OneDrive Personal Vault and expandable storage now available worldwide
• Announcing OneDrive Personal Vault and additional storage options
• OneDrive Personal Vault brings added security to your most important files and OneDrive gets additional storage options | Microsoft 365 Blog
• Protect your OneDrive files in Personal Vault | Microsoft Office

This tutorial will show you how to unlock and open your OneDrive Personal Vault in Windows 10.


EXAMPLE: OneDrive Personal Vault locked and unlocked

For security, your Personal Vault automatically locks when you're not actively using it. On the web, Personal Vault locks after 20 minutes when you're not actively using it. In the mobile app, it locks after 3 minutes.










Here's How:

1 Start OneDrive, and sign in to OneDrive if not already. (see screenshot below)



2 Do step 3 (OneDrive notification icon), step 4 (open), or step 5 (context menu) below for how you would like to unlock and open your OneDrive Personal Vault.


3. Unlock OneDrive Personal Vault from OneDrive notification icon
A) Click/tap on the OneDrive notification icon on the taskbar notification area. (see screenshot below)

B) Click/tap on the More (3 dots) button.

C) Click/tap on Unlock Personal Vault, and go to step 6 below.





4. Unlock OneDrive Personal Vault by opening Personal Vault
A) Open your OneDrive folder (ex: "C:\Users\<user name>\OneDrive"). (see screenshot below)

B) Click/tap on the locked Personal Vault to open it, and go to step 6 below.





5. Unlock OneDrive Personal Vault from context menu
A) Open your OneDrive folder (ex: "C:\Users\<user name>\OneDrive").

B) Right click or press and hold on the locked Personal Vault, click/tap on Unlock Personal Vault, and go to step 6 below.




6 If you use the step 10 below. (see screenshots below)

How to use the Microsoft Authenticator app | Microsoft Account Support








7 Select a verification method (ex: text) you want to use to get a security code. (see screenshot below)



8 Enter the required information for the verification method you selected, and click/tap on Send code. (see screenshot below)



9 Enter the security code you received from Microsoft, and click/tap on Verify. (see screenshot below)



10 Your OneDrive Personal Vault will now be unlocked and opened. (see screenshot below)




That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Link or Unlink OneDrive with Microsoft Account in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Start OneDrive Automatically when you Sign in to Windows 10
• How to Set up OneDrive Personal Vault in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Personal Vault in OneDrive and Windows 10
• How to Lock OneDrive Personal Vault in Windows 10

:)

 

OneDrive Personal Vault cannot be unlocked on Windows10.

I recently enabled the Personal Vault function in OneDrive (Office365 + 1TB subscription).

The vault functions correctly via browser and on my iPhone/iPad.

However, it doesn't work on my Windows10. I get two warning windows saying:

"Something went wrong with your Personal Vault.

Your Personal Vault is locked. To access your Personal Vault, please unlock it again.

[Unlock] [Close]"

And:

"We couldn't unlock your Personal Vault.

Something went wrong. Please try again.

Error Code: 0x80004005.

[OK]"

To save you time, yes I have all updates installed, rebooted my PC twice, logged out of OneDrive then logged back in.

 

OneDrive Personal Vault cannot be unlocked on Windows10.

 

OneDrive Personal Vault cannot be unlocked on Windows10.

Windows 10 May 2019 Update and 1 TB OneDrive Data

After adding Documents and Desktop to be synched via OneDrive, it took a long time updating.

After attempting to shift a large number of folders from OneDrive into Personal Vault, it took so much time synching I abandoned the operation.

Now I am unable to access Personal Vault.

Clicking the white cloud on the status bar I read: (word to the effect) Unable to access Personal Vault. 6,361 files cannot be synched. Error Code 0x8004de40

I am unable to Open, Unlock, or access Personal Vault to view files.

Please help.

 

OneDrive Personal Vault cannot be unlocked on Windows10.

I was able to get rid of the Red X on my OneDrive icon and the error message saying that the Personal Vault could not be synchronized by doing the following:

1. Access the personal vault OnLine via the the View OnLine option from the desktop icon in the task bar.
   
2. Open the vault via the Web Browser and select all the files and folders in the vault.
3. Count all the files and folders presently in the Personal Vault.
4. Move all the files and folders out of the Personal Vault to another folder in your OneDrive.
5. Refresh and verify the Personal Vault is empty.
6. Verify all your important files have been successfully moved by verifying the folder and file count.
7. Disable the Personal Vault online via the Web browser.
8. Select the Personal Vault and attempt to delete it. A message "Cant delete Personal Vault' appears.
9. Click on 'Go to settings'.
10. Select the options to Disable the Personal Vault <Select Disable>. and "Disable" when asked are you sure. [NOTE: when you do this, any contents in the vault are irretrievably lost. So make sure it is empty first.]
11. Wait 30-60 seconds for your OneDrive desktop to synch.
12. Go back to the browser and select Enable on the Persona Vault window if it is still opened.
13. If you closed the window, select Settings in the upper right of online OneDrive (to the left of the question mark), select options, select Personal Vault from the left side menu, then select Enable.
14. A pop-up stating, "Your Personal Vault is back". Select 'got it'.
15. Click on OneDrive in the upper left corner of the browser screen.
16. Find your Personal Vault in your file/folder list.
17. Open it (you will have to authenticate to open).
18. Inspect the vault. It should be empty. In some cases there will be old "uncached" files that appears. It was the failed synching that caused the Red X. Reestablishing the Personal Vault allows the synch to proceed. Be careful as these files might not
    contain the most contemporaneous data.
19. You should now be able to use the Personal Vault as before without the Red X. You can move the files you moved out of the Personal Vault back into the Personal Vault - - begin careful to decide which version to keep of any duplicate files.

 

OneDrive Personal Vault

Began using OneDrive Personal Vault and it worked fine for a period of time. I am now receiving the following error:

'We couldn't unlock you Personal Vault. Something went wrong. Please try again. Error Code: 0x8031b002'

Can anyone provide guidance on how to resolve this error?

Terry