Hospital changed to One Drive for security and access yet can't access based on sync issies

Hi @Ann K. Craig, 

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

Based on our conversation, I understand your problem to be the following: 

• Problem: OneDrive is failing to sync a large number of files, making them inaccessible on your local computer. 
• Cause: The full file path names, including the folder structure and file name, are exceeding the character limit set by Windows (260 characters) and OneDrive (400 characters). 
• Impact: Approximately 80% of your files are inaccessible, and manually renaming all of them isn't a practical solution. 

Does my understanding accurately reflect your situation? 

To help us find the best solution, could you please confirm if you're seeing an error message similar to the one described in this Microsoft Support article? 

'Path of this file or folder is too long' error in OneDrive - Microsoft Support? 

If possible, please send us a full-screen screenshot of the exact error message you see when you try to open one of the affected files or folders. 

This will give us a clearer picture of the issue and help us determine the best steps forward. 

Reference:  

• Maximum Path Length Limitation
• Migration Assessment Scan Long OneDrive URLs - Migrate to Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn 

Option 1: is to enable Long Path Support on your company-issued Windows computer. This change requires administrator rights, which are typically only held by your company's IT team. 

Please forward this email or contact your IT administrator directly and ask them to perform this action for you. They should be able to make this change on your company machine to resolve the sync issues. 

Option A – Registry Editor 

Open regedit > Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem  Find or create a value named LongPathsEnabled (DWORD) > Set its value to 1 > Reboot 

Option B – PowerShell: 

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem" ` -Name "LongPathsEnabled" -Value 1 -PropertyType DWORD -Force 

Option C – Group Policy (Windows Pro/Edu/Enterprise)  Run gpedit.msc  Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Filesystem  Enable “Enable Win32 long paths” > Reboot Note: Even with this enabled, OneDrive itself still has its own limits. 

Reference: Registry setting to enable long paths

Option 2: help me try move the sync folder to a short location?  

Right-click the OneDrive icon in the system tray > Settings > Sync and backup > Manage backup > Turn off backup.

Right-click the OneDrive icon in the system tray > Select Pause syncing.

Go to Settings > Account > Unlink this PC.

Change sync folder to: C:\OD\ (or similarly short)  Resync. 

In some scenarios, this reduces path length for all synced files. 

Option 3: Enable Files On-Demand: OneDrive's Files On-Demand feature allows you to see all files and folders in your OneDrive without necessarily syncing them to your local device (sync shortcut). Enable this feature in OneDrive settings to have a complete view of your SharePoint folders and selectively choose which ones to sync. So you can try this one by going to Right-click the OneDrive icon in the system tray > Setting > Sync and back up > Scroll down to Advanced settings > on Files On-Demand choose Free up disk space. 

Another workaround, you can use Onedrive in web > and then choose the file you want >  just download/upload files as needed. 

I hope this helps you out! If there's anything else at all I can assist with, or if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'm always here to listen and support you. 

Looking forward to your reply! 

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