[RESOLVED] There was a problem connecting to OneDrive

The cloud storage service market is very competitive right now. Different players are trying to outwit and outbid one another for the attention of users by releasing enticing packages, promotions and offers.

The traditional big players, such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft, dominate the industry, and that is no surprise given their huge infrastructure. They also have the advantage of being able to integrate their cloud solutions into popular software already used by billions of people around the globe.

Google Drive is the native option to sync users’ data across Android devices, while Microsoft OneDrive performs the same role on Windows 10. By and large, Windows users who don’t want to use OneDrive simply ignore it or find a way to suppress the annoying prompts to use the service.

Recently, many of those who do use OneDrive have been reporting the “There was a problem connecting to OneDrive” issue. This problem interrupts saving and syncing between the PC and the cloud.

In case you’re affected, this guide explains how to get rid of the annoying error and restore connectivity to OneDrive.

There was a problem connecting to OneDrive

This error may be encountered when trying to access personal files saved to OneDrive. When you try to view your backed-up photos, videos, music, and other files, the error shows up with one of the following error messages:

• There was a problem connecting to OneDrive. Check your Internet connection, and then try again.
• There was a problem signing you in. There’s a problem with your account. To learn how to fix this problem, go to OneDrive.com and sign in. After you fix the problem, try again.

Many users follow the instructions and try to sign into OneDrive from a browser, but this doesn’t always help. And since the point of cloud storage is seamless and integrated synchronization, sticking with the web version of OneDrive isn’t really a solution.

Some users reported that the error had started appearing after a system upgrade. This might be related to incompatible drivers. However, if your network drivers are up to date and compatible with your current OS, you can try the solutions below. You should be able to find one that works for you.

How to fix “There was a problem connecting to OneDrive” in Windows 10

You can either work your way down the guide or jump to the fix you believe has the best chance of helping you.

However, before you start troubleshooting the issue, you should first eliminate the possibility that malware is causing the problem. If other apps, and not just OneDrive, are also having issues, we recommend running a full system scan with Auslogics Anti-Malware.

After doing that, go ahead and try out these methods to solve the Windows 10 OneDrive error.

Disable your VPN or firewall

A firewall is an application that monitors inbound and outbound connections. It screens everything coming in or going out over the net so that your computer can be protected against malware and online attacks.

If your firewall starts indiscriminately blocking legitimate connections, it can lead to connectivity issues. When OneDrive gets blocked, it can cause the “There was a problem connecting to OneDrive” error to show up.

Your next steps depend on the type of firewall you’re using. If you’re using a standalone firewall, you can disable it temporarily and see if OneDrive starts working normally. You may refer to the manufacturer’s instructions if you’re unsure about how to turn your firewall off.

Some antivirus tools include an inbuilt firewall that restricts suspicious connections. If the function is embedded in the primary anti-malware feature, you may have to turn off the entire AV to also turn off its firewall component.

Finally, if you’re making do with the native Windows Defender Firewall tool in Windows 10, follow the steps below to temporarily turn it off.

Remember that switching off the firewall is only a short-time measure to allow troubleshooting. In all other instances, you should have at least one firewall active on your computer.

Here is what you should do:

1. Open the Control Panel. To access it, type “control” into the Search menu and hit the Enter key.
2. Select System & Security. To show this option, set the “View by” mode in the Control Panel to Category.
3. On the next screen, select Windows Defender Firewall. Depending on your edition of Windows, this option might be called Windows Firewall instead.
4. Click the “Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off” link on the left side of the next screen.
5. Click “Turn off Windows Defender Firewall (not recommended)” under Private Network Settings.
6. Click OK.

When you’ve disabled your firewall, try using OneDrive again and watch out for error messages. If you’re no longer getting interrupted by connectivity errors, you may want to switch to a firewall that doesn’t interfere with OneDrive connections.

Another tactic you can use is to whitelist OneDrive in your firewall. This way, OneDrive connections won’t be monitored, which will prevent possible restrictions.

