Shorten local OneDrive path to avoid windows path length limitations

As I understand it, you want to shorten the local path without changing your organization's name globally. Here are some solutions that might help you achieve this.

Recommended Solution: Group Policy / Intune (The Supported Method)

Microsoft released a specific policy to address this exact scenario. This is the cleanest, most reliable approach as it preserves all sync relationships and Files On-Demand functionality.

For Domain-Joined Computers:

1. Open Group Policy Management Console
2. Navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > OneDrive
3. Enable the policy "Set a custom name for the OneDrive folder"
4. Specify your desired short name (e.g., OD or OneDrive)
5. Apply the policy and run gpupdate /force

For Intune / Azure AD Managed Devices:

• Deploy the same setting via the OneDrive Administrative Template in Intune (Configuration Profiles > Administrative Templates)

Once applied, OneDrive will automatically rename the local folder from OneDrive - VeryLongCompanyName to your chosen short name. Existing files remain intact, and no re-sync is required.

Alternative Manual Method (If You Cannot Use Group Policy)

If administrative policies are not available in your environment, you can safely relocate the folder using this procedure. I recommend testing with a small dataset first.

1. Exit OneDrive completely — right-click the cloud icon in the system tray and select Exit
2. Rename the folder — change C:\OneDrive - VeryLongCompanyName to C:\OneDriveShort (or your preferred short name)
3. Update the registry key — navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\OneDrive\Accounts\Business1

Locate the UserFolder string value and update it to match your new folder path

     4. Restart OneDrive — sign in when prompted. The client will recognize the existing files in the new location and perform a verification scan rather than a full re-download

Important Considerations

• Windows Long Path Support: As noted by Joel Parmer in the discussion, Windows 10 (1607+) and Windows 11 support paths up to 32,767 characters when the "Enable Win32 long paths" policy is enabled. However, shortening the base path via the methods above remains the more reliable solution, especially for legacy applications.
• What to Avoid: While symbolic links (mklink /j) may appear to work, they can interfere with Files On-Demand status indicators and are not recommended for the root OneDrive folder.

Summary…

The Group Policy method is the only fully supported approach that seamlessly renames the folder, updates the sync metadata, and preserves all placeholder states without requiring a re-sync. If you do not have access to Group Policy or Intune, the manual registry method above provides a clean alternative when executed carefully.

My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!

Hope this will help you.

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This will help all forum participants.

Microsoft recently released this

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/use-group-policy#set-a-custom-name-for-the-onedrive-folder

Long PathTool is a software that will let you easily delete, copy or rename long path files.

Hans Brender 

I currently reran into this problem. Anyone found a solution to change the company name without changing the billing name? Or at least change the company name für OneDrive only?

Same topic here:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/onedrive-for-business/how-can-i-force-onedrive-to-use-a-new-company-name-so-i-have-a/m-p/215712

Using LongPath Tool program helps in avoiding such errors.

I had ran into this problem constantly and to do this systematically for my customers was a pain. So I built a tool to fix this issue. 
Path Too Long Auto Fixer (http://pathtoolongautofixer.blogspot.com/) scans for directories and filenames that are longer and 260 characters, and auto shortens them. You have options how the shortening process works, like removing Unicode spaces, hyphens/dashes, underscores and punctuations and more. Try demo for free.

successfully done this in my pc:

1) exit One drive app (on icon bottom right, mouse dx > exit)

2) rename one drive folder from "/vvvveerrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyy-llllllllllloooooooonnnnnnnnnngggggggg" ... to "work" or something .. :-)

3) restart pc.

4) the onedrive app start to compare the folder content with the online one.

In my case almost immediately confirm the structure and file prescence (surely not re-downloaded 4GB..)

bye !

May not be a solution but information but with Windows 10 build 1607 (Anniversary Edition), the file path limitation of the OS has been lifted to 32,767 giving plenty of space to stretch those file paths out.