Files/icons not syncing to the users desktop.

Question

Hello,

We have an umbrella 2008 r2 server with vpn access so users can work remote. The users desktop and documents are synced with the server which allows me to backup and retrieve any files they may of deleted/corrupted. All users are on windows 11 with 2018+ laptops.

The issue I am having is with ONE user only. It has been on-going for about 2 months now. It started when she was working at home one day and discovered that ONE of her files on her desktop had disappeared and her other icons had a brown icon in the bottem left (which relates to one drive so I uninstalled it for troubleshooting purposes). I told her to restart and it fixed the issue... The next week, the same document was gone again... but restarting did not work, so I recovered the file to her desktop, told her to restart and it did not work either... The issues repeated and sometimes they would be fixed by connecting to the VPN. Around 3 days later, she came to the office so I checked her desktop and the file was back on her desktop... beside it was the recovered file that I sent to her desktop... I check her sync center and noticed the storage for offline files was full, and increased it. About 2 weeks later the offline files was full once again! I gave her a new laptop but as soon as I logged in as her user account the same issue happened again...

This has never happened to other users so I was stumped... I searched her PC with a program and discovered her desktop contained over 300 gigs of data... which is backed up and synced by the server everyday... but her SSD still had 400GB free on her local SSD.

So my question is, is this issue caused by the 300 GBs of files on her desktop or could it be something else?

:)

Thanks,

Answer 1

Hi!

It is possible that the 300 GB of files on the user's desktop could be contributing to the issue, but it is also possible that there is another underlying cause.

One possibility is that the user's desktop is simply too large and is causing some sort of performance issue. This could be causing the user's files to disappear or become corrupted.

Another possibility is that there is a problem with the user's sync settings. If the user has too many files set to sync offline, this could also cause performance issues and file corruption.

It is also possible that there is a problem with the user's laptop itself. If the laptop is defective, it could be causing files to disappear or become corrupted.

To troubleshoot the issue, you can try the following:

1. Reduce the number of files on the user's desktop. Try moving some of the files to a different location, such as a folder on the user's hard drive or a shared network drive.
2. Check the user's sync settings. Make sure that the user is not syncing too many files offline.
3. Run a diagnostic test on the user's laptop. This will help to identify any hardware problems that may be causing the issue.
4. If you are still unable to resolve the issue, you may need to contact Microsoft support for further assistance.

Here are some additional tips for preventing file corruption:

• Make sure that your computer is running the latest updates.
• Use a file backup program to regularly back up your important files.
• Avoid using third-party file sync programs.
• Be careful when deleting files.
• Avoid using your computer while it is performing a file transfer.

By following these tips, you can help to protect your files from corruption.