OneDrive for Business Client Stuck Processing nn changes for 2 full days. Never stops

Iron Contributor

Starting on 01/29/2019, one of my client PCs is stuck "Processing Changes".  It never stops.  I'm running Version 2019 (Build 19.002.0107.0008).

 

I found a "Known Issue" at 

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Fixes-or-workarounds-for-recent-issues-in-OneDrive-36110213...

 

A file called 849C9593-D756-4E56-8D6E-42412F2A707B is blocking sync [WORKAROUND]

 

This known issue seems to stop copying one OneDrive folder to another, which is different than my issue.  Nevertheless, I tried deleting the hidden system file called .849C9593-D756-4E56-8D6E-42412F2A707B, by following the instructions in the "Known Issue" Workaround.

 

I was able to delete, but it gets re-created within 1 second after OneDrive client restarts.

 

My client is stuck "Processing 24 changes."  These changes were originally downloaded from the cloud, after being uploaded from another system.  The original system did not develop this issue.

 

I can't remember all of the 24 files that were downloaded before the issue surfaced, but I un-synced every folder that I think was involved, with no change in the issue symptom.

 

Is there any log file that might help me narrow down the cause of this issue.  Files are properly being synced up and down even during this issue, it's just that the processing change twirling icon in the system never stops, so I can't tell if my system is idle or busy with OneDrive.  

 

Does anyone have any ideas of how I can troubleshoot this issue.  The default solution from the support community is to totally unsync everything, and then reset the client, but this will cause me to have to re-checkmark only the files / folders that I wan't synced to this PC, and have to re-download gigabytes of data in the process.  I really don't want to have to do that unless as a last resort.

11 Replies
Hi Steven,
I've got the same issue
and I'm in the situation : I can't uninstall !
Hoping we'll get a solution quickly

Hi Michel,

 

    Do you re-direct one drive letter to a different drive letter, using the Subst or Map command, or via any third party apps.  One of my computers has Windows on Drive C and ODFB local copy of Cloud Data on Drive D.  It's been working beautifully for years.

 

I use DDE extensively with Office, so one spreadsheet can autoupdate other spreadsheet and Word files.  When I sync-up to my main system using a machine that only has a Drive C, it can't find any of the DDE links on Drive D, because there is no Drive D on this remote machine.

 

The command is Subst d: c:\.  After that, any time you reference drive d:, it is supposed to access c:\, and resolve the rest of the file path from there.  With the redirected D: drive in place, my DDE programs work properly, but then OneDrive client hangs up forever.  At first, I didn't think it was creating a problem.  I thought it was just an annoyance dealing with the icon spinning forever.  Now I've discovered that there are some folders I created that are not syncing to the cloud, and must be part of the "Processing 65 Changes".

 

It seems like this remapping of one drive letter to another confuses OneDrive Sync Client, and causes the situation where Sync Client  gets stuck forever.

 

If you or anyone redirects drive letters and has the never ending Processing changes message, please write back with details and solution if available.

After much checking and no progress, I think using the SUBST command in a One Drive for Business Environment causes problems for the sync engine.  As OneDrive client got more and more confused, the number of files included in the "Processing xx Changes message" kept getting bigger. 

 

I finally had to give up, abandon the SUBST command, and document all of the sub folders throughout our OneDrive that were selectively synced to the problematic PC.  Then, I unpaired the client from the cloud, uninstalled the OneDrive client, deleted the local copies of all of the files that were left on the machine, and re-installed the OneDrive client, selecting the subfolders that I previously documented.  48 hours later I was up and running, and the errant "Processing Changes" disappeared.

 

As I mentioned previously, I like using a C:\ partition for the operating system and a D:\ partition for data, because it allows image recovery backups of the C:\ partition to be restored without affecting any data on the local machine.  However, if you have DDE Links that access D:\ and you move to a single partition environment, your DDE Links will be broken.

 

This may no longer be necessary as I've heard the one-button reset, with the option to leave all of your data intact, might obviate the need to have the O/S on C:\ and the data on D:\.  In fact, recent Microsoft .docs papers suggest NOT partitioning a single C:\ drive in a Windows 10 environment:

 

(From https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/hard-drives-and-partitions#par...)

 

  • Data partitions
    You can include a separate data partition to enable easier maintenance for situations where either the primary operating system is likely to be replaced, or when multiple operating systems exist on the same device, such as Windows 10 and Windows 7. When a device has multiple hard drives, a data partition may be stored on another drive.
  •  
  • Warning: For typical single-drive configurations, we do not recommend that you use a separate data partition. There are two main reasons:
    • The partition may not automatically protect data that is stored outside the user profile folders. For example, a guest user might have access to files in an unprotected data partition.
    • If you change the default location of the user profile folders to any volume other than the system volume, you cannot service your image. The computer may not apply updates, fixes, or service packs to the installation. For a list of known issues related to changing the default folder locations, see Description of known issues with the FolderLocation settings.

Microsoft can now add another reason not to partition the C:\ drive in Windows 10:  If you use the SUBST: D: C:\ command to simulate a single drive environment after you partition the drive, it will interfere with OneDrive and cause errant messages and certain files and folders will not be synced, and you will not be warned that they aren't being synced.

 

@Steven Seligman  Although it is has been a long time since your post, I have found this simple workaround that worked in my case. It is from here: https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/onedrive-is-stuck-on-processing-changes-b386b813-9b66-4e47-...

 

I have simply used the command %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset, then opened OneDrive back up. After a couple of minutes it was back synced as usual.

@vpicco, thanks for posting.  Would you happen to know whether OneDrive completely re-synced all of your OneDrive files after re-setting, or did it just (somehow) re-link what you had on the local hard drive with what it had in the cloud.

 

My OneDrive has about 100gb in the cloud, and I was concerned about ending up with two full copies on the local PC if I did the reset.

 

Thanks again.

@Steven Seligman It was extremely fast so I think it only operates on the settings and not on the actual files. When I ran the command I actually did not see anything happen so I thought it didn't work and I ran it again. Then I noticed that OneDrive was closed, and I restarted it. I do not have a lot of stuff, so your experience may be different.

 

Also to know, sometimes there are these sync problems if you are making changes to files that are shared. Sometimes a different user "locks" a file by opening it. I have found that sometimes this "locking" state prevented the sync from working properly.

@vpicco-- Thanks again for posting.  As I mentioned below, I was able to recover by unpairing, reinstalling OneDrive, and re-downloading everything.  I will try your solution if I ever hit this issue again in hopes that it doesn't force a total download.  If it does, no harm done because my solution caused a definite re-download.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

@vpiccothe reset basically does the same as unlink / link - it goes through all of the thousands of files and determines if a download is warranted - if the file is already there and equal, it leaves it alone. But in my case it stays on 'processing 11000 changes' and counting down to zero for a while.

@Jake63Thank you for posting.

 

Before you did a reset, was it stuck counting down for days, or did it eventually finish?  Is it correct to assume that you did the reset because the client was "stuck processing changes."

 

After you did the reset, did it eventually finish "processing changes?"

 

Thanks again

@Steven Seligman 

 

shoudl I understand that the parameter '/reset' will reset only its control files/database and not the files itself??

 

Are you sure about that?

 

We have a customer using Adobe Premier with a lot of large video files (1GB or more each one) on a folder shared with other 03 guys, that issue is let them crazy. Repeated issues around large files and which results on Onedrive hanging on "processing changes".

@Renato Pereira 

 

I'm sorry.  I don't know the answer about /reset.  I only used the unlink/link procedure and this solved my problem the first time, and the problem never came back so I didn't test the /reset.