How do I add OneDrive back into File Explorer on Windows?

Mac
1

OneDrive used to show up in my File Explorer sidebar, but it disappeared after a recent Windows update and I can’t figure out how to get it back. I’ve tried signing out and back into OneDrive and restarting my PC, but nothing changed. Can someone explain the steps to properly add or restore OneDrive in File Explorer so it shows like a regular folder again?

2

Putting OneDrive into File Explorer on Windows is nowhere near as complicated as some threads make it sound, but it is weirdly easy to miss a small step and then stare at an empty sidebar wondering what you broke.

Here is how I usually explain it when someone asks why OneDrive is not showing up in File Explorer.

Basic idea

On a normal Windows setup, you do not ‘add’ OneDrive to File Explorer manually. You:

  1. Sign in to the OneDrive app on your PC.
  2. Finish its quick setup.
  3. OneDrive then auto-injects itself into the left side of File Explorer with the little blue cloud icon.

If that does not happen, either OneDrive is not actually running, or the sync connection was never set up properly.

Step by step: Personal or Work/School OneDrive on Windows

  1. Launch OneDrive

    Use the Start Menu search and look for OneDrive.

    If you want the official instructions, Microsoft has this:
    Google Search

    If that search link annoys you, just type ‘Start OneDrive’ into Google or into the Start Menu and open the desktop app that has the cloud icon.

  2. Sign in with your Microsoft account

    After opening OneDrive, it should immediately ask for an email address. Use:

    • Your personal Microsoft account if it is for home use, or
    • Your work/school Microsoft 365 account if it is a business/edu setup.

    Then put in your password and go through any 2FA prompts if you have them.

  3. Pick where the OneDrive folder lives

    OneDrive will suggest a folder like:

    C:\Users\YourName\OneDrive

    You can accept that or click the option to change the location if you want it on a different drive or partition. This is the folder that will appear in File Explorer and will sync with the cloud.

  4. Finish the setup wizard

    You will get a couple of screens about:

    • Which folders to sync
    • Files On-Demand
    • Maybe some ‘here’s what you can do with OneDrive’ type pages

    Just click through and confirm your preferences.

  5. Check File Explorer

    Open File Explorer. On the left side, in the navigation pane, you should now see:

    • A section with a blue cloud icon and the name ‘OneDrive’, or
    • ‘OneDrive – [YourCompanyName]’ if it is a business account.

    That entry is the synced folder. Anything you drop in there will upload to your OneDrive account.

If OneDrive is missing in File Explorer

If you finished setup and still see nothing:

  • Make sure the OneDrive app is actually running. There should be a cloud icon in the system tray (bottom right, near the clock).
  • If it is not there:
    • Hit Start, type OneDrive, run it again.
  • If it is there but File Explorer does not show it:
    • Right click the cloud icon, go to Settings, and check that the account is set up and not paused or signed out.
    • Sometimes unlinking the PC and setting it up again fixes the sidebar entry.

For shared folders that someone else has given you access to, you often need to:

  1. Go to OneDrive.com in your browser.
  2. Open the ‘Shared’ section.
  3. Pick the folder you want and hit the Sync button.

That tells OneDrive to create a local shortcut and bring that shared stuff into your File Explorer view.

If you juggle several cloud services

At some point, using the built-in sync folders for every provider starts to feel like having five junk drawers.

If you want something closer to ‘one big pane where all clouds look like drives,’ tools like CloudMounter can help.

The way it works is more like mounting network drives:

  • You connect OneDrive (and possibly Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) inside the app.
  • It then exposes them in your file manager so they behave more like regular locations instead of only via one special sync folder.

On Windows, that can make File Explorer feel like the central hub for both local disks and cloud accounts, instead of having to dig around in separate vendor apps all the time. It is not mandatory for basic OneDrive use, but if you live in multiple clouds at once, it can save you from a lot of window juggling.

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3

Couple of things I’d check that @mikeappsreviewer didn’t really dig into, especially since this started after an update and you’ve already done the obvious sign‑out / reboot loop.

1. Make sure OneDrive isn’t disabled at startup

Sometimes a Windows update randomly flips this:

  1. Right‑click taskbar → Task Manager.
  2. Go to Startup apps.
  3. Find Microsoft OneDrive.
  4. If it says Disabled, set it to Enabled and reboot.

If OneDrive never starts, File Explorer often never re‑adds the sidebar entry.

2. Check File Explorer’s navigation pane options

It’s possible OneDrive is there but the whole tree view or “Show all folders” is messed up.

  1. Open File Explorer.
  2. At the top: View → Show → make sure Navigation pane is checked.
  3. In the navigation pane, right‑click the empty area → if you see Expand to open folder etc, make sure nothing weird is unchecked.
  4. Close and reopen Explorer.

Not gonna lie, this one feels dumb, but I’ve seen people spend an hour on “missing OneDrive” when the nav pane itself was basically off.

3. Repair or reset the OneDrive app

If the update borked the app rather than your account:

  1. Settings → Apps → Installed apps.
  2. Find Microsoft OneDrive.
  3. Click Advanced options (or the three dots → Advanced options).
  4. Hit Repair first. Test.
  5. If still broken, hit Reset.
  6. Launch OneDrive again, sign in, walk through setup.

This keeps you from having to dig in the registry right away.

4. Check for “OneDrive (Old)” leftovers under your user folder

Windows sometimes leaves a dead OneDrive folder that confuses the app:

  1. Open C:\Users\<yourname>\
  2. Look for:
    • OneDrive
    • OneDrive - <OrgName>
    • OneDriveTemp or anything similar

If there’s a broken old folder, don’t just randomly delete it while OneDrive is running.
Instead:

  • Exit OneDrive from the tray if it’s running.
  • Move the old folder to something like OneDrive_backup.
  • Start OneDrive again and pick the default path when it asks.

5. Group Policy / Registry hiding OneDrive

A Windows update can re‑apply old policies, especially if this is a work laptop.

  1. Press Win + R, type:
    gpedit.msc
    (If it says not found, skip this section.)

Then go to:
Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → OneDrive

Check these:

  • Prevent the usage of OneDrive for file storage
    • Should be Not Configured or Disabled.
    • If it is Enabled, set to Not Configured and apply.

If you don’t have Group Policy Editor, you can check registry directly:

  1. Win + R → type regedit
  2. Go to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\OneDrive

Look for DisableFileSyncNGSC.

  • If it exists and is set to 1, change it to 0 or just delete the value.
    Restart the PC.

This part is where I slightly disagree with the whole “it’s simple, just sign in” angle. When updates and policies get involved, it stops being simple real fast.

6. Reinstall OneDrive completely

If nothing else fixes the missing sidebar:

  1. In Apps → Installed apps, uninstall Microsoft OneDrive.
  2. Download the latest OneDrive installer from Microsoft’s site.
  3. Install, then run it and sign in again.

After install, open File Explorer and give it 20–30 seconds for the OneDrive entry to appear. Sometimes it lags.

7. If you use multiple cloud services

If part of your frustration here is juggling OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc., then fixing the nav bar just gets you back to having three or four different “special” folders.

In that case, a tool like CloudMounter can be handy. It mounts cloud storage as drives in File Explorer so they all behave more like normal locations instead of each one hijacking the sidebar in its own weird way. Not required to solve your current OneDrive issue, but it does make things less annoying if you’re living in multiple clouds.

If you want to narrow it down fast, I’d try in this order:

  1. Check Task Manager startup.
  2. Repair / reset OneDrive.
  3. Check Group Policy / registry.
  4. Reinstall OneDrive.

One of those usually makes the blue cloud pop back into the sidebar, unless corporate IT has locked it down on purpose.

4

Couple of extra angles you can try that @mikeappsreviewer and @stellacadente didn’t really cover, especially since this started right after an update.

1. Make sure OneDrive is actually visible in Explorer’s “Home” layout

On newer Windows 11 builds, Microsoft keeps shuffling where stuff appears in File Explorer.

  1. Open File Explorer.
  2. Go to View → Show → make sure Navigation pane is checked (yeah, obvious, but still).
  3. Then click the Home icon in the left pane.
  4. Look for OneDrive under Quick access and under This PC.

Sometimes it’s not actually gone, it just got moved under another section and your sidebar is collapsed, so it looks like it disappeared.

2. Re-register OneDrive shell integration (no, this isn’t as scary as it sounds)

If the update broke the shell extension that makes Explorer show OneDrive, the account can be fine but the icon never appears.

  1. Press Win + R, type cmd, then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run as admin.

  2. Run this:

    taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe
%localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\OneDrive.exe /reset

  3. Wait 30–60 sec. If OneDrive does not relaunch, start it manually from Start: search OneDrive.

This is different from what the others said: it actually resets the shell integration bits, which is often what breaks after big updates. You won’t lose your files; it just reconnects.

3. Check that OneDrive folder is still mapped correctly

Sometimes after an update, Explorer loses the “special folder” status.

  1. Go to C:\Users\<YourUserName>\ and see if there is a OneDrive or OneDrive - YourOrg folder.
  2. If it opens fine and shows your stuff, then OneDrive is working and only the nav entry is messed up.
  3. Right click that OneDrive folder → Pin to Quick access.

That at least gets it back into the sidebar, even if the special blue-cloud section is being stubborn.

