Your OneDrive folder can't be created in the location you selected

Question

Your OneDrive folder can't be created in the location you selected

Scott Neale 0

I've had 2 separate onedrive accounts on the same PC and same "D" drive for 12 years. One is my personal account. The other is my university account. Now suddenly my personal account does not work. I tried uninstalling and relinking. But every time I get "Your OneDrive folder can't be created in the location you selected"

Bulldog 5,520 Reputation points

2026-11-11T02:29:42.56+00:00

You can work with any number of OneDrives on the same PC as long as you understand that each OneDrive is part of its own Microsoft account. So having 10 OneDrives means you have 10 separate Microsoft accounts on your PC. If you try to have more than one OneDrive operating from the same Microsoft account, it's only a matter of time before trouble arrives.

2 answers

Your answer

Bulldog 5,520 Reputation points

2026-11-11T02:29:42.56+00:00

You can work with any number of OneDrives on the same PC as long as you understand that each OneDrive is part of its own Microsoft account. So having 10 OneDrives means you have 10 separate Microsoft accounts on your