Microsoft admits Windows 10 May 2020 Update has killed OneDrive for some users

Windows 10 May 2020 Update breaking OneDrive functionality for some users is an issue we’d already seen widely reported online, and now Microsoft has admitted there is a problem with its cloud storage service – and let us know that it’s working on a fix (while providing a couple of possible workarounds for the time being).

The problem, as described by Microsoft, affects older Windows 10 PCs or those devices which have apps installed that use old legacy file system filter drivers (optional drivers).

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If you’re hit by the bug, you’ll see an error message – ‘OneDrive cannot connect to Windows’ – when trying to use the cloud storage service within Windows 10.

For those unfortunates who have upgraded to the May 2020 Update and are affected, Microsoft says that it is “working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release”.

Indeed, it seems that some Microsoft support representatives have been saying that the company is working on a fix since a couple of weeks back, so we can keep our fingers crossed that a resolution will arrive soon.

That said, this OneDrive bug has apparently been hanging around since the May 2020 Update was in early testing, seemingly with plenty of complaints from Windows Insiders that evidently went unheeded throughout the preview process.

That’s pretty embarrassing for Microsoft of course, but if its long-standing nature indicates that this OneDrive fail really is a seriously thorny flaw, it might not be fixed in the near future. Still, that’s all just speculation.

Temporary workarounds

The better news is that Microsoft has a couple of possible workarounds for affected users, which are as follows.

The software giant notes that Windows 10 may recommend running a troubleshooter to resolve this issue, and that you should allow this to do its magic if it comes up as an automatic recommendation. More details on how to follow that process through – it’s fairly lengthy – are provided in Microsoft’s support document.

Otherwise, if the troubleshooter doesn’t kick in, you can try the following manual workaround.

Firstly click on the Start button and type the following:

cmd

Now right click (or long press) on the Command Prompt app and select ‘Run as administrator’.

Next, type (or copy and paste) the following command into the Command Prompt windows:

reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cldflt\instances /f /v DefaultInstance /t REG_SZ /d "CldFlt"

Reboot your machine after the command has finished.

To verify Files On-Demand is still enabled, right click (or long press) on the OneDrive icon in the notification area, then select Settings.

In the Settings dialog, verify that ‘Save space and download files as you use them’ is enabled, then click the OK button.

If you are using more than a single OneDrive account within the app or are using both OneDrive Personal and OneDrive for Business, you will need to repeat the last two steps for each account.

That’s all you need to do, and the OneDrive app should now be running as expected with no errors (hopefully, anyway).

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Via Windows Latest

July 03, 2020 at 08:36PM
Darren Allan