Windows 10 – OneDrive won’t start

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OneDrive mysteriously stopped working on my Windows 10 laptop. I have no idea what went wrong, I tried reinstalling it even though it’s now part of Windows 10. Nothing worked. I finally came across this post and wanted to repost it in case it ever disappears. My situation was the same, the GPO setting was unset, which should have had the same effect, but I had to disable it to get One Drive working again.

User ‘pirwen’ posted the solution that worked for me at this link in the Microsoft Community.

“I remembered seeing an option to prevent the usage of OneDrive via the Group Policy editor, seems that there is also an option to force enable it. Here are the steps I followed:
On your keyboard hit Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog and type: gpedit.msc and hit Enter to open Local Group Policy Editor.
Next navigate to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\OneDrive. In the right panel, double click Prevent the usage of OneDrive for File Storage.
Then here instead of selecting Enabled (as many tutorials suggest to disable OneDrive on Windows 10) I selected Disabled, and saved my changes. This option was originally unset, which should have worked just as if it was disabled, except it didn’t.
After doing this I opened OneDrive again and got a notification for an update. After a few seconds it opened, and was finally working again.”

76 thoughts on “Windows 10 – OneDrive won’t start”

  9. This worked for me as well, running Windows 10 Pro, Onedrive had been working fine for weeks, then suddenly I noticed the icon was missing and nothing had synced for a while
    Tried to launch it from the start menu, nothing, no popups, nada
    I tried so many steps like resetting, reinstalling and registry hacks etc, nothing helped
    I did eventually get it to the login box, but it just stuck at Logging in…
    But this fixed the issue

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  11. This was so helpful!
    Thank you!

    However, I do not understand why these policies were not configured from the start, a new laptop, a fresh OS, the first install of all software … wonder!

    P.S.
    And in the same circumstances, the OneDrive version from the Microsoft Store for mobile cloud use – worked without problems.

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  17. Yes !!! Thanks ! As you said I disable it long time ago and now needed it and forgot about this option !!!
    Great post !

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  18. You DA MAN! Worked immediately, no update even needed here. Thank you!!

    …and I must say: most Microsoft advice these days is awful, time-consuming, useless drivel. I hesitate to say that the MS online help from the sub-continent is almost all boilerplate. One in twenty-five posts from there has any relevant, let alone salient, information. They must be scored by the post or such, rather than by the usefulness of their existence on the support websites. I am so sorry to admit this, having worked with entirely capable colleagues from the regions. ;-(

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  19. Thanks a lot, it really helped!
    In fact, there is nonsense, since a Policy denying access set as Not Activated should be the same effect as Disabled, but it happens not.
    I wonder if this is a bug of 1803 update of Windows 10.
    Cheers!

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    • I found this on another site. My OneDrive wouldn’t open, kept saying OneDrive.exe couldn’t be found… this fixed it for me.

      “Open the Command Prompt, type the onedrive uninstall command, depending on your system architecture.

      If you are using a 32-bit system, use the following command:

      %Systemroot%\System32\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall

      If you are using a 64-bit system, use the following command:

      %Systemroot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall

      Done this use the following command to reinstall the OneDrive application, depending on your system architecture, again.

      If you are using a 32-bit system, use the following command:

      %Systemroot%\System32\OneDriveSetup.exe

      If you are using a 64-bit system, use the following command:

      %Systemroot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe”

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  34. Thank you! It works so well! My one drive has dead for 10 days I was not able to restart it again, but this work!!!!!

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  35. Just showing more love for writing this post. Worked for me as well on Windows 10 version N. My settings were on ‘Not configured’ and I changed it Disabled and sure enough it now lets me launch it.

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  39. I saw a recommendation to check in local GP but not the registry. That wasn’t configured but the Registry was. Changed from 1 to 0 and OneDrive is back! Thanks for sharing this info.

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  42. For Windows editions without gpedit.msc:
    1) Open regedit.exe
    2) Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\OneDrive”
    3) Delete the subkey “DisableFileSyncNGSC” (or change value from 1 to 0)
    4) Start Onedrive.exe again

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  46. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

    After one year with problems in Onedrive, it is solved!!

    And before August I contact MicroS… and one person “technical” not solved after 4 email’s, and after four email he not answer more email’s and I forget this issue. But today some friend insist to use… and search, search… and find you!!!

    Thanks
    Obrigado!
    Jo

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  53. The problem I have is this and that Onedrive isn’t listed under Windows Components. I’ve tried reinstalling it and it still won’t start or show up for me to try this solution.

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  57. THANK YOU
    omg thank you. It works.

    THREE HOURS i’ve been fighting with this goddamned beast from hell.

    How to buy you a nice dinner?

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    • Happy that this post helped! I’m blessed with a great job, home, and plenty to eat. I’d love it if you took that money and donated it to help feed struggling folks in your community.

      Reply ↓

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