The Windows 10 May 2020 update that breaks OneDrive functionality for some users is an issue we’ve previously seen extensively online, and now Microsoft has admitted there is a problem with its cloud storage service, informing us you’re working on a solution (while providing a couple of possible solutions at the moment).
The problem, as described by Microsoft, affects older Windows 10 PCs or those devices that have applications installed that use older file system filter drivers (optional drivers).
If you encounter the error, you will see an error message: ‘OneDrive cannot connect to Windows’, when you try to use the cloud storage service within Windows 10.
For those unfortunates who have been updated to the May 2020 update and are affected, Microsoft says it is “working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.”
In fact, it appears that some Microsoft support representatives have been saying that the company has been working on a solution for a couple of weeks now, so we can keep our fingers crossed for a resolution to come soon.
That said, this OneDrive bug has seemingly been around since the May 2020 update was in early testing, apparently with many complaints from Windows Insiders that were obviously not addressed during the preview process.
That’s pretty embarrassing for Microsoft of course, but if its long-standing nature indicates that this OneDrive bug really is a very thorny bug, it may not be fixed in the near future. Still, that’s just speculation.
Temporary solutions
The best news is that Microsoft has a couple of possible solutions for affected users, which are as follows.
The software giant notes that Windows 10 may recommend running a troubleshooter to solve this problem, and that you should allow it to do its magic if it appears as an automatic recommendation. More details on how to follow that process (it is quite long) are provided in the Microsoft support document.
Otherwise, if the troubleshooter doesn’t activate, you can try the following manual solution.
First click the Start button and type the following:
cmdNow right-click (or hold down) the Command Prompt app and select ‘Run as administrator’.
Then type (or copy and paste) the following command into the command prompt window:
reg add HKLMSystemCurrentControlSetServicesCldfltinstances /f /v DefaultInstance /t REG_SZ /d "CldFlt"Restart your machine after the command has finished.
To verify that Files On-Demand is still enabled, right-click (or press and hold) the OneDrive icon in the notification area, then select Settings.
In the Settings dialog, verify that ‘Save space and download files while using them’ is enabled, then click the OK button.
If you’re using more than one OneDrive account within the app, or you’re using OneDrive Personal and OneDrive for Business, you’ll need to repeat the last two steps for each account.
That’s all you need to do, and the OneDrive app should now run as expected with no errors (hopefully, anyway).
Via latest Windows
