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I've got Google Drive installed on Mac OSX 10.8.4 -- I no longer work and company X and want to associate Google Drive with company Y account.

I no longer have access to the old account so I can't go through the normal process of signing in and deactivating the account. I have tried deleting and uninstalling and still am being asked to sign in as the old user.

What did I miss? Where does Google Drive store the association with the old account?

3 Answers 3

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Try removing com.google.GoogleDrive.plist from your homedir library preferences folder (~/Library/Preferences/) and then uninstall and reinstall the Gdrive app.

MORE INFO: https://superuser.com/a/680117/190494

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VDR is partially right. If you are using Google Drive on a Mac you need to delete some files in order to re-sign in.

Close Google Drive by clicking on the icon in the menu bar and choosing Quit Google Drive. There is no need to uninstall the app.

In your home folder (/Users/username/) go to Library/Preferences/ and delete two files: com.google.GoogleDrive.plist com.google.GoogleDrive.plist.lockfile

Then navigate to another folder in your home folder, Library/Application Support/Google/Drive/ and delete all the files and folders.

Now restart Google Drive and you will be able to sign in with your personal account.

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    That didn't work for me. I also tried removing all google related preferences files. Using App Cleaner to fully uninstall it. I then removed chrome. Still no luck. It's almost as if the install package has the settings pre installed on it or something... Of course none of this would be an issue if the 'Sign in with a different account' button worked. Jul 28, 2014 at 23:38
  • @WorkingMatt This worked great! Nov 2, 2014 at 15:16
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Here are the steps I used (overlaps some with what's mentioned above, but the important difference is clearing WebKit cookies):

  1. Close the Google Drive login window (if it's open)
  2. Use the menu bar icon to quit Google Drive (if it's running)
  3. Delete the folder ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Drive
  4. Delete the files ~/Library/Preferences/com.google.GoogleDrive.plist*
  5. Launch Safari
  6. Open Safari preferences and clear cookies/cache: Safari Menu > Preferences > Privacy > Remove all Website Data...
  7. Quit Safari and re-launch Google Drive
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    Thanks. Clearing the Google cookies from Safari seemed to do the trick for me. (You can just delete the Google cookies - you don't need to remove all website data.) Aug 26, 2014 at 19:46
  • As for me I had to open Keychain Access and delete everything connected with old google account.
    – Nat
    Feb 21, 2015 at 10:56
  • Thanks! I would never have thought to clear stuff in Safari. This helped a lot. I was stuck after I replaced my hard drive.
    – Tim Swast
    Dec 2, 2015 at 4:38

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