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WinBuzzer WinBuzzer * AI + All about AI + Companies, AI Divisions, Projects, Labs o Alibaba o Amazon Web Services (AWS) o Anthropic o Baidu o ByteDance o Cohere o DeepSeek o Google DeepMind o Hugging Face o Microsoft o Meta AI o Mistral o NVIDIA o OpenAI o Palantir o Perplexity AI o Salesforce o Scale AI o Tesla o Tencent o xAI + Chatbots, AI Assistants, AI Solutions o Apple Intelligence o ChatGPT o Google Gemini AI o Microsoft Copilot o Anthropic Claude o Meta AI o Mistral Le Chat o Perplexity o Inflection AI Pi Chatbot + AI Technologies o Large Language Models (LLM) o Small Language Models (SLMs) o Chain-Of-Thought (CoT) o Multimodal AI o AI Agents o Generative AI # Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) # AI Text Generation (LLMs) # AI Image Generation # AI Image Editing # AI VIdeo Generation # AI Coding # AI Audio and AI Voice Generation # AI Music o AI Search o AI Coding o Computer Vision o AI Ethics o AI Safety o AI Chips - AI Accelerators, Deep Learning Processors, Neural Processing Units (NPUs) o Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) o Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) + Synthetic Data + AI Benchmarks + AI Regulation + AI Research * Windows + Windows 10 + Windows 11 * Microsoft 365 + Microsoft Office o Microsoft Word o Microsoft Excel o Microsoft PowerPoint o Microsoft Outlook o Microsoft OneNote o Microsoft Access + Microsoft OneDrive + Microsoft Publisher + Microsoft Exchange + Microsoft SharePoint + Microsoft Teams + Microsoft Defender + Clipchamp + Microsoft Loop + Microsoft Planner + Microsoft Forms + Skype + Microsoft Sway * Cloud + Microsoft Azure + Google Cloud + Amazon Web Services (AWS) + Salesforce * Hardware + Surface o Surface Pro o Surface Laptop o Surface Go o Surface Book o Surface Duo o Surface Neo o Surface Studio o Surface Hub o Surface Pen o Surface Headphones o Surface Earbuds + Xbox o Xbox Series X o Xbox Series S o Xbox One o Xbox Wireless Controller o Xbox Elite Controller + Copilot+ PCs + HoloLens + Wearables * How To * About WinBuzzer + About WinBuzzer + Contact Us + Follow Us: PUSH, Feeds, Social + Join our Team + Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy + Terms of Service OneDrive Shared Folder Syncing Has Been Broken for Months, With No Fix in Sight Microsoft OneDrive users are facing a persistent issue where shared folders no longer sync locally, appearing as web links instead. Microsoft has yet to respond to the widespread complaints. Markus Kasanmascheff By Markus Kasanmascheff March 2, 2025 8:47 pm CET [Microsoft-Onedrive-1068x551] Microsoft OneDrive users have been dealing with a frustrating issue that has yet to be addressed. For months, shared folders that once seamlessly synced to File Explorer now appear as web shortcuts rather than local directories. Adding a shared folder to OneDrive's "My Files" section in theory means they appear as a normal, locally stored directory within File Explorer. Now, an increasing number of users find that shared folders are instead represented as .url shortcut files, which merely redirect them to OneDrive's web interface rather than functioning as integrated local storage. OneDrive Shared Folder Syncing is Broken The issue has been disrupting workflows for businesses and individuals alike. Reports about the problem have been circulating since early 2024, with users posting complaints across Microsoft's forums, Reddit, and tech discussion sites. Despite repeated calls for an explanation and fixes, Microsoft has remained mostly silent. One affected user shared on Reddit his frustrations already last summer, explaining how the problem with OneDrive's shared file syncing is affecting his business. "My team has been dealing with this for over two months now. Many of them have been able to share and work with local files (OneDrive Win 11 Desktop app with "Always Keep On This Device" checked for the folder) for over 5 years. Back in June, one by one the laptops started showing shared folders as URL links instead. That means that files inside no longer can interact with local applications on the computer. Of our 9 team members, only two still have access to the folder with it stored locally on their computer (plus the folder owner). I can't make heads or tails of it, because I originally thought maybe a machine that upgraded from Windows 10 had a mysterious leftover allowing it. But then we just added a new laptop a few weeks prior to when this started and it came with Win 11 and still has access. I also have many friends in radio that rely on the OneDrive shares, and ALL of their systems are hosed up. Very little additional information has been