One Drive Back Up

That message usually means OneDrive detects another important Windows folder nested inside Documents, or a folder named like one of those protected folders.

Check Documents for folders such as:

• Desktop
• Pictures
• Music
• Videos
• Downloads
• Screenshots
• Camera Roll

If any of those exist inside Documents, OneDrive can block backup even if they were created manually.

Try this:

1. Open Documents in File Explorer.
2. Look through the subfolders for any folder with one of the names above.
3. If found, either:
   • move it outside Documents, or
   • rename it to something else, such as MyPictures instead of Pictures.
4. Open OneDrive > Help & Settings > Settings.
5. Go to Sync and backup.
6. Select Manage backup.
7. Turn on Documents backup again.

Also check whether Documents contains another important folder path indirectly. OneDrive does not support protecting a folder when it contains another important folder inside it.

If backup still fails, review for these other supported causes:

• a file or subfolder name is too long
• a file is larger than 250 GB
• a file name contains unsupported characters: \ : / * ? < > " |
• the folder contains a reparse point such as a junction or symlink

If the error shown is specifically 0x80070005, a Group Policy named Prohibit User from manually redirecting Profile Folders may be enabled. In that case, move any files that were shifted into similarly named OneDrive folders back to their original locations and have the policy changed.

To retry backup setup, the normal path is: OneDrive cloud icon > Help & Settings > Settings > Sync and backup > Manage backup.

References:

• Back up your folders with OneDrive | Microsoft Support
• Move files to a new Windows PC using OneDrive
• the documents folder contains other important folders and isn't supported for backup - Microsoft Q&A
• Error 0x80070005 when you install or access OneDrive