SharePoint - Copy Link link problems - superfluous URL elements - links don't work (or time out)

We resolved this by accident more than anything else and the answer had nothing to do with SharePoint. What we noticed was that many of our users were being directed to the 'top' level of our SharePoint tenant when they clicked on a link.

Quite separately (we thought), a number of our users were having issues with having to log on all the time to SharePoint. It was only when someone reported both issues we realised they were connected.

The problem, as it turned out, was with their accounts settings on their new Windows 10 devices. When they were assigned the new devices, sometimes with but sometimes not with their user name/email address, the original account settings on their devices were not connecting with their daily Windows log ons. As a result, they had to log on all the time AND the links bounced them to the top of SharePoint.

The fix was to ask users affected to go to 'Manage your account', then click on the 'Work or school' option on the left.

• If there was no colored Windows icon, they had to click on the '+ Connect' option and register, then re-start.
• If there was a colored Windows icon with their (or in some cases, someone else's) email address, they had to click that icon, then 'Disconnect', restart their machine and click on the +Connect to relink their profile with the device account settings. We discovered a very large number of devices had the name of the person who had set up the machine as the 'account' on the machine.

Thankfully all the 'SharePoint' tickets for link issues and constant log ons have now ceased.