Is my user account corrupt? How do I fix it?

READ FIRST

When you uninstalled OneDrive per Microsoft's instructions did they advise you to remove the configuration files inside your users ~/Library folder? I see quite a few configuration files under the following locations:

~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.OneDriveStandaloneSuite

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.OneDrive.FinderSync

~/Library/Application Support/com.microsoft.OneDrive

~/Library/Application Support/com.microsoft.OneDrive.DownloadAndGo

~/Library/Application Support/com.microsoft.OneDriveStandaloneUpdater

~/Library/Application Support/com.microsoft.OneDriveUpdater

~/Library/Application Support/OneDrive

~/Library/Application Support/OneDriveStandaloneUpdater

~/Library/Application Support/OneDriveUpdater

~/Library/Application Scripts/com.microsoft.OneDrive.FinderSync

~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.OneDrive

~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.OneDrive.DownloadAndGo

~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.OneDriveStandaloneUpdater

~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.OneDriveUpdater

~/Library/Caches/OneDrive

~/Library/Logs/OneDrive

~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.OneDrive.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.OneDrive.DownloadAndGo.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.OneDriveStandaloneUpdater.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.OneDriveUpdater.plist

~/Library/WebKit/com.microsoft.OneDrive

I might have missed a few. As you can see there are a lot of configuration files all over the place. This ~/Library folder is hidden inside each macOS user account. So when you say it works with a different account that means all these files are different between accounts. This is also why it might just be easier to create a new primary user account on the Mac and move the data you need to keep to /Users/Shared and then login to the new account and move the files from /Users/Shared.

But you can try the following. Quit the OneDrive application from the menu bar. Then remove all these items I listed above to the trash. Logout and log back on with the problematic user account. Run OneDrive and it should recreate all the default configuration files, etc. Hopefully, that will fix the problem. Suspect one of those configuration files was damaged.

I found a script inside the OneDrive application called "ResetOneDriveAppStandalone.command" that seems to automate killing the running OneDrive App, and removing all the configuration files in the user ~/Library directories I listed. You could Open Terminal and issue the following command to run it.

bash /Applications/OneDrive/Contents/Resources/ResetOneDriveAppStandalone.command

Within this script above is a portion to unload the Finder Extension:

/usr/bin/pluginkit -e ignore -i com.microsoft.OneDrive.FinderSync
killall FinderSync

I don't think this Microsoft provided reset script clears everything. So run the script first then go through the folders I listed and remove any residual entries. Then logout and login and start OneDrive, login to OneDrive and see if the icons appear. Try rebooting once things settle down.

EDIT

There are Keychain entries for OneDrive, open the Keychain, search for OneDrive and remove those entries as well.

Actually, it would be equally time-consuming trying to figure out what is "corrupted" in the current user account. Typically, it is best to create a new "clean" user account and start from there. Trying to copy stuff over could just end up re-corrupting it again. Alternatively, you can start from "scratch" and completely erase your Mac's OS & reinstall a fresh copy as though you just bought a new computer.

Yikes! Well, if it was me, I would go with plan "B" and do a complete erase & re-install of macOS. There is something definitely amiss that may be too difficult to troubleshoot. FWIW, I also use Microsoft's OneDrive and have never come across this issue. I do; however, normally log in with a "standard" user account with all of my Macs for day-to-day activities. I only use the Administrator account when absolutely necessary.

Alternatively, you can see if anyone else will offer you a potential solution that would be less drastic than the one I'm suggesting. Good luck!

Interesting suggestion they provided you. Your Mac would need to have, at least, one Administrator-level user account ... and, you should typically, not log in with that account unless you require the additional security privileges afforded to that account. Using this type of account, day-to-day, only "invites" problems.

With that said, if your Mac currently has more than one Administrator-level account, be sure to retain just one (that you are confident is not corrupted) and reduce any others at this level to standard users. (Note, you would need to do so from the "good" Administrator account.) If, on the other hand, you only have a single Administrator account, you should not be able to change it to a standard user. There must be, at least, one active Administrator-level account on your Mac.

So, if I understood what you are saying, then you only have one Administrator-level account and were not able to change it to a standard user ... correct? ... or, did I completely miss the point?

Just to make sure I understand. You created a new Administrator-level account. Logged out of the "corrupt" Administrator account, and then, logged back in with the newly created account. Then when logged in with this new account, you were unable to change the "corrupt" Administrator account to a standard account ... correct?

Excellent writeup @James Brickley! Thanks for jumping in. I appreciate the help as I was struggling with this one.

I am assuming that 2018 Mac mini is running macOS Big Sur because you posted in this area of the ASC. Is the MacBook Air running Big Sur as well? For reference, I also have a 2018 mini, running Big Sur. I also have a M1 Air running the same. Neither are having issues with OneDrive.

I know that you are not seeing the OneDrive icons with the original Administrator account on your mini, but were they available with the new Administrator account? I do use OneDrive and iCloud for my Cloud resources, but I more depend on my Synology NAS for local network storage for my Macs, WinPCs, & Linux boxes. I like having multiple local & remote storage resources for redundancy. One thing you may want to consider to prevent having this issue in the future is to make regular clone copies of your Macs. This way instead of "pulling your hair out" trying to "fix" a user account, you can quickly get back "up and running."