In some instances, you might fix the problem by turning off your VPN. Some VPNs conflict with native Microsoft apps on PCs; so, it might be better to do without them. Be sure to research what VPN offers the best experience in terms of compatibility before you splash out the cash.

Use your computer without a proxy

Just like a VPN, your proxy settings can also interfere with your OneDrive connections.

Even though a proxy offers some important benefits, it might not be worth the hassle of always firefighting connection problems on your PC. As a matter of fact, a proxy that amplifies rather than mitigates connection issues is probably not worth using.

If you’ve manually set up a proxy service, turn it off in Settings and check what effect it has on OneDrive:

1. Open Settings and select Network & Internet.
2. Click Proxy in the left-hand pane.
3. Under Manual Proxy Setup, switch the “Use a proxy server” toggle to Off.

Are you able to sync your documents and photos to OneDrive now? You might want to discontinue using the proxy if this fixes your problem. Otherwise, consult your proxy service provider for a permanent fix or use another proxy service that doesn’t conflict with OneDrive.

Change the Internet Properties settings

Incorrect internet settings can also affect OneDrive. In particular, the Transport Layer Protocol (TLS) settings can be the difference between normal and impeded OneDrive connections.

To check if this is indeed the case, you can try enabling TLS. First, open the Control Panel by searching for it using the Search menu and clicking the app in the results.

Once in the Control Panel, make sure the viewing mode is set to Category and select Network and Internet. On the next screen, select Internet Options. This will open the Internet Properties window. You can jump to this point by typing “inetcpl.cpl” into the Run box and clicking OK.

In the Internet Properties window, switch to the Advanced tab to view various connection settings. Scroll down and check that the following options have ticks beside them:

1. Use TLS 1.0
2. Use TLS 1.1
3. Use TLS 1.2

Click Apply and then OK to save the changes. Next, restart OneDrive and check whether it can now back up your stuff without any problems.

Reset the network

The TLS and proxy settings are just two aspects of your PC’s network infrastructure. If the “There was a problem connecting to OneDrive” error persists despite your troubleshooting efforts, a wider connection issue might be the problem, with the OneDrive error being just a symptom.

Here is one thing about Windows 10: When something works, it usually works pretty well. When something doesn’t work, it’s usually a lot of bother isolating the precise cause. This applies in particular to network issues like this one. It can be so hard to pinpoint the exact origin of the problem.

That’s why resetting the network is a pretty good solution. By doing this, you restore all your connection settings to their default values. This way, even if you can’t find the origin of the OneDrive issue, you’re likely to solve it anyway, especially if it’s related to a network glitch or the wrong setting, or if some connection settings have been changed by malware.

There are several steps involved in the network resetting process. The first step is to open an elevated Command Prompt window. The fastest way is by pressing the Win Key + X keyboard combination and selecting Command Prompt (Admin). If that option isn’t available there, simply type “cmd” into the Start menu and click “Run as administrator” under the app in the results. Don’t forget to click Yes if or when prompted by User Account Control.

Next, run a command to reset TCP/IP on your computer. Running the command below rebuilds two registry keys associated with your PC’s TCP/IP, and this way, the internal protocol is restored to its default settings:

int ip reset c:resetlog.txt

Don’t forget to press Enter after typing or pasting the command.

After this, run the winsock reset command below to reset the network adapter:

netsh winsock reset

You can reboot the network now, or you can go the whole way and also reset your hosts file.

The hosts file contains frequently used IP addresses and host names. It stores them for the system to use in converting host names to IP addresses and vice versa.

If your PC is having connection issues, and not just with OneDrive, resetting the hosts file can help resolve this. This is especially useful if the problem is triggered by malware changing certain network settings.

To restore the hosts file back to its default state, first, open a Notepad document. Type “notepad” into the Search menu and click Notepad in the results.

