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Fix Sync issue: Preparing to Upload...

Anonymous
2022-12-29T03:20:05+00:00

I am trying to upload our whole business file system from Dropbox to OneDrive (almost 50 GB and just over 20,000 files). I have successfully uploaded roughly 1/4 of the files over the course of several weeks. However, I have been working on this a lot more over the past week and it seems OneDrive is not syncing like it was previously. Now when I click on the OneDrive icon in the bottom right corner of my computer, the Sync status (for the past 2-3 days) has been "Preparing to Upload". I don't think it would take this long, but not sure what to do about it...

Some things that might contribute to the problem:

  • Several times the "Error 0x80071129 (the tag present in the reparse point buffer is invalid)" message has come up. To solve this I have gone into the Command Prompt as Administrator and used the "chkdsk /r /f" command.
  • I have had to change some file and folder names because their file paths were too long.

Another thing to note:

After the sync status was "stuck" on 'Preparing to Upload', I was shared to a OneDrive folder from another Microsoft account within our business, and I created a shortcut for it, so that it would show up in My Files. This file shows up online, but does not show up on OneDrive within the File Explorer on my computer.

This is fairly urgent as our business's file system will get out of hand if I don't get everything onto OneDrive and shared internally in the next week.

I would be happy to answer some clarifying questions so that you know how to help solve the problem better.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For business | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-12-29T05:32:24+00:00

    Dear Zachary,

    Good day! Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

    As per your description, it seems that you are trying to transfer files from Dropbox to OneDrive via OneDrive sync client for almost 50 GB and just over 20,000 files, however, stuck at "Preparing to Upload" for the past 3 days. And the folder shared by other has been added as" shortcut to my files", however, not showing up in OneDrive sync folder.

    If my understanding is right, firstly, we'd recommend you check the operating system version that you are using. If it is Windows 7, 8, 8 and 8.1 and below, please refer to OneDrive sync app no longer supported on Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 to Update System.

    If the operating system meets the requirement, please make sure that there is sufficient free space on your hard drive so that OneDrive can run properly. We'd recommend you pause sync by tapping OneDrive cloud > Help & Settings > click Pause syncing > select a pause option, wait a few moments for OneDrive sync to stop, tap OneDrive Help & Settings, click Resume syncing to start OneDrive uploading, and uncheck File on Demand to check the outcome.

    For your reference: How to Pause and Resume sync in OneDrive - Microsoft Support

    Sync files with Files On-Demand - Microsoft Support

    If the issue persists, we'd recommend you unlink OneDrive, reset OneDrive and then re-setup sync in another location to check the outcome.

    It is also recommended to uninstall, reinstall OneDrive and update OneDrive to the latest version.

    Additionally, there are some limitations and restrictions for OneDrive sync listed in this article, please make sure that file path not too long, restricted characters not included in, the invalid file type not being synced and the total file count in OneDrive should not exceed 100,000 files.

    If the issue still remains, we're afraid that this issue may need to check the environment on your side for further investigation.

    As forum support, we may not have enough permission and resource to directly check the environment on your side.

    In this situation, we sincerely recommend you contact your Microsoft 365 administrator, follow steps in this article and try to create a support ticket to contact Online Support. The support team over there has higher permission than us, they can remotely help check the situation on your side, involve more resource to collect logs and help you do the troubleshooting steps. This would be a more efficient way in handling this case for you.

    For reference: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin?

    If the scenario above is not consistent with yours, you can also post back and point that.

    Thanks for your cooperation and understanding! I hope you keep safe and healthy always.

    Sincerely,

    Rhoda | Microsoft Community Moderator

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Answer accepted by question author

  1. Anonymous
    2022-12-30T03:15:35+00:00

    Dear Zachary,

    Thanks for sharing updates with us and I really appreciate your effort and your precious time doing those tests. 

    As you mentioned that some changes have not been synced to OneDrive cloud yet, generally, OneDrive will not delete any of the files without user action, however, sometimes glitch of the local device might have affect on the files, and OneDrive cannot protect the data that has not been synced to cloud yet.

    Given this situation, it is recommended to unlink first, reset OneDrive and sync to another location as mentioned in the first reply.

    And if the issue persists, please stop sync, uninstall and reinstall OneDrive from computer, the files in the sync folder will remain in local device, unless they are cloud-only files with File on Demand enabled.

    Addtionally, to make sure that your files stay safe during these procedure, we'd sincerely recommend you contact your Microsoft 365 administrator, follow steps in this article and try to create a support ticket to contact Online Support. The support team over there has higher permission than us, they can remotely help check the situation on your side, involve more resource to collect logs and help you do the troubleshooting steps as well as protect your data. This would be a more efficient way in handling this case for you.

    For reference: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin?

    Your understanding and patience will be highly appreciated. I hope that you are keeping safe and well!

    Sincerely,

    Rhoda | Microsoft Community Moderator

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-01-04T12:24:26+00:00

    Thanks. I just put all the files into the Downloads folder and then only uploaded 50-200 MB of files at a time until everything was back into OneDrive.

    It is now all on OneDrive with no sync errors.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2022-12-31T10:39:20+00:00

    Hi, Zachary8,

    To solve the OneDrive preparing to upload error, there are some solutions for you, just try it to troubleshoot:

    Way 1. Pause and resume OneDrive sync from your OneDrive Preferences on the desktop app.

    Way 2. Manage your OneDrive/local storage. If you don't have enough space on OneDrive or local computer, you may encounter OneDrive constantly preparing to upload issues. So, please clean up your computer to free up space. or delete unnecessary files from OneDrive, even upgrade OneDrive plan to get more storage space.

    Way 3. Update your OneDrive to the latest version so that you can fix bugs permanently, and upload files to OneDrive again.

    Best Regards,

    James

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2022-12-29T13:53:23+00:00

    Thank you. Here are the steps I took:

    (Just somethings to mention, I am using Windows 11, I have the most updated version of OneDrive, and I have a lot of extra space in my local storage)

    1. Pause Sync
    2. Resume Sync
    3. Turned off Files on Demand

    At this point, it showed that 'x' MB of 6.4 GB was being downloaded. When it got to over 5GB downloaded, the 6.4GB jumped to 9.6GB. After a while it showed: 6.4GB of 9.6GB was downloaded and it never changed after that (no more files were being downloaded)

    1. I Paused and Resumed sync once more and it appeared to quickly download all the files again and came have to the same place: 6.4GB of 9.6GB.
    2. I did a hard shut down on my computer and started my computer back up. Now it is saying "Processing 19,657 changes" and will not change from that.

    Another thing to note, there are some changes I made on OneDrive in File Explorer and they are not showing up in OneDrive online. Taking that into consideration, is it right to think that I would lose a lot of the work I did to those files if I uninstalled OneDrive?

    Edit to Reply:

    I was looking at a list of possible problems and fixes and one thing was to Reset OneDrive. Would this even help me? If so, will all the files that are on OneDrive in File Explorer but not on OneDrive online be deleted/removed?

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