I specified a custom location for the personal OneDrive folder while installing the OneDrive client in my Windows 10 Pro v1903. I placed this folder in the root of the drive D. After using this folder for some days I found that not all apps like backup software work with this folder correctly. It seems, the OneDrive folder I see in the Explorer is a virtual folder and all my files are not really stored on the drive D, which causes the problems I have.
The Explorer itself tells me that my OneDrive folder is on the desktop:
, but my desktop does not show this OneDrive folder.
I also can't find OneDrive in the system Indexing Options dialog – though the files in my OneDrive folder are indexed by the system.
The file manager Total Commander I'm using shows the OneDrive folder like a reparse point too:
So can anybody tell me how the OneDrive folder is implemented in Windows 10 and whether it is possible to find the real location of my files inside this folder? I am afraid my files could be stored on the system SSD drive, and I would want to avoid this and save my files really on the HDD drive D for several reasons.
Best Answer
The OneDrive that appears under the Desktop is a namespace junction, similar to the user folders that appear under This PC, that 'points' to an actual file system location. The registry entry that places it on the Desktop is:
and, if the location of the OneDrive folder was changed from its default, you should see your
D:\OneDrive
path as the data for the value named{A52BBA46-E9E1-435f-B3D9-28DAA648C0F6}
under:OneDrive does some unique things with attributes, one of which is setting the L (link) attribute on its actual file system folders, and that is probably confusing Total Commander.![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hh8DN.png)
The best way to determine a folder's or file's location in the file system is to view its Properties dialog or add the Folder Path column to a Details view in File Explorer.![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AhkGa.png)
EDIT: The
dir /ad
command distinguishes between directories & reparse points: