Forum Discussion
OneDrive from Windows Server 2025 for remote users
I have a client that, when I started working with them, had a small staff that kept regular business hours. I set them up with a Windows Server with Active Directory and File and Print Services as well as secure internet access.
Over the years, the staff has gotten smaller, and currently consists of the two partners who split their time between working in the office on workstations on their domain and from remote locations on laptop computers connected via WiFi or their cellular provider to the internet.
Previously, I had their workstations using OneDrive to store the contents of the server's shared volumes in the cloud so they could be accessed from their laptops. Unfortunately, this didn't work very well presumably because the workstations in the office had to be on in order to update the contents in OneDrive.
I upgraded their server to Windows Server 2025 and created an account for the server to directly use OneDrive to store the contents of its shared volumes, and shared those resources in OneDrive with the partners' laptops.
Since the server is always on, I presumed that OneDrive would stay up to date. Unfortunately, the shared volumes in OneDrive are still not up to date with the contents of those volumes on the server.
What am I missing?
Can someone explain the nuts and bolts to me so I can compare them with what I've already done, so I can fix this lag?
3 Replies
The missing piece is that OneDrive isn’t a background replication service for Windows file shares. An always-on server doesn’t automatically mean OneDrive is running or monitoring the folders your users are editing.
There are two things to check first:
- Is the OneDrive account actually signed in to Windows? The sync app runs in that user’s session, not as a Windows service. Disconnecting an RDP session normally leaves it running; signing out ends it. After a server restart, it won’t resume just because the server is online—the user session needs to start.
- Are the shared files actually inside the configured OneDrive folder? OneDrive doesn’t automatically sync other server volumes or SMB shares. Copying files into OneDrive creates a separate copy; later edits to the original share won’t follow. Mapped network drives and junction/symlink workarounds aren’t a supported way to sync an existing file share.
Sign in as the account running OneDrive, check its status and any sync errors, and compare the actual local sync path with the share’s path. Create a small test file directly in the OneDrive folder and check whether it reaches OneDrive on the web. If that works but edits in the server share don’t appear, the folder arrangement is the issue rather than cloud sync speed.
For two people working between office and laptops, a SharePoint document library synced through OneDrive on each computer would usually be a better fit. Migrate the shared business documents there, then have both partners work from that same library instead of maintaining separate live copies on the server and in the cloud.
If the server share must remain the authoritative location, use secure VPN access to it, or evaluate Azure File Sync with Azure Files if you need cloud-backed file-server storage. Azure File Sync does not sync into OneDrive or SharePoint.
What is missing is that the OneDrive sync client is not an always-on file-server replication service. It synchronizes content inside a signed-in user’s OneDrive folder while that client session runs; a server account does not automatically monitor SMB volumes or make OneDrive authoritative.
If the shares must remain on Windows Server 2025, the Microsoft-supported architecture is Azure Files with Azure File Sync. Install the agent, register the server, create a sync group, and configure each share path as a server endpoint. Its background service monitors changes and synchronizes them to the Azure file share while preserving file-server behavior and ACLs.
Alternatively, migrate collaboration documents to SharePoint libraries and let each partner sync required libraries to the laptop. Do not nest a OneDrive folder inside an Azure File Sync endpoint. Whichever design you choose, keep an independent backup, test permissions with nonadministrative accounts, and verify sync health before retiring the process.How about this:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5400956/sync-local-folder-with-onedrive-for-business-witho
