Microsoft OneDrive error

Question

I know that the subject line is very generic, but so is the error message. In fact, it's too generic to have any real idea as to what's going on.

I have an Office 365 Home Edition license. It comes with OneDrive. The OneDrive app in the system tray indicates everything is fine. All files syncing is caught up. All's right with the world. But, when I enter "OneDrive" in the Search textbox I get this generic error message:

Huh? How can I have a problem, of some sort (God only knows what), but not have a problem? What is the problem? Clearly, there's something wrong because OneDrive refuses to open, but the app in the system tray tells me all is good, etc.

I am very confused. But also I can't use the OneDrive app. What's going on??

Answer 1

That does seem like a long time.

There are two other steps to try - a reset of OneDrive, and if that doesn't work, an uninstall and reinstall.

I'd suggest trying the reset first:

To reset the OneDrive sync app:

1. Press these two keys on your keyboard at the same time: Windows key and the R key. This will open the Run dialog box on your screen

2. Copy and paste this text into the Run window and press Enter:



%localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset

That will reset OneDrive

After a couple of minutes, the OneDrive cloud icon should show in the system tray.

If it doesn’t start, Click on Windows Start, then find OneDrive and start it

Answer 2

I don't know what happened, but running the %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset  commands didn't work. Instead it didn't come up. I tried rebooting - that failed miserably as it hung on reboot for 30 minutes. So, I decided to do a hard restart. I powered it off and left it for 2 hours. OneDrive seems to be behaving OK, but I would say not great. Instead It complained bitterly about an Excel spreadsheet I edited days ago, telling me it couldn't sync changes and either I lose it all or save a copy. I opted to save a copy.

For now, I'll set your response prior to this one as solving my problem.

Answer 3

Hi Jasle,

I have just tried following your suggestion. I've unlinked my PC, then signed back in. The first thing the OneDrive app did was immediately failed to work with either my PC or my account, I don't know which. However, it did allow me to try to log in again. So, I entered my Microsoft account credentials again. That resulted in what's going on now, which is this:

And that's where its been sitting. For the last 30 minutes. Is it really doing anything at all? Or has it simply hung?

Answer 4

Hi Doctor-Who,

I'm a fellow Microsoft customer and expert user here to help.

Sometime signing out and then back into the OneDrive app will fix OneDrive issues.

I'd suggest trying that.

You can sign out of the OneDrive app by:

1. Right click the OneDrive cloud icon in the notification area at the bottom right of the desktop
2. Choose Settings
3. On the Account tab choose Unlink this PC and then choose Unlink Account
4. Then sign back in on the app.