Installing and Signing into Microsoft OneDrive

Owned by Winter Morse (Deactivated)
Last updated: Jun 21, 2023 by Virginia OelkersVersion comment
3 min read

The University's Microsoft license we are able to offer OneDrive to our students, Staff, and faculty. With OneDrive, you can sync files between your computer and the cloud, so you can get to your files from anywhere - your computer, your mobile device, and even through the OneDrive website at OneDrive.com. If you add, change, or delete a file or folder in your OneDrive folder, the file or folder is added, changed, or deleted on the OneDrive website and vice versa. You can work with your synced files directly in File Explorer and access your files even when you’re offline. Whenever you’re online, any changes that you or others make will sync automatically. This article describes how to download the OneDrive sync app and sign in with your personal account, or work or school account, to get started syncing.

Step-by-step guide

Setting up OneDrive if it is already installed:

Installing OneDrive:

  1. Navigate to the Westminster University Faculty and Staff Resources page.
  2. Click on the purple “EMAIL” button near the top of the page
  3. Next click on the App Switcher button in the top left
  4. Click on the link that says “Office 365”
  5. Click on the “Install Office” drop down menu
  6. Select the Office 365 apps option (** This will install all of the office apps**)
  7. Double click on the downloaded file and follow the install prompts
  8. After install is complete, you know have access to OneDrive
    1. You can access it in many ways:
      1. follow the steps above,but on step 4 select the OneDrive app from the list
      2. Go to onedrive.com and sign-in using your Westminster credentials

Syncing OneDrive with your computer (personal and campus computers):

  1. On the Office 365 app launcher, select OneDrive, and then select the folder you want to sync
  2. Click Sync. (You only need to do this once on a computer to set up syncing on that computer. After you set up syncing, the files sync automatically.)
  3. If your browser requests permission to use "Microsoft OneDrive," confirm that this is okay
  4. Choose the folders that you want to sync on your computer, and then click OK
  5. The files will sync to a folder on your PC called OneDrive - Westminster This folder is automatically added to the left pane in File Explorer. You can’t select to sync to a different location
  6. To sync the files on another computer, go to the other computer and follow the steps again


The IS department often gets asked if OneDrive is as secure as the network drive. The answer will as boil down to "how secure is your password?" although it is important to note that your OneDrive has another layer of security with multi-factor authentication required.