released. I have little faith that Microsoft understands the issue nor are they actively working on it as it seems to have randomly hit computers. I don't really want to move on, but I think that Google Drive for desktop might be our next leap." Newer forum posts from last week indicate that the problem is still unresolved and starts to suddenly affect more users that had been using OneDrive's shared file syncing previously without any issues. A comment posted on AskWoody from February 22 reads: "Something happened in the wee hours of this morning where OneDrive folders that are being shared with me are no longer accessible through File Explorer. They are only accessible through an Internet Shortcut. This means that any programs and/or scripts that I have written that have previously accessed files in these shared folders no longer work. Things were working fine until sometime after 6:30 am (EST) this morning. (I have a scheduled task that ran successfully at 6:30 but failed at 7:30 - and every hour since because the folder is not available). This happens on 2 PC's with different OneDrive accounts where the same folder is shared from a 3rd OneDrive account. Both of the affected PC's are running Windows 11 24H2 one of them the Pro version the other the Home version." Users have unsuccessfully tried to fix the problem by un-sharing and re-sharing or switching to "Always keep on this device" on Windows to force a download/sync of shared files. Fixing the problem with PowerShell, by resetting, repairing or re-installing the OneDrive app does not seem to help either. Microsoft's support page for OneDrive's shared file syncing is now mentioning the issue, but without providing any explanation or possible fix. The notice reads: "OneDrive shared folders shortcuts showing up as Internet Shortcuts Issue Some OneDrive shared folders shortcuts located in your My Files folder may show up as .url internet shortcuts instead of actual folders. If you try to open the folder shortcut, it opens as a webpage (and you may be asked to sign in) instead of a folder. Status We are aware of the issue and are working on resolving it. The .url internet shortcuts will automatically convert back to a folder when the issue is resolved. You can still access the shared folder content, but it will be via OneDrive.com" Microsoft's Silence Frustrates Users As reports of the issue grow, so does user frustration. One user on Microsoft's forums worte, "When will this be fixed? It has been unresolved for nearly six months now." The lack of an official response has provoked speculation about whether this is an intentional shift or an unacknowledged bug. For businesses that rely on OneDrive for file collaboration, the change has been disruptive. Many companies use shared folders as part of their workflow, and the sudden shift to web-based access has broken automation scripts, disrupted offline file management, and complicated IT policies. With no reliable solution in place, some organizations have begun evaluating alternatives like Dropbox or Google Drive, which allow shared folder syncing without issues. With no official clarification from Microsoft, the future of OneDrive's shared folder syncing remains uncertain. Users affected by the issue must decide whether to continue waiting for a fix, attempt unreliable workarounds, or transition to alternative cloud storage solutions. While some businesses have begun shifting away from OneDrive, others are holding out in the hope that Microsoft will reinstate the original functionality. Historically, Microsoft has reversed unpopular OneDrive changes when faced with sustained user backlash, such as with the return of OneDrive placeholders in Windows 10. However, without explicit confirmation from Microsoft, it remains unclear whether this is a temporary disruption or a deliberate shift toward more web-based file access. * Tags * Apps * Cloud * Cloud Services * Cloud Storage * File Explorer * File Management * Microsoft * Microsoft 365 * Microsoft Cloud * Microsoft OneDrive * Office Apps * OneDrive Files On-Demand * OneDrive Web * Software * Storage * Windows 10 * Windows 11 * Windows Apps Markus Kasanmascheff Markus Kasanmascheff Markus has been covering the tech industry for more than 15 years. He is holding a Master's degree in International Economics and is the founder and managing editor of Winbuzzer.com. [ ][Search] Recent News Hackers Cybersecurity Cyberattack Phishing Tramp Ransomware Emerges with Black Basta's Attack Strategies March 2, 2025 1:29 pm CET Alphabet Google Taara Photonic Chip official Google's New Phototonic Taara Chip Could Replace Fiber With 10Gbps Wireless... 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