Folders Shared with me are syncing as internet shortcut in OneDrive on Windows PC

Anonymous
2024-06-08T04:53:55+00:00

Hi. I had some folders shared from different users in my OneDrive account. I had added the folders to my OneDrive with Add Shortcut to OneDrive button from Shared folders in cloud. The account is logged into a windows pc and every files including the folders shared with my were syncing fine until yesterday. Yesterday night the shared folders were completely removed from the Windows pc and folders are replaced with internet shortcut. This is such a big mess. I have tried unlinking the account and linking it back, changing the location of OneDrive on my windows pc and tried to get a new folder shared to my account and adding it to OneDrive. Nothing works so far. OneDrive has a big part in my daily activities. Please help me resolve this.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2025-03-13T06:07:22+00:00

Here is the statement from the Microsoft OneDrive product group (Redmond USA) about the OneDrive Personal problem:

***This is related to a backend migration we are doing and unfortunately, we don’t fully support syncing shared folders in the case where one user has migrated and the other has not. We’re doing everything possible to accelerate things so that it can be resolved as soon as possible for users of the feature. When the accounts are migrated, there is automated logic that makes them go back to a syncing folder within several days.***I have heard, that shared Folder issue is gone.
The best thing is: WAIT and do nothing

Was this answer helpful?

200+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

3,079 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
  1. Anonymous
    2024-08-17T19:58:41+00:00

    Add shortcut to my files??

    We are not talking about my files.

    We are talking for files that my family share with me!!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2024-08-17T16:15:09+00:00

    To me it looks like the issue is fixed!

    Steps to follow:

    1. login to Onedrive web and delete the link with the "Remove" button
    2. make sure your local link in the file explorer is also deleted
    3. go back to Onedrive web again and relink the folder with "Add shortcut to My files"

    The folder reappeared in my local file explorer again as a link. But the link opens a subdirectory and not the web browser.

    I know this sounds like "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" but for me it worked. A few days ago, this procedure still created a weblink. Therefore, it seems to be fixed. I am not sure if there was a Onedrive update in the meantime. Anyway, good luck!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2024-08-17T07:04:46+00:00

    I did some experiments and it turns out the fault is not with the OneDrive PC Sync client, the fault is with some of the Microsoft accounts themselves. Some accounts work as usual, but others produce all kinds of weird behavior, not just the Shared-Folder-Becomes-a-Link problem, Eg. in the web interface for affected OneDrive accounts:

    • File/Folder share dialog looks totally different than in other accounts
    • Navigation pane looks different and the look changes over time (e.g. the "Home" button disappears)
    • Behavior of the "Shared" folder changes, showing different available actions over time. Eg. the option to show a shared folder under "My Files" disappeared for a while, and then reappeared.
    • The blue button in the upper left says "Add new" instead of "New & Upload" or "Create or upload" as in the other accounts
    • The "Plan and Upgrade" menu showed a different (ie wrong) type of account subscription than the others, eg. it showed a "Free" account but with 1TB of storage. It should have shown a Family account in our case.

    The effect is that whenever this "weird" account is involved in sharing - either as the sharer or the sharee - the result is a link instead of a folder on the PC.

    It looks like something is screwing up the configuration and/or software version of a subset of the accounts running on Microsoft's cloud. Somebody should check which accounts are affected by this misconfiguration, then issue an information email to the affected account holders, and then fix the misconfiguration.

    If I could figure this out in a few minutes, Microsoft should certainly be able to figure this out after _months_ of screwing everybody's pooch. This is costing everybody so much time, it's maddening.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2024-08-17T03:07:28+00:00

    no more patience .... i lost faith in microsoft and started using google. slower but works.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments