Guide: How to Restore OneDrive Icon on Windows 10 Taskbar
The OneDrive icon in the Windows 10 system tray isn’t just another pointless icon. It provides all kinds of visual cues that can help you determine at a glance what’s going on. Whether it’s actively syncing files, an interrupted sync session, or a call to attention, the OneDrive icon serves an essential purpose. But what if it gets lost? That would be pretty bad. Aside from losing crucial OneDrive statuses and the ability to manage the cloud storage service, you’ll be left in the dark as to whether OneDrive is even functioning normally. There are a few possible reasons why the OneDrive icon may be missing, and the following troubleshooting tips should help you get it back right away.
Make the OneDrive icon visible
Windows 10 often tends to hide various icons just because there are too many in the system tray. To check if this is also the case with the OneDrive icon, simply click the arrow-shaped icon on the left side of the notification area and you should be able to see all the hidden icons in a separate panel.
If the OneDrive icon is available between them, just drag it to the notification area and you are good to go.
Enable icon in system tray
It’s possible that the OneDrive icon is turned off so it doesn’t show up as a system tray icon in the first place. To check if that’s the case, take a look at the Windows 10 settings panel. Step 1: Right-click an empty area on the taskbar and then click Taskbar Settings in the context menu.
Step 2: Scroll down to the Notification area section, then click Select which icons appear on the taskbar.
Step 3: If you see the switch next to Microsoft OneDrive turned off, just turn it back on.
The OneDrive icon should now be immediately visible in the system tray. If not, check one of the hidden icons and just drag it to the system tray.
Set up OneDrive again
If the OneDrive icon isn’t hidden then the problem is most likely caused by a broken OneDrive cache. Hence, you need to do a OneDrive reset and see if that fixes the problem. Note: Locally stored files are not affected by the OneDrive reset, nor do you need to download files again afterwards. To do that, press Windows + R to open the Run box, copy and paste the following path into the Open field, then click OK: % localappdata% MicrosoftOneDriveonedrive.exe / reset
If the OneDrive icon doesn’t appear after about two minutes, enter the path below in the Run box and click OK: % localappdata% MicrosoftOneDriveonedrive.exe
The reset should clear the OneDrive cache and fix any issues that prevented it from working normally. You will likely see the OneDrive icon in the system tray after that.
Change the system registry
Did OneDrive reset not work? Then it’s time to dive into the Windows 10 system registry. But why? Third-party applications – especially anti-tracking programs – can make various changes to the operating system and inadvertently disable OneDrive. But don’t worry – you don’t have to do anything complicated. Step 1: Open the Run box. Then type regedit in the search field and click OK.
Step 2: Copy and paste the following path into the Registry Editor address bar and press Enter. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsOneDrive
Step 3: Right-click the registry key labeled DisableFileSyncNGSC and then select Modify. Note: If you do not see the DisableFileSyncNGSC registry key, close the Registry Editor and continue with the next section.
Step 4: Type ‘0’ in the Value data field and click OK.
Step 5: Exit Registry Editor and restart your PC.
OneDrive should probably show up up now in the system tray once Windows 10 has restarted.
Check the policy setting
If you cannot find the registry key described in the previous section, you should check the Windows 10 Group Policy Editor to find out and fix any changes caused by third-party programs on OneDrive. Step 1: Open the Run box, type gpedit.msc in the search box and click OK.
Step 2: In the Computer Configuration section of the Group Policy Editor window, expand the Administrative Templates folder, click Windows Components, and then double-click OneDrive.
Step 3: Right-click the policy setting labeled Prevent using OneDrive for file storage, then click Edit.
Step 4: Make sure the policy setting is set to Not Configured or Disabled, then click Apply and OK.
Restart your PC. If an incorrectly changed policy setting was causing the problems in the first place, OneDrive should load up normally.
Set up OneDrive from Scratch
If you haven’t found any inappropriate changes to the Registry Editor or the Group Policy Editor, or if re-tweaking them yourself didn’t work, then it’s time to reinstall the application from scratch. That should be another slate for OneDrive to get started with, as well as fix any stubborn issues that prevent it from functioning normally. But since OneDrive is an integrated feature on Windows 10, the process is very different from what you would normally expect. Note: Deleting OneDrive does not delete any locally stored files. After reinstallation, they will also not be downloaded again, provided you specify the same folder. Step 1: Open the Run box and type cmdand then click OK to start the command prompt console.
Step 2: Depending on your version of Windows 10 (32-bit or 64-bit), enter the appropriate command as listed below, then press Enter. Tip To determine which version of Windows 10 you have, type “Windows version” in the Start menu and select “See if you have a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows” from the search results. Windows 10 32-bit: Delete% SystemRoot% System32OneDriveSetup.exe / Windows 10 64-bit: Delete% SystemRoot% SysWOW64OneDriveSetup.exe /
The command specifies Windows 10 to remove OneDrive, but you don’t see any visual confirmation. Hence, it is best to wait a few minutes before moving on to the next step. Step 3: Enter one of the commands below again, depending on the Windows 10 version, then press Enter. Windows 10 32-bit: % SystemRoot% System32OneDriveSetup.exe / install Windows 10 64-bit: % SystemRoot% SysWOW64OneDriveSetup.exe / install
That prompts the operating system to reinstall OneDrive immediately. Step 4: After you reinstall OneDrive, you will see a gray OneDrive icon on the taskbar. Click the Sign in button, then enter your OneDrive credentials to sync back to the cloud.
Also, make sure to specify the same OneDrive location you used before to make sure you don’t have to download all your files again.
Welcome back, OneDrive
Hopefully, you should now have that small but useful OneDrive icon in your system tray. You would be surprised how common this problem is up because the icon is not visible. If not, the other troubleshooting steps above can help you get the icon back. So, do you have any other suggestions about it how to get the OneDrive icon back? Share in comments.
How to Restore OneDrive Icon on Windows 10 Taskbar: benefits
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