OneDrive weirdness!

My Pictures folder is stored on G:\Brian\OneDrive\Pictures, so it syncs with OneDrive, this is the default save location.

I have a folder in Pictures named Wallpaper, I use this for my lock screen slideshow
Yesterday I wanted to use a specific set of pictures from that folder so I created one named Futuristic in Wallpaper, and moved some files to it. I also downloaded a few more and put them in the new folder.
Switched the folder to Futuristic in the lockscreen settings - only the 3 new pictures would display, cycling between them. It was as if the other 30 or so didn't exist.

I tried a few things, including deleting the folder and creating it again in OneDrive online, letting it sync. Same problem. Made copies of the files, same problem. Deleted the attributes from all the files, same problem.
Trying to delete the folder I had a warning about deleting online-only folders - even though my OneDrive isn't set to Files on demand, all files are stored locally on the drive and are fully accessible (I have Admin access on my account)

I then used this folder in the Dynamic Theme app - this couldn't find any files at all in the folder
I then gave up, moved the pictures I didn't want for the slideshow into a folder 'Others' and put the Futuristic ones back into Wallpaper folder. They all work, cycling between the 35 files as it should.

I had a similar problem before but never really found a solution.

Stumped!

I don't use OneDrive, iDrive, YourDrive or any other cloud storage, prefer a NAS drive on my LAN. Having spouted off about that, it's my thought/experience any files needed by the Operating System for normal use such as backgrounds, screensavers, etc., work better when the actual files exist on the computer itself in the proper folders established when the OS is installed. Even my NAS drive occasionally gets disconnected from a wireless or wired computer when it is rebooted or after sleeping.

Is there no chance it could be a sync server issue? Have you tried since, or try tomorrow?

antspants said:

Is there no chance it could be a sync server issue? Have you tried since, or try tomorrow?

Click to expand...

Happens every single time

That is definitely a sync issue. Have you tried right clicking on the folder and choosing "always keep on this device"? I know it sounds simple, but I had an issue with Steam saves because of this same exact issue. You can also check your storage sense settings. If your pictures haven't been opened in a predefined time, they will not be available on the local system and will require user interaction such as opening the file manually - by doing so it will download the file back to your device. As I mentioned earlier, you could most likely solve this by right mouse clicking on the folder, and choosing "Always keep on this device" so that it saves a copy in the cloud, and keeps it on your device. I had disabled OneDrive because of this, way to frustrating to keep track of saves, various folders, etc. I use just a regular backup method (imaging of my drive through 3rd party backup) so if I need to restore a file I can easily mount the image and pull the file I need should the situation arise.

bn40400 said:

That is definitely a sync issue. Have you tried right clicking on the folder and choosing "always keep on this device"? I know it sounds simple, but I had an issue with Steam saves because of this same exact issue. You can also check your storage sense settings. If your pictures haven't been opened in a predefined time, they will not be available on the local system and will require user interaction such as opening the file manually - by doing so it will download the file back to your device. As I mentioned earlier, you could most likely solve this by right mouse clicking on the folder, and choosing "Always keep on this device" so that it saves a copy in the cloud, and keeps it on your device. I had disabled OneDrive because of this, way to frustrating to keep track of saves, various folders, etc. I use just a regular backup method (imaging of my drive through 3rd party backup) so if I need to restore a file I can easily mount the image and pull the file I need should the situation arise.

Click to expand...

All the files are stored locally, OneDrive/Pictures is my default save location.
I have found the fix. Even though OneDrive is set to Always download all files, new folders seem to be Online only, even though the tick for Always on device is showing. Disabling that then re-enabling it fixes the problem

Makes now sense how LOCAL files are flagged as Online-only, definitely a OneDrive bug

BrianInEngland said:

Makes now sense how LOCAL files are flagged as Online-only, definitely a OneDrive bug

Click to expand...

Great, glad you figured it out! That is good to know as well, most definitely is a bug. I got so frustrated with OneDrive because all of my game saves from Steam would always end up in my Documents folder. Every time I went to open a game, it would say no save file present (That's because OneDrive would clear it off my system immediately and make it online only). I had to manually find where these save files were all stored at, and right click to keep on the device. Even various installs of other applications OneDrive would somehow immediately intercept - I just got tired of messing around with it (Storage sense, OneDrive all together).

In OneDrive settings, go to Advanced Settings, and you can set "Files On Demand" to OFF for all of OneDrive. That's one of the first things I do after a clean install. Problem solved with one click!

My backup strategy uses both Macrium Reflect images and OneDrive and has for many years. Obviously for imaging to be part of a data backup, all your data files must always be resident in your local OneDrive folder. Thus when using OneDrive, Files On Demand must be set to OFF.

TraderGary said:

In OneDrive settings, go to Advanced Settings, and you can set "Files On Demand" to OFF for all of OneDrive. That's one of the first things I do after a clean install. Problem solved with one click!

My backup strategy uses both Macrium Reflect images and OneDrive and has for many years. Obviously for imaging to be part of a data backup, all your data files must always be resident in your local OneDrive folder. Thus when using OneDrive, Files On Demand must be set to OFF.

Click to expand...

Problem solved, except it isn't! I did that first thing but even then new folders are showing as Offline only, even if the tick next to 'Always keep on this device' is showing. I have to untick the new folder, then tick it again. If I try to delete the folder I get the warning about deleting offline-only files

Pic shows the folder 'test' I just created, note the tick. Until I untick then tick again I can't use pictures for the lockscreen/desktop. I can however access, copy, edit and backup the files so they are definitely stored locally

bn40400 said:

That is definitely a sync issue. Have you tried right clicking on the folder and choosing "always keep on this device"? I know it sounds simple, but I had an issue with Steam saves because of this same exact issue. You can also check your storage sense settings. If your pictures haven't been opened in a predefined time, they will not be available on the local system and will require user interaction such as opening the file manually - by doing so it will download the file back to your device. As I mentioned earlier, you could most likely solve this by right mouse clicking on the folder, and choosing "Always keep on this device" so that it saves a copy in the cloud, and keeps it on your device. I had disabled OneDrive because of this, way to frustrating to keep track of saves, various folders, etc. I use just a regular backup method (imaging of my drive through 3rd party backup) so if I need to restore a file I can easily mount the image and pull the file I need should the situation arise.

Click to expand...

All files are saved locally

Have you ever needed to copy a file from a OneDrive folder saved locally using WinPE, but the system said you didn’t have access to the file? I’m dealing with this exact issue and can’t seem to find a solution. I’ve done a lot of research, even on Reddit, and ended up here.

The only solution I’ve found so far is to use DiskGenius. On a regular Windows system, the PowerShell function I created successfully copies only the files and folders saved locally. However, on WinPE, the system can’t access these files. I’ve tried other copy methods, but none worked. Only when the OneDrive folder is converted into a generic folder can I copy the files.

Commands like xcopy, copy, robocopy, and even manual copies don’t work. The message always says that the system cannot access the file. What puzzles me is that the files are indeed saved locally.

The issue is that users put many files in the folder, and there’s not enough space to sync them all. As a result, the files end up "stuck."

I need to automate the copying of locally saved files, but I’ve run into this problem.