OneDrive, Files on demand: OneDrive/Windows11 automatically downloads .vhdx files from the cloud

Copper Contributor

Strange behavior: I have a (huge) file "C:\Users\User\OneDrive\Driver ASUS G733PZ\MACR_G733PZ.vhdx" on my OneDrive as a "File on Demand" (kept in the cloud only as a backup) and every time I open that directory from File Explorer (Windows 11 23H2, OneDrive 24.091.0505.0003) for unknown reasons it automatically starts downloading the .vhdx on my physical disk (it seems this has something to do with the OS Search Indexer)!

If I do never open that OneDrive dir it doesn't happen but as as soon I browse that dir it starts...

 

To make it stop doing this on next reboots I've had to rename the file on demand as "file.vhdx.bak", it worked. This shouldn't happen and the OneDrive or Windows OS team should prevent the system from automatically downloading .vhdx marked as files on demand in cloud only.

3 Replies
Report the bug. Microsoft doesn't read this community forum.
How? Feedback Hub have bugs I reported 2 years ago still present (and reproducible on every PC) and never fixed... What's the most effective method to report a bug to Microsoft?
There's a Help/Contact link inside your OneDrive web account.