OneDrive error: OneDrive cannot connect to windows

I'm working on setting up a Citrix XenDesktop ltsr 7.15 environment with FSLogix profile/office 365 containers for my company and one of the requirements I was given was to have onedrive setup by default to store documents on the cloud only.

On a normal desktop this is pretty easy to accomplish, just set A GPO to enable "files-on-demand" by default, however when I enabled the policy for my virtual environment files are still being cached locally on the drive with no error given.

I disabled the setting and enabled it through one drives settings menu and now I get the following error:

The only suggestions I've found so far are running updates, using the /reset option with the executable, and running the installer again after login. None of these methods have worked for me so far, I'm still not even sure what is causing the error. I've heard it's been fixed in windows 10 1803 but Citrix isn't working with that version yet so I have to hold off on that update for now.

Does anyone out there have an idea that I haven't seen yet?

tdoctorman

Posted 2018-09-18T14:27:21.613

Reputation: 73

Try to disable your anti-virus. – harrymc – 2018-09-18T14:34:48.543

We have disabled the default firewall/windows defender and have not yet installed a 3rd party anti-virus in this environment yet, waiting to get everything else in order before diving into that mess. I should have stated that in the question. – tdoctorman – 2018-09-18T14:37:08.773

Could you add details about "enabled it through one drives settings menu". – harrymc – 2018-09-18T14:41:17.107

No problem, from the system tray you can right click the one drive icon and select settings, then open the settings tab and see a check box to enable "files On-Demand" once selected the error immediately pops up in my Citrix environment but not on my physical workstation. When the GPO to enable the same setting is set that option is removed from the OneDrive settings menu. – tdoctorman – 2018-09-18T14:46:25.467

Answers

This is a bug that might be fixed in the upcoming Windows 10 Build 17046. The article Fixes and Known Issues in Windows 10 Build 17046 lists this fix :

We fixed an issue resulting in Insiders with certain third party antiviruses and OneDrive Files on Demand enabled seeing an error in recent builds citing “OneDrive cannot connect to Windows”.

There may be a meantime solution from the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities IT Support Center, if this applies to your case :

If you have been using the OneDrive sync client without Files On-Demand and then enable Files On-Demand, some users have reported that they received an error "OneDrive cannot connect to Windows" preventing them from enabling Files On-Demand:

This is because the sync location being used is not the local hard drive and instead is using either an external USB or hard drive which cannot be used for the OneDrive sync location. You will need to go to OneDrive sync client settings tab (from the sys tray), on the Account tab unlink the PC from the account and then add the account again but this time select the local hard drive as the sync location.

harrymc

Posted 2018-09-18T14:27:21.613

Reputation: 306 093

I'll try this fix and get back to you on it, but this sounds like it could be the case, FSLogix is a system that redirects user data such as the onedrive folder to a .VHDX file on a network share but the operating system is supposed to see it as a local drive path still. The OneDrive component of this is still a relatively new piece and may not be 100% seamless as they claim it should be. – tdoctorman – 2018-09-18T16:23:04.280

Still no luck, I created c:\OneDrive-FoD for the sync location and FSLogix still appears to be redirecting to the network .VHDX file, I think I need to take this issue up with their support team specifically and see if they have run into this before. I appreciate all the feedback today, you've been very helpful. – tdoctorman – 2018-09-18T16:33:51.310

Alright, So I contacted FSLogix support and they figured it out, the issue was that I was still using version 2.8 and support for onedrive files on-demand wasn't added until version 2.9. I probably would have kept going in circles if you hadn't found that second article you posted. I would not have suspected the drive location would have been the issue. Thanks again for all your help, I'll mark this answered. – tdoctorman – 2018-09-18T18:59:58.510

What worked for me is following the steps in the link https://www.drivethelife.com/windows-10/there-was-a-problem-connecting-to-onedrive-windows-10.html.
In an elevated prompt, type in:

netsh int ip reset
netsh winsock reset

Then reboot

Pascal

Posted 2018-09-18T14:27:21.613

Reputation: 173

Thanks Pascal, for me this was definitely the right answer. I have had this problem after updating to the very last version, reinstalling OneDrive (which solves it for some time) but this permanently fixed it for me. Thanks a lot – Erjen Rijnders – 2019-10-25T08:07:02.217

1Sure. You're welcome. I find it that it always eventually comes back after a couple of weeks. I just re-execute it. – Pascal – 2019-10-25T14:07:40.033

1This worked for me too! – TheUnexpected – 2019-11-09T09:10:19.210

only this worked for me – cyptus – 2019-11-13T17:16:17.820

microsofts help did not work for me, i have already been in state 4 (STARTED): https://support.office.com/en-us/article/-onedrive-cannot-connect-to-windows-error-when-accessing-files-in-onedrive-7c5b675f-555e-4aa1-b4d8-554698c2c2b9

– cyptus – 2019-11-13T17:16:57.037