OneDrive Not Syncing because of "desktop.ini" files

Question

_{Tuesday, January 23, 2018 3:06 PM | 6 votes}

I'm using Windows 10 (Creator's edition) on my PC. Whenever I try to synch OneDrive on my PC with the cloud it gives me error messages relating to all the "desktop.<g class="gr_ gr_19 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" data-gr-id="19" id="19">ini</g>" files that it can not process.

When I click on the error messages it just says to delete these files, but it does not say where they are (exactly) and how to do that.

I emailed (there is no call center or chat support) OneDrive about this over a week ago and have had no response.

What is this file type and why can't it be synched? And how do I get rid of it so that the synching will proceed?

Looking for help. 

All replies (20)

_{Tuesday, January 23, 2018 6:12 PM}

The most logical and intelligent place to post about Windows 10 in in the forums established specifically for discussing Windows 10.

The Windows 10 forums are found @ https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home?category=Windows10ITPro

Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ”

_{Wednesday, January 24, 2018 5:29 AM | 6 votes}

Hi，

It is a hidden file, which determines the way a folder is displayed by Windows. These files can be found in any folder, anywhere on your computer, as long as that folder has a custom appearance set for it. Desktop.ini files control things like the icon used for that folder and its localized name.

To see the files, please open "Show hidden files and folders", then check "show hidden files,folders and drives" and uncheck "hide protected operating system files",then apply.

Go to the OneDrive - Microsoft folder, delete the file both under the directory and the subfolder.

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

_{Thursday, January 25, 2018 9:15 AM}

Hi,

Haven't heard from you for a few days, any updates?

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
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_{Monday, May 21, 2018 12:28 AM | 1 vote}

Just came to post this exact same thing.  Have my laptop and the OneDrive icon shows red and various folders in my Documents folder show Red.  When I drill down to the files I had to turn on Show Protected files and I could see OneDrive was erroring out because of lots of desktop.ini files.  Is there some way to tell OneDrive to just ignore Desktop.ini and Thumbs.db and things like that?  It should be smart enough to ignore those files by default but it doesn't appear to do so.

_{Thursday, June 21, 2018 6:25 PM}

I have the exact same problem any advice would be greatly appreciated. The sync "looks" OK but the error message persists in the tray icon.

_{Thursday, June 21, 2018 7:56 PM}

I just turned on view hidden files and turned off hide protected system files.  I then saw the red 'X' icon in certain folders within Onedrive.  I just drilled into them all until I found the file causing the problem and deleted them.

_{Wednesday, August 15, 2018 4:47 AM}

WORKED GREAT THANKS

_{Friday, December 21, 2018 2:45 PM}

Thanks, I have had this error since September. Easier to ignore and carry on what I was doing. I came back to it a few times and found instructions that I didn't understand but yours was spot on. Thanks for taking to time to paste the picture or the folder

_{Friday, January 18, 2019 10:53 PM}

Perfect, solved the same issue for me.

_{Friday, January 25, 2019 3:06 AM}

Thanks. It worked!

_{Saturday, January 26, 2019 10:18 PM | 1 vote}

You forgot to mention how to get to the folder options menu by going to File Explorer -> ToolBar -> View -> Options -> Change Folder and search options -> View

_{Monday, February 25, 2019 8:21 PM | 2 votes}

Why should we have to delete files used by Microsoft Windows for Microsoft One Drive to function correctly?

_{Tuesday, February 26, 2019 12:49 PM | 4 votes}

While Vivian's answer might (seem to) "work", it is NOT an acceptable answer:

Thumbs.db, and desktop.ini, the two files which most commonly provoke the question "Why is OneDrive complaining that it can't sync/ what are these files and what can I do with them", are things that generally are outside of the user's control, almost always are beneficial that the user keep them around (desktop.ini maintains folder settings, and Thumbs.db cache image thumbnails and speed things up).

So, "delete them" is utterly incorrect advice, both technically and philosophically.

Moreover, that OneDrive (and Sharepoint/ OneDrive for Business) do not have the configurability to be told to ignore the FILE NAMES (NOT Extensions, WHOLE NAMES) "desktop.ini" and "Thumbs.db" creates an unsolvable problem for many, many users and administrators.

Yet another example of Microsoft just not thinking through its products and how they work (or don't work!) together, and then not caring about the user/customer and leaving the bugs in place forever.

Vivian Zhou wrote:

Hi，

It is a hidden file, which determines the way a folder is displayed by Windows. These files can be found in any folder, anywhere on your computer, as long as that folder has a custom appearance set for it. Desktop.ini files control things like the icon used for that folder and its localized name.

To see the files, please open "Show hidden files and folders", then check "show hidden files,folders and drives" and uncheck "hide protected operating system files",then apply.

Go to the OneDrive - Microsoft folder, delete the file both under the directory and the subfolder.

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

_{Friday, April 26, 2019 3:00 PM}

Confirming this works.  Totally agree with Jay that having to delete "desktop.ini" and "Thumbs.db" files is not an acceptable solution!

_{Tuesday, May 21, 2019 10:07 PM}

Thanks,

This thread solved my issue.

Once again thank you.

_{Tuesday, May 21, 2019 10:10 PM}

It's problem that has been going on for many years.

I always delete them. In this particular case. The file was hidden.

Unhiding and deleting the file works. Deleting desktop.ini is a course of regular administration and is expected in Windows Administration

_{Tuesday, June 18, 2019 1:31 PM}

The files keep reappearing however so the red X still shows on a daily basis and provides an error message in OneDrive. Am i the only one experiencing this?

_{Wednesday, August 7, 2019 2:03 PM}

Should not be the case

What OneDrive client version do you have?

_{Wednesday, August 7, 2019 4:08 PM}

Should not be the case

What OneDrive client version do you have?

I agree. While I dd see this issue a while back, folders with desktop.ini files now sync just fine. Adding the Attributes column to a Details view shows that desktop.ini has a unique set of Attributes, both Pinned & Unpinned being set simultaneously that seems to tell the OneDrive sfotware to skip that file when syncing:

Keith

_{Thursday, July 23, 2020 1:57 PM}

As I kept seeing this pop up repeatedly, here and elsewhere, I thought I would post a link to the "Official" answer from Microsoft: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/invalid-file-names-and-file-types-in-onedrive-and-sharepoint-64883a5d-228e-48f5-b3d2-eb39e07630fa

Also, folks, please keep in mind that OneDrive (in all of its forms) is a front end to SharePoint document management.