MS-900 Describe Microsoft 365 apps and services Practice Question
A user accidentally deletes a critical file from their OneDrive for Business. The IT admin needs to restore the file. What is the maximum number of days that OneDrive for Business retains deleted files by default for users without a retention policy?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse the 30-day first-stage recycle bin retention with the total retention period, or mistakenly apply Exchange Online's 183-day deleted item retention to OneDrive for Business.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
93 days
By default, OneDrive for Business retains deleted files in the recycle bin for 93 days. This includes both the first-stage recycle bin (30 days) and the second-stage recycle bin (an additional 63 days), totaling 93 days before permanent deletion. This default retention applies when no specific retention policy or legal hold is configured.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
30 days
Why it's wrong here
30 days is the default for the first-stage recycle bin in SharePoint, not for OneDrive. In OneDrive for Business, deleted files go through a two-stage recycle bin (user and site collection levels) whose combined default retention is 93 days, not 30. The 30-day figure might be selected by an admin who configures a custom retention policy via PowerShell, but it is not the out-of-box setting for OneDrive.
- ✗
60 days
Why it's wrong here
60 days is a common misreading of SharePoint's two-stage recycle bin: first-stage 30 days plus second-stage 30 days. OneDrive for Business, however, uses a single 93-day default retention period for deleted files, not 60 days. This 60-day total is sometimes seen in older SharePoint versions or when an admin manually sets the OneDrive site collection retention to 60 days, but it is not a Microsoft 365 default.
- ✗
183 days
Why it's wrong here
183 days corresponds to the retention period that can be applied through Microsoft 365 retention policies or legal holds, not the standard OneDrive recycle bin. When a compliance policy with a 183-day retention is applied, deleted content is preserved for that entire duration in a preserve-hold library, independent of the recycle bin. Without such a policy or hold, OneDrive's default recycle bin only keeps files for 93 days.
- ✓
93 days
Why this is correct
OneDrive for Business retains deleted files for 93 days by default, encompassing both the user's recycle bin and the site collection recycle bin. The 93-day period is a continuous countdown from the original deletion date, not a reset when an item moves between the two stages. Administrators can adjust this default to any value between 30 and 365 days via SharePoint Online PowerShell, but 93 days remains the standard out-of-the-box setting.
Go deeper
Related to this question
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M365 Business Basic, Standard, Premium vs E3/E5
Key term
OneDrive for Business
OneDrive for Business is a cloud-based file storage and synchronization service from Microsoft, part of Microsoft 365, that lets users store, access, and share work files securely from anywhere.
Key term
User
A user is any person, system, or device that interacts with an IT service, resource, or identity system, typically authenticated through credentials and authorized to perform specific actions.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This MS-900 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the MS-900 exam.