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ONL_E_FORCESIGNIN
Within Windows Online ID and interactive account authentication ONL_E_FORCESIGNIN (0x80860006) reports that the account must perform an interactive sign-in again. Treat it as the Online ID forced sign-in condition and start with silent versus interactive request, token age and broker response, not with the final dialog text.
Why this HRESULT is specific
The broker can return this HRESULT before a service ticket is issued. Keep the asynchronous operation, requested scopes or tickets, application identity, UI context and account remediation result together; a wrapper message such as “sign-in failed” discards the distinction.
The decisive question is whether the recorded evidence supports the reported condition that the account must perform an interactive sign-in again. Keep evidence tied to the failing operation.
How to distinguish nearby failures
The key comparison is this: Forced sign-in is deliberate reauthentication, not necessarily token corruption. A valid Online ID forced sign-in test keeps silent versus interactive request, token age and broker response attached to the same object and varies one supported prerequisite.
Evidence that can change the diagnosis
- Primary record: silent versus interactive request, token age and broker response.
- Object correlation: keep the product, account, package, device, key, or API identity associated with silent versus interactive request, token age and broker response beside the first timestamped result.
- Neighboring-state control: use a controlled comparison that tests whether forced sign-in is deliberate reauthentication, not necessarily token corruption; this separates the named condition from a nearby status.
- Before/after result: retain the outcome before and after the corrective action “allow one foreground authentication ceremony and replace stale cached results”; keep the same identifiers until the broker returns a fresh result.
Controlled troubleshooting sequence
- Locate the exact object: Use the primary record to identify the transaction or licensed object that actually returned this result.
- Preserve the first decision: Record the earliest event stating that the account must perform an interactive sign-in again, together with the code, UTC time, and the same identity fields.
- Change one prerequisite: Allow one foreground authentication ceremony and replace stale cached results; do not combine this with a store reset, key replacement, account removal, package reinstall, or unrelated repair.
- Repeat the user operation: Re-run the original operation and require that the broker returns a fresh result; if another HRESULT appears, diagnose it as a new boundary.
Evidence-preserving cautions
While investigating this result, do not collect passwords or tokens in diagnostic logs, and do not bypass broker UI with embedded credential forms. That shortcut can replace or invalidate that evidence before the original decision is understood.
Verification
The incident is resolved only when the broker returns a fresh result. Confirm the result by repeating the exact operation that produced this result; maintenance success alone is insufficient.
Technical references
- Microsoft Win32 metadata: winerror.h — status definition reference.
- Microsoft: Errors associated with Web Account Manager — owning service/API reference.
- Microsoft: OnlineIdAuthenticator class — diagnostic/remediation API reference.
- Microsoft: OnlineIdAuthenticator.AuthenticateUserAsync — lifecycle reference.
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