Next, paste the text below into the empty Notepad document:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp. # # This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows. # # This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each # entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name. # The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one # space. # # Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual # lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol. # # For example: # # 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server # 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host # localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself. # 127.0.0.1 localhost # ::1 localhost

The text above is the contents of the default hosts file for Windows 10 and officially created by Microsoft.

Save the file. Click File in the top left corner and select “Save as”. In the File Name box, type “hosts” (without the quotes). Select Desktop as the save location and then click Save.

Next, navigate to “C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc” using File Explorer. Alternatively, open Run with the Win Key + R shortcut, type “WinDir%\System32\Drivers\Etc” and click OK to quickly jump to the location.

You’ll find the current hosts file there. Select the hosts file and either delete it or rename it to something else (such as “hosts.old”).

Switch to the desktop and copy the new hosts file you created. Paste it into the etc folder (i.e. C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc). You may be prompted to enter an administrator password to make changes to the folder. Click Continue.

Now reboot the machine and retry syncing your files to OneDrive.

Use another cloud service

Microsoft wants everyone to use its products. This is why the company installs many of them on Windows as default/native apps. OneDrive isn’t an exception. Although there are a large number of popular cloud storage services around, many people are naturally drawn to OneDrive because of the way it is integrated with the Windows platform.

However, nothing stops you from giving another cloud storage service a try, be it a popular choice provided by Google or Amazon or something niche. Either way, the important thing is to find one that syncs your files seamlessly and doesn’t give you any headaches when backing up your data.

Use a different user profile

“There was a problem connecting to OneDrive” has become a ubiquitous problem affecting many users. One discovered workaround is creating a new user profile and using it instead of the old one:

1. Right-click the Start menu and select Settings.
2. Select Accounts.
3. Choose “Family & other users” on the left-hand side.
4. On the “Your family” screen, select “Add someone else to this PC”.
5. Add a username under “Who is going to use this PC?” and then add a strong password and a password hint.
6. Click Next to finish the process.

Unlike some other Microsoft apps, like Microsoft Store, OneDrive allows you to use a non-Microsoft account if you want to be on a paid subscription. However, the new account needs administrator permissions. Follow the steps below to make it an admin account:

7. Repeat steps 1-3 and select the newly added account.
8. Click “Change account type” and select Administrator.

Now exit Settings and sign out of your current account. Log in with the new account and check whether OneDrive is working now.

Reset the OneDrive app

When a native Windows app, like Microsoft Store, Photos, Maps, or OneDrive, isn’t working, resetting the app may prove to be the best option. In the case of OneDrive, doing this can help resolve the “There was a problem connecting to OneDrive” error in Windows 10.

Here’s how to reset the OneDrive app:

1. Open Run with Win Key + R.
2. Paste “localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset” into the Run box and click OK. This will reset the app.
3. To restart the app, search for it using the Search menu and launch it. Another way is to run “localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe” in Run.

After the reset, OneDrive starts afresh, and this hopefully means the error won’t appear again. If OneDrive still isn’t functioning correctly, try the final fix below.

Reinstall OneDrive

Reinstalling OneDrive is the final fix for the “There was a problem connecting to OneDrive” error. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open the Control Panel and go to Programs & Features.
2. Under “Uninstall a program”, locate OneDrive.
3. Click OneDrive and select Uninstall. Follow the uninstallation wizard to remove the app.
4. Now open your browser and go to the official OneDrive page.
5. Install the app and launch it on your computer.

Sign in with your OneDrive account and try backing up or downloading your data. Hopefully, the connection error is gone.

We’re hopeful that the fixes in this guide have helped you to fix the “There was a problem connecting to OneDrive” error on Windows 10 and you have regained access to your OneDrive data. You can always use OneDrive on the web if the Windows integration isn’t working properly. This is a good workaround to solve the Windows 10 OneDrive error when logging in.

Additionally, don’t forget to update your network drivers since an outdated driver will contribute to connection issues. You can use Auslogics Driver Updater for your quick and automatic driver updates.