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.

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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

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-03-12T08:00:36+00:00

    To the new people being affected and arriving here: Yes, this is a migration issue on Microsoft side. Accounts that are migrated to a new system cannot have locally synced folders shared by accounts not yet migrated.

    I know this thread is quite long, somewhere around page 106 many of us got to that conclusion by finding differences in our OneDrive accounts. To differentiate them, this approach seems to be consistent and reliable: on OneDrive web site, go to Settings -> Options, and check the menu entries on the left:

    • If the last entry is "Search" -> account is in the old system
    • "Search" is not present, last option is "Restore your OneDrive" -> account is in the new system

    I'll say it again: folders shared by accounts in the old system cannot be locally synced in accounts in the new system and they become URL links. When both accounts are migrated, some people claimed it works fine again. Some users even got a message saying "account being migrated" or something like that.

    Communication from Microsoft is non-existent and unfortunately we don't have an ETA.

    AFAIK, there is no way to enforce that migration. Creating new accounts will just overwhelm Microsoft even more. The only choice right now is to either complain and hope your accounts get migrated soon, or stop using OneDrive and switch to another provider.

    Alternatively there are some workarounds using third party software, but I won't go into details because I am not using them.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-03-12T05:53:24+00:00

    I am facing exact same issue since last week, Please help to resolve. it is extremely urgent and my work is on hold due to this issue.

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-03-12T05:30:38+00:00

    Wait, so am I understanding that this issue is the result of MS migrating different accounts tied to the same family 365 subscription migrating at different times, making it so we can no longer share folders properly?

    I can understand the challenges with migrations and have some grace for that. But I can't understand breaking user functionality without advance notification, including dates and times.

    Has anyone experienced automatic resolution of this issue as MS Support claims? Does anyone know how to find out when their account will be migrated?

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-03-12T04:14:19+00:00

    David wrote:

    This is related to a backend migration we are currently doing. Unfortunately, we do not fully support syncing shared folders if one user has migrated and the other has not. We are doing our best to speed things up so that the issue can be fixed as quickly as possible for users of the feature. When accounts are migrated, there is an automatic logic that ensures that within a few days the synced folders are back.

    It is backend, so it is on the MS servers. There may be a relation to the client software on our computers, but unfortunately, we can do nothing that affects the backend. Try to keep your updates recent in Windows and Office is about the limit.

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