Update January 22, 2021
People continue to find this post on Google and it keeps working. Note that there are a large number of comments on this post, the fix works for most but not everybody. If the fix in this post doesn’t work, scroll through the comments – there are a few other suggestions.
Also, the original Microsoft link is dead.
UPDATE JUNE 16, 2020
DEAR INTERNET – APPARENTLY THE FONT SIZE I USED BELOW – WHERE I NOT ONLY NAMED THE USER WHO POSTED IT BUT LINKED TO THE CONTENT THAT I COPIED AND PASTED – WAS NOT ENOUGH CREDIT FOR ‘pirwen’. I DID NOT WRITE THIS CONTENT. I REPOSTED IT. I DID NOT WRITE IT. I REPOSTED IT. WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT MY ORIGINAL POST SAYS. BUT NOW IT SAYS SO IN VERY LARGE FONT.
This post has apparently enraged ‘pirwen’ to a point that that THREE YEARS LATER he came back to say that it’s his content… over and over… posting like 10 times in the comments. The reason my blog repost on this is #1 in Google search results is because the Microsoft community pages are garbage and his solution is buried under page after page of hidden answers. The Microsoft page is also locked for comments, so people comment here.
ONCE AGAIN, THIS IS CONTENT FROM ‘pirwen’.
————————————————————-
Original Post – March 6, 2017
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.”
———— Update November 9, 2020 ————
There is a comment buried deep below from user ‘geeky’ with a solution if you don’t have the group policy editor. I’m adding it here as the comment is getting lost.
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
Tarun Srinivas
Thank you so much! I’ve not had onedrive working for more than a year now! This worked perfectly!!
Tim Rowe
No registry folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\OneDrive (Windows 10 home)
Still looking for a solution.
Bry
What the *…dude I’ve been trying to fix this almost a week and this is a magic page!
Feb
Wow! I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app several times already but didn’t solve the problem at all. It appeared when I searched for it but it won’t open. This really worked like magic. Thank you so much, Pirwen and Patrick!
Aman
Thanks for digging it out & sharing to save the precious time of others. The registry hack did the trick for me.
Isabel
That was definitely the most funny technical post I’ve ever found. And also solved my Onedrive problem!
Thank you pkremer for hosting the solution in a fine accessible place. I also thank Pirwen, but if it wasn’t for pkremer, your elegant suggestions wold forever be forgotten in the vast sea of internet bytes 😉
Alkemyst
Thanks for re-hosting this. It’s great Pirwen was the original suggester but I could not find his solution. Been dealing with Horizon VMWare VDI’s and OneDrive showed installed, but never opened. The right-click “Share” action was working and the App showed in Start Menu. It was perplexing. This fixed it instantly.
Muno
Thank you
yu zhang
Super!! it works now. Thanks a looooooooooooot!
satya
THANKS MAN..
Hamza
Life saving trick, Thank you so much.
Arun Mahalingam
It worked for me. Thank you so so much.
Ellaine
works like magic. Thank you!
sebastiao martins pereira
I needed one more step:
I find it in: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_onedrivefb-mso_win10-mso_o365b/onedrive-wont-start/e1925180-a2e5-4e8a-8cbf-de3ff3be74b7
Chris
THANKS PIRWEN !!
pkremer
Hahaha!
Krisz
Thank you Patrick for re-posting this solution! It worked fine for me. Have a good day.
Gerrah Mack
Thank you it worked,
Mahmoud
thanks a lot its working
Abu Ali
worked like magic
Davide
Thanks a lot! The solution to my problem came from a comment though… Since many people (like me) use a version of Windows without gpedit.msc it could be really useful to add the solution by “geeky” to your original post 🙂
pkremer
Good suggestion, done.
Defu Wang
After windows update, onedrive failed to launch at all. It doesn’t appear in task manager or system tray. Nothing at all. tried all sorts of solutions on internet. Nothing worked until I came across this. It worked like magic.
Jo
Thank you!!
Austin
It worked, thank you.
Robin Thakur
OMG thank you, I was about to give up!
James
Also worked for me! Thank you.
Morninlark
Thanks pirwen for this awesome solution! Worked like a charm. And thanks Patrick for re-posting! I wouldn’t have found it so fast otherwise.
Karan Jesrani
Worked very well for me. Thanks
Benyamin Limanto
It really makes me mad when OneDrive doesn’t work, I pay for it and even ask the microsoft comunity about it and It’s just a simple hack.. Oh God..
Thank you
KHALID
THANK you. it worked from the 1st try
yasin
Thank youuu <3
BrazilianGuy
Just wanted to Praise the Lauuuud ooooh McCheesus 😀 your post is a savior!
Craig Rhinehart
…that didn’t work for me, but this did:
If OneDrive cannot be started in Windows 10, please check the following two settings:
Check Registry.
a) Press (Windows key) + R to open the Run box.
b) Type regedit and click OK.
c) Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\OneDrive. Make sure DisableFileSyncNGSC is set to “0”. (It is also OK if the registry doesn’t exist)
Check Group Policy settings.
a) Press (Windows key) + R to open the Run box.
b) Type gpedit.msc and click OK.
c) In the Local Group Policy Editor, in the folder list under Local Computer Policy, navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > OneDrive > Prevent the usage of OneDrive for file storage. Make sure it is set to “Not configured” or “Disabled”.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/onedrive-wont-start/e1925180-a2e5-4e8a-8cbf-de3ff3be74b7
Pie
Thank you so much. I ran through my routine of how to fix it so many times over you saved me.
Jacky Goh
thanks !!!!
Winer Vr
My company IT guy tried multiple time reinstall of OneDrive and even ran MS Support and Recovery Assistant but without luck….
But your solution is great and worked instantly. Good knowledge, keep it up!
Techefy
PERFECT! This worded finally!
Josh
Thank you, the registry fix worked for me
Gordon Sayers
Worked when all other solutions did not. Thanks!
Konstantin
Thanks a lot! Works like a charm.
Angel
The solution with registry solved my problem, you rock my friend.
richy
Thank you! this really works 🙂
Nicola
OMG THANK YOU! My IT engineer husband couldn’t figure it out and googling and finding your help first and it resolving the issue immediately has made me feel far superior haha.
But honestly, thanks so much for this – it just made NO sense why it just stopped working!
Mayur
this works out of the box right now for me. Thanks for the help
Richard Schuster
This just worked for me – thank you so much!
And Happy Easter 🙂
Chubbs
You my friend are the shit! Worked perfect. Now it’s time to sit back and wait for EVERYTHING sync with my freshly load PC.
Fjuron
Worked. Thanks a lot!
Wtf would it disable OneDrive when I plug in my phone to move over some music…
Wired coding, Microsoft…
John
thank you very much ! this helped instantly… great job finding this solution for all of us !!
Alexey Abramov
Hi Patrick,
thank you a lot – this was a real help – I can’t imagine how I could find a solution myself.
Bless you.
Debo
Worked instantly. You’re a life saver.
April
Thank you so much it worked like a charm =)
martin
thank you
Kenya
Thanks so much. It is fantastic.
Mike
Bless You! Helped me too 🙂
RJS
3 years later this post is still helping people! thank you!!
pkremer
It’s still my most popular post and all I did is repost and link back to the original location. It vanished from the Microsoft website for a while but it’s back out there now.
JJ
Bingo, worked for me. Thanks.
Jay
This worked for me as well! Thank you!
Nikos
God blessed you mate.
It worked perfectly!
Wil Cleland
FINALLY! Worked first time like a charm. Much appreciate your help on this one.
Marek
Thank you!
Mindwarp
This is exactly the fix I needed!
Thank you very much for this information!
Connor
This fix worked for me! Thanks so much!
Dave
Thanks! Must have been DropBox that disabled using OneDrive.
Ken
Thanks for this write-up! It fixed the problem for me.
Robert
That worked for me too, well done.
pail
Thanks. You save me a load of time in our enterprise environment!
Stoney
Bingo! Nearly 3 years since you posted this… if its still the fix.
Thanks
Leandro
Thanks! That worked for me! I solved Disabling that policy.
YES!!
Jonathan
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
NigelQ
Thank you – this fixed it for me too!
Steve
Excellent find!!
Eric
Wow, all I had to do was this? I’ve been stuck on this problem for hours, pulling my hair. Thank you!!!
Mauricio
Thank you…
It make the magic.
Bob
Wow, thanks. Really bizar it should come to this to fix it, but it works!
Josh
Worked Perfectly. Thanks for the post. Will keep this in our arsenal for later. Two thumbs up.
Brandon
FINALLY A FIX!!! You are awesome!!! Thank you!
REWard
Thanks! Worked like a charm… Would have pulled my hair out, if it wasn’t already gone!!!
H.O.Pang
It works for me.
Tried many other suggestions, just failed.
Try no others.
derbydx
Thank you,
This really helped me.
Joey
Great solve detective!
Worked like a charm. Saved me loads of time trying to fix it. Glad this was one of the top results when I searched for my issue.
pkremer
It’s my #1 most commented blog post and the content isn’t even mine. But thankfully I chose to copy and paste as well as link to the content, because it’s now gone from the original link.
Pirwen
Glad it worked for so many people!
I’m not sure why you say that, but I can confirm it’s still available on the original link.
pkremer
MS did some kind of redesign of their communities and it blew up their links. I don’t know how long it was unavailable, but the link was definitely broken when I posted in March.
Pirwen
You published it about a month from when I posted that on the forums. Glad the post is helping you too. But at least make the reference to the original link more visible.
Everyone is thinking you came up with the solution when it took someone else 3 full days of trial and error.
Have a great 2020.
pkremer
Please. This post is dated March 6, 2017. You posted February 24, 2016 in some crappy Microsoft group that it took me like a month to find. So I reposted it WITH ATTRIBUTION.
You seriously have nothing better to do than come back 3 years later and comment 10 times because – what, my font size wasn’t big enough? Well there you go, I fixed it for you, really big letters. Kindly go find something more constructive to do with your life.
Howard
Thank You very much!!
MM
Yep! this is the fix.
Nico
THANK YOU!!! 😀
Maarten K.
Great fix! Only thing that worked, thanks a lot.
Navdeep Khaira
Great ! Thanks heaps it worked 🙂
Declan
Super fix thanks
Dave
Thank you so much! This was exactly the fix I needed
Harry
Fixed, thanks a ton for posting!
Max
Yep, this did it for me as well. Thanks a lot.
Joy
this fixed the issue only after the next PC restart. I need to do this every time!!!
Rahul
Thank you so much. It’s working!!!
Rob
Fixed it! Awesome! Thanks
Adam Dresch
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
Dr Ajay Verma
Thank you.. I struggled to much before reading this article.
Oleh Stadnychuk
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.
SHah
LOve U man
nvizor
Thanks!. The solution worked. I had to configure this policy to disabled.
Mark Gerald Snodgrass
Worked like a charm, Thanks you VERY much!!!
Dave Simpson
Perfect, thanks!
Steven
You’re a God send! Thank you ! I was ripping my hair out trying to get into OneDrive.
Laurent
Yes !!! Thanks ! As you said I disable it long time ago and now needed it and forgot about this option !!!
Great post !
ITgreybeard
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. ;-(
Jess Usopata
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!
Jerry
Didn’t work for me. Onedrive still wont load when I start my laptop up. Any ideas??
Jerry
pkremer
I don’t have any other ideas… I dug this one out of the bottom of the barrel 🙂
Justin
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”
Yong
This resolved my persistent issue.
Thanks
Polygon
This was so helpful! Thank you!
Lucas
Amen, it works. Thank you.
Mohammad
Great!!!
I really appreciate that!
David
Worked great and thank you.
eS.
Thanks a lot
HAYRULLAH AYDIN
THanks a lot
HAYRULLAH AYDIN
Thanks
TomSu
Thank so much! It worked
Marco
TOP!!!!
Thank you, now it works perfectly
Mike Cornelison
Woo hoo! You got my OneDrive back up and running!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Aiman
Legend!
Zkitzo
First hit on google when you search for “windows 10 onedrive doesn’t start”. And it works too, thank you so much!
pkremer
Wow I can’t believe one of my posts is #1 on Google 🙂
Felipe
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!!!!!
Richy Bo
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.
Arch
There is no HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\OneDrive key in my W10Pro registry. What is the complete key so I can add it?
pkremer
I found it in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\System\DisableOneDriveFileSync
Thomas M.
What do I do when I get on this place?
That’s the only existing path on my machine too.
Rogerio Costa
Thanks a lot !!!
Very helpfull.
Gabriel
THANK YOU SIIIR YOU ARE A FUCKIN JEDI
David Dawson
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.
Hayley Price
OMG I have been trying to sort this for hours!
thank you!
Mark
Another thank you – saved a headache!
Many thanks,
Mark
geeky
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
delfin Devassy
Ya, this worked
Nisar
Thanks Much !!!!
Maicon
Thank you,
It worked for me!
Natasha
OMGGGGGGooodness searched for 2 days total of 7 hours before finding this and IT WORKED! Thank you sooooooooo much.
SKS
Thank you very much you saved my time.
Appreciate if we know how this registry was changed.
Brian
Oh man I tried so many things Mr. Internet said to try. This was the one that worked!
Jodi
I have ZERO idea what I’m doing here but, the suggestion Patrick had didn’t work. My laptop does not have gpedit.msc so I used your suggestion next. I found HKEY LOCAL MACHINE…that is all it says, not the rest and I definitely can’t find the next thing under any of the listed subkeys. Any other suggestions?
TIA
pkremer
Maybe you don’t have administrative privileges? Windows can’t function with the entire HKML/SOFTWARE registry branch missing.
Alexis
This is perfectly working. Thanks a lot!
Jag
Worked like a charm!
Ryan
This is the real solution!! Worked after everything else failed!!
Isidor
I work perfectly, Thanks !!!!
Cahil
You sir, are a legend!
Charles
Thanks a lot!
Jose
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
Jon
This method worked for me as well!
For those with a Windows Home Edition which does not have Group Policy Editor, you can use Policy Plus (https://github.com/Fleex255/PolicyPlus) which works just the same.
Thank you Patrick!
Ini
Thanks for the Tip
Silldraygg
You are my f***ing hero.
This worked perfectly!
Michael
Thank you so much! This saved my evening – my wife is going to appreciate it 😉
Philip Stratford
Brilliant, thank you! This had me stumped
g
thanks so much!!
Michael
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.
galvani
Hi Patrick, thanks a lot. Your tip solved my problem to use onedrive on windows 10.
Heather
I spell better when I’m less frutrated.
pkremer
Hah!
Heather
Thanks. Saved some unknown quantity of further frutration. 🙂
pkremer
Glad it helped!
Nate
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?
pkremer
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.
Pirwen
You are welcome!
It took me 3 whole days to find a solution.