4. Make sure Cloud Storage isn’t being hidden by Explorer cleanup

Windows sometimes auto-hides what it thinks are “unused” locations.

  1. In File Explorer, right-click on Quick access.
  2. Click Options.
  3. Under Privacy, uncheck both options, click Clear, then re-check them and apply.

Then close and re-open Explorer. This refreshes some of the automatic pinning behavior. It’s not magic, but I’ve seen it make OneDrive and other cloud providers pop back up.

5. If you use multiple clouds, simplify the mess

You didn’t say if you also use Google Drive / Dropbox / whatever, but if your sidebar is a patchwork of half-working cloud icons, that’s partly a design problem, not just a OneDrive bug.

In that case something like CloudMounter can actually be less annoying: it mounts OneDrive (and other services) as regular drives in File Explorer instead of each one fighting for a special sidebar slot. So instead of “Where is my blue cloud today,” you just get another drive letter that always shows up. It won’t fix Microsoft’s update shenanigans, but it does sidestep a lot of the “my sync folder icon vanished again” drama.

If I were in your exact spot, I’d:

  1. Run the /reset command.
  2. Check the actual folder under C:\Users\….
  3. Pin that folder to Quick access if the icon still refuses to return.

That usually gets you functional again, even if Microsoft keeps playing musical chairs with the UI.

5

Since the usual sign‑in, reset, and tray‑icon checks are already covered by @stellacadente, @vrijheidsvogel and @mikeappsreviewer, here are a few extra angles that specifically bite after updates.

1. Check if OneDrive was disabled by Group Policy (common after corporate / education updates)

If your PC is joined to a domain or uses work M365:

  1. Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, Enter.
  2. Go to:
    Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → OneDrive
  3. Look for Prevent the usage of OneDrive for file storage.
    • If it is Enabled, that will completely remove OneDrive from File Explorer.
    • Set it to Not configured or Disabled and reboot.

If you do not have gpedit.msc, skip this; it just means you are on Home edition or policy is pushed remotely by IT.

2. Confirm OneDrive is not removed from startup

Major feature updates sometimes turn off startup entries.

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
  2. Go to Startup apps tab.
  3. Find Microsoft OneDrive.
    • If it shows Disabled, right click → Enable.
  4. Reboot and check File Explorer again.

If OneDrive never starts, the sidebar icon will never appear, even if everything else is correct.

3. Repair or reinstall OneDrive without nuking your files

If the update partially broke the app:

  1. Win + I → Apps → Installed apps.
  2. Search for Microsoft OneDrive.
  3. Click Advanced options.
  4. Try Repair first. If that does nothing, use Reset.
  5. If OneDrive is missing in that list entirely, download the OneDrive installer from Microsoft and reinstall.

Your cloud files stay safe in the account; worst case you resync the local copy.

4. Turn off “Files On‑Demand” once to force a clean remap

Sometimes Explorer only half‑recognizes the shell folder.

  1. Click the OneDrive cloud in the system tray.
  2. Open Settings.
  3. Under Sync and backup (or similar wording, depends on build), toggle Files On‑Demand off.
    • Wait for Explorer to refresh.
    • Then toggle it back on if you want the space saving.

I have seen this poke Windows into re‑adding the special OneDrive section in the navigation pane.

5. If all else fails, use a “good enough” workaround

If you need it back now and do not want more surgery:

  1. Open C:\Users\<YourUser>\ and locate the OneDrive or OneDrive – folder.
  2. Right click it → Pin to Quick access.

You do not get the special blue heading, but you do get a reliable sidebar entry that survives updates better than the “magic” one.

6. About using CloudMounter as an alternative

Since you mentioned multiple attempts and possible frustration after the update, this is where CloudMounter can be useful, especially if you juggle OneDrive plus other cloud providers.

Pros of CloudMounter

  • Lets you mount OneDrive and other clouds as regular drives in File Explorer.
  • Reduces dependency on OneDrive’s fragile shell integration.
  • Cleaner layout if you use several services at once.

Cons of CloudMounter

  • Extra software layer, so one more thing to install and maintain.
  • Not as tightly integrated with Windows features like Known Folder Move (Desktop/Documents auto‑redirect).
  • Requires some initial setup, unlike the built‑in client.

So for a pure “fix Microsoft’s UI after an update” scenario, I would still first:

  1. Check Group Policy.
  2. Ensure OneDrive is enabled at startup.
  3. Repair/reset the app.
  4. Temporarily toggle off Files On‑Demand.

Then, if you also have Dropbox, Google Drive, etc., bringing in CloudMounter on top can make the long‑term experience less fragile than relying only on the stock OneDrive sidebar hook that keeps changing every update.