Solved OneDrive appears in File Explorer twice

Hi,

I’ve recently bought a Windows 11 laptop, and today have installed MS Office 365 for business and my OneDrive.

However, in File Explorer, OneDrive appears twice and it doesn’t look like a Quick Access shortcut.

I see my OneDrive as “OneDrive” and then again as “OneDrive company name”.

They both show the same content and as I’ve added some items to “Always show on this device” in the OneDrive company name folder, it is replicating this in the OneDrive folder.

When I go to my OneDrive settings in the system tray, it doesn’t look like I’m used to it looking in Windows 10, so I can’t see how to tell what it is up to. The last thing I want is for it to be duplicating a sync.

Maybe I don’t understand the File Explorer view of Windows 11 yet.

I’m not backing up Docs, Pictures etc as I would rather keep that separate.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Many thanks
Karen.

Proably need a screen shot to show where the ODrive entries appear in the directory structure of Explorer.

On my old work computer, there were 2 One Drive folders, but I had 2 One Drive accounts. One was One Drive and other was One Drive - Work.

Hi both.

Thank you.

I agree that it looks like my personal and ODfB but they are showing the same content and my personal OD should be empty.

Below is the screenshot.

Many thanks.

Just looking at that image again. It is saying that my desktop and pictures are in my OneDrive. I thought I had stopped that. It looks like I’ve stopped that only for documents.

With Windows 11, once you use your Microsoft account to sign in, it probably automatically created the personal OneDrive for your computer. Then when you installed Office and logged in with your company / employer credentials, it created a second OneDrive for your company name.

In the system tray (perhaps in the upward point 'carat' for the extended system tray) you should see 2 OneDrive icons as well. Normally, with personal versus business accounts, they will be colored differently (on my system, my personal OneDrive account icon is white, and my company OneDrive account is blue). Find the one that is not associated with your company, go to Settings --> Account and then unlink from your personal account, and follow the process there.

That should leave you with just the company account for OneDrive.

If you need more detailed instructions, please don't hesitate to post back.

Hi johnlgalt

That is exactly what I assumed must be happening. I’m a freelance trainer and ditched my personal 365 subscription in 2019 as I needed the functionality of 365 business.

I looked in the System Tray (expanded) and I have only 1 OD icon.

It is odd that in File Explorer, when clicked, they each show the same file structure with the same status icons.

I’ll have another look after I’m finished delivering training today in case I haven’t looked properly. The laptop has done a windows update since last night.

I’ll get back to you later today.

Thank you so much for your help.

Hi johnlgalt,

I'm on the new machine now and there is definitely only 1 OD icon in the system tray. In File Explorer, which is now slightly rearranged, OD and ODfB (the one with my name next to it), are still both showing.
Initially, when I click the OD one, it says empty, but then when I click again, it opens my ODfB in a new File Explorer window.




If I go to the folder where they are syncing to, I do see them both as separate things.





Does this give any further clues?

Thank you again.

I'm tempted, whether rightly or wrongly, to unlink my laptop from my business account and try and delete the other OneDrive folder from the users/mylogin folder. When I click it and it says it is empty, there is no status column, so it can't be syncing - but I don't understand why when I double click it, it opens the ODfB folder.

Then I would delete my ODfB from my machine as the account would be unlinked, and then start again. I'm not sure whether I would need to uninstall OneDrive and reinstall it, or sign into the app. Your advice would be welcomed.

Apologies for sending many messages. I keep thinking of things that may be helpful.

Many thanks.

karenf said:

I'm on the new machine now and there is definitely only 1 OD icon in the system tray.

Click to expand...

Taht's good news - so only one is showing as actually synchronizing.

karenf said:

In File Explorer, which is now slightly rearranged, OD and ODfB (the one with my name next to it), are still both showing.

Click to expand...

Ah-ha! I think this is nothing more than a bug, to be fair.

Just to be clear before proceeding: This new machine you never, ever connected to your Microsoft account that you previously had a personal OneDrive for?

