OneDrive shared folders always open in webbrowser instead of windows explorer

The issue resolved, mostly, yesterday.

Some shared folders are out of sync and did not merge.

I am having to rename local copies, remove them from OneDrive, re-add the share online to MyFiles, and finaly use robocopy to re-merge any changed files from the renamed local folder.

Dear Microsoft OneDrive Team,

We are beyond frustrated with the recent changes. You are actively pushing loyal users away and forcing us to explore alternative solutions. This is not a minor inconvenience — it’s a massive disruption to our workflow and trust in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

Are you even listening to your customers? The feedback is loud and clear: this new direction is unacceptable. Restore the expected functionality and let us use OneDrive the way it was intended.

Your silence and inaction are damaging your credibility.

Sincerely,

Users all over the world

Auto-resolved after 2 weeks of panic!

Here's an online-only method to restore shared OneDrive folder access via WebDAV until Microsoft figures their 💩 out for everyone! Edit 1: It was working great last night, but at some point, both folders that I mapped using this method disconnected and don't seem to want to reconnect this morning, so YMMV. 🤷‍♂️

SCENARIO

Account A shares access to a folder on Account B. The OneDrive desktop client app presents it like a URL in Windows Explorer instead of a native folder like it used to until whatever happened late 2024/early 2025. Boo!

FIX

1. Open Notepad then copy/paste this URL path template into it: https://d.docs.live.net/AccountA\_CID/SharedStuffFolderPath
2. In Windows Explorer, double-click the URL that used to work to open the shared folder in a browser. In the URL at the top of your browser, you'll see a link that looks something like this: https://onedrive.live.com/?id=A1S2D3F4G5H6J7K8%21112&cid=A1S2D3F4G5H6J7K8&mid=9I8U7Y6T5R4E3W2Q%214879&mcid=9I8U7Y6T5R4E3W2Q&sd=1
3. In the template from Step (1), replace AccountA_CID with the 16 alphanumerics after 'cid=' from the URL in Step (2)
   • Example: https://d.docs.live.net/A1S2D3F4G5H6J7K8/SharedFolderPath
4. Replace SharedFolderPath with the full path from the root (main folder) of Account A. If you do not own Account A and the shared folder is not right beneath the root folder, you may need to ask for some help from the Account A owner to get the full path (e.g. subfolder1/subsubfolder2/subsubsubfolder3/SharedStuffFolder)
   • Example (direct path under root): https://d.docs.live.net/A1S2D3F4G5H6J7K8/MicrosoftOneDriveIssues\_SharedFolderAccess
   • Example (longer path): https://d.docs.live.net/A1S2D3F4G5H6J7K8/Issues/Microsoft/OneDrive/SharedFolderAccess
   • In both examples, Account B must have shared access to the respective folder (e.g. MicrosoftOneDriveIssues_SharedFolderAccess or SharedFolderAccess) as provided by the Account A owner. This is no different than how the OneDrive client worked and how OneDrive online works.
5. Open Windows Explorer
6. In the Navigation pane on the left, right-click on 'This PC' then click on 'Map network drive' (Windows 11 may be a little different)
7. Select a drive letter for this Shared folder (you can always disconnect/change it later)
8. Copy/paste the complete URL path from Step (4) into the Folder field
9. (Recommended) Select Reconnect at sign-in
10. Do not select Connect using different credentials
11. When prompted, enter the login information for Account B and click OK
12. (Optional) In the Navigation pane on the left, Right-click on the new Shared drive and click Rename to simplify the name used throughout Windows
13. Wait for Microsoft to fix the OneDrive client which will be faster and provide offline access to your files again.

I hope this helps someone. Let me know if you have any questions or if I need to fix any of these instructions.