M365 Changelog: (Updated) OneDrive sync app will automatically configure accounts

MC362284 – Updated June 14, 2022: Microsoft updated the rollout timeline below. Thank you for your patience.

This release will enable the OneDrive sync app to sign into an account even quicker. Users will experience an improved single sign-on experience by automatically being able to see their OneDrive files within their file browser upon sign in or OneDrive app update.

• On Windows, users who are signed into the device with an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account will see their OneDrive folder start syncing without entering their account credentials.
• On macOS, users who are signed into another Microsoft app (i.e., Office, Teams, Edge, etc.) will see their OneDrive folder start syncing without entering their account credentials.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 93242.

When this will happen:

Microsoft will begin rolling out in early July (previously mid-June) and expect to complete by late July.

How this will affect your organization:

If OneDrive is running in the background, it will periodically try to sign in with an existing AAD credential that is made available to Microsoft applications. This new capability will replace our existing Windows policy of SilentAccountConfig and is brand new for macOS. If you previously had SilentAccountConfig enabled, then you will see no difference in behavior. If you have never enabled this policy, then as long as OneDrive is configured to run in the background, you will have a more streamlined experience onboarding to OneDrive.

What you need to do to prepare:

Ensure that your OneDrive is set up to run in the background. On macOS you can confirm this by setting the “OpenAtLogin” plist. OneDrive already runs in the background on Windows.

If you would like to disable this, then there is a new policy and plist item in build 22.065 called “DisableAutoConfig”. If you set this to 1, it will disable this new automatic account configuration.