I suspect that if you still used the same account, it may have automatically created it that using the default OneDrive client that comes with Windows 11, and then when you installed Office, it used a newer client that actually lists the account name - so in effect the old one without a company name is simply a 'ghost' version.

karenf said:

Initially, when I click the OD one, it says empty, but then when I click again, it opens my ODfB in a new File Explorer window.

Click to expand...

This supports my theory above - it never actually has anything in the folder without your company name, and when you try to open anything it redirects to the correct folder for your company.

So,

1. Since it never actually has data in it, and
2. It redirects automatically to the correct folder

Unless your OCD is powerful and you really need it gone, might as well leave it alone.

IIRC, at one point someone else mentioned something similar here in the forums, I'll try to find that topic and see if there was ever a resolution that is easy to implement.

Thank you very much. I’d appreciate that.

You’ve got me thinking now (can only be a good thing). When I log on to the laptop, it won’t accept my work account so I’ve used my email address which is associate with my old personal and my work account (but office for business uses a different email as it wouldn’t let me use my usual one). So you’re right. It may well have created it when I set up windows.

Odd that it redirects though. Microsoft couldn’t help me use the email address I wanted to use when I bought my business subscription. I keep my older account for my Microsoft transcripts.

I’ll look forward to hearing from you if you find that link.

Thank you so much for your help. You have been very helpful. I may just have to blank it out.

If you want to go the uninstall and reinstall route with OneDrive, note a couple of things additional to the following topic:


When you 'uninstall' OneDrive from Settings --> Apps --> Installed Apps it will be uninstalling the OneDrive client installed with Office. After that you'll need to go through Installed apps again and see if there is a 'new' OneDrive that you need to uninstall again (and a reboot to verify this might be a good idea.

The last part of the topic involves editing the registry to get it to stop trying to load a 'ghost' installation of OneDrive, which sounds like exactly what is happening to you. If you want, we can try tackling that, though this is something that is better tackled by a live person versus through the forums.

Of course, there is also this post:


Which has a link on how to fully uninstall it from your system.

However, if you still need access to the other information in your old account, what I might suggest is that you log out of the business account, reboot, log into your old personal account, and then once that is all set up and access to your old stuff is there, use the OneDrive app to log into your business account separately - via OneDrive Settings --> Account tab. Then add that business account.

Then you'll have 2 instances of it running, sure, but it also will help keep your personal files separated from the business files.

It really depends upon what you want to do in this instance, though.

Hi johnlgalt. Thank you. There really is nothing in my personal OneDrive. When I stopped using my old account and cancelled my personal subscription, before the grace period when it cuts off, I moved everything into my ODfB account and emptied my old one.

I may have to live with it. It is a shame as I often have to share my screen during training and having 2 OneDrives may be confusing. I even deliver training in how to use OneDrive (although you wouldn’t think it from these posts).

Thank you so much.

Since everything is in the newer account, it won't hurt to try to completely uninstall it, but I'd recommend doing it when you have a day or two of free time, just in case it goes wacky and you need some time to retrace your steps / reinstall and set it up again, to give it a second try.

Also - during training, do you specifically need to share the contents of your File Explorer window? Because plenty of people have both personal and work accounts, and thus 2 instances of OneDrive in Explorer - like me:

In the navigation pane on the left:



In Windows Explorer, in my Users folder:



It's really not unheard of, and is probably more common than you realize, especially after the Pandemic and the great, big, WorkFromHome exodus.

As long as you remember not to click on the one that doesn't have your business name on it no one will ever know that it is just a ghost entity.

Thank you.

I appreciate your guidance and words of advice.

I am relieved that it isn’t syncing twice. That was my fear last night.

Some clients like me to show the File Explorer window.

I’ll mark this as solved for completeness and I’ll leave the folder sat there - you never know, when I eventually retire, I may go back to a personal OD. I may even tell my delegates that it is my personal OD, there for “my eventual retirement” (and hope they laugh!).

Thanks again.

That said, I’m not sure how to make it as solved!

You're very welcome!

karenf said:

That said, I’m not sure how to make it as solved!

Click to expand...

Edit the first post, should have the ability to mark it solved there, I think.

I’ll give it a go. Thank you.

Done.

Thanks again. Enjoy your evening.