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OneNote login options not available

I'm an IT administrator in a business environment. I recently found one Windows 10 computer that did not show options to log in within OneNote 2016, installed as part of the 32-bit Office Professional Plus 2016 suite, as seen below (disregard the icon in the upper left; it's for our remote control software that I used to reach this machine for the screenshot):

OneNote launches and works fine otherwise, allowing for local saving of data, but this is precluding adding any accounts at all to sync with existing notes associated with those accounts. No error messages come up at any point, and the problem presents exactly the same for all users on this computer. Another computer in the same area with a similar setup (same OS and Office versions) does not exhibit this problem, prompting for sign in upon launch and giving sign in options under File > Account as normal.

I have tried:

  • Running a repair of the 32-bit Office 2016 installation
  • Uninstalling and reinstalling the OneNote component of the 32-bit Office 2016 suite installation
  • Uninstalling and reinstalling the entire 32-bit Office 2016 suite
  • Uninstalling 32-bit Office suite and replacing it with a 64-bit version of the same suite

Nothing I have done appears to have effected any change whatsoever. I have restarted the PC several times over the course of troubleshooting, including after each uninstallation and installation. I checked with the team that manages Group Policies for our organization and they confirmed that this workstation does not have any unusual policies applied (its policies match the other nearby workstation that allows normal account sign-in in OneNote).

I'm at a loss and the only solution I can come up with at this point is completely wiping and re-imaging this computer, but if there's a simpler solution than the nuclear option, I would love to know it in case this issue comes up in the future. Is there some setting somewhere that disables OneNote's ability to accept sign-ins?

Look here (substitute version "15.0" by "16.0"):

http://blah.winsmarts.com/2013-5-Registry_keys_to_administer_Office_365_in_your_Organization.aspx

Bernd

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Unfortunately, I had no luck with your suggestion, Bernd. The first two keys mentioned didn't exist on either the affected computer or a different one that is working normally. The third key had an entry for the user's profile, but deleting it effected no change. The latter key was named using the user's email address, so I'm inferring that it was a key for her Outlook mail profile, which had been working fine.

As I mentioned, this issue is affecting all users on this machine, including newly created profiles, so I would infer that there is either a Group Policy or Registry setting that is not user-specific like the mentioned keys are.

While attempting this latest round of troubleshooting, I did note that other Office programs also do no have any account login options. It hadn't come up before because the user only needed to sign in to OneNote, but the symptoms are identical: no prompt to sign in, no options to edit accounts under File > Accounts, no "Sign In" or account name in the upper right corner. While I don't think this changes the situation significantly, it is confirmation that this is a problem with the whole Office suite, not just OneNote.

Additionally, I found https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3117548/how-to-block-onedrive-use-from-within-office-365-proplus-and-office-20

Unfortunately, I checked for this Group Policy setting on the affected computer and found that there is no "Microsoft Office 2016" folder under "User configuration > Administrative Templates", but that solution may be helpful for others with a similar problem.

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Last updated January 24, 2022 Views 589 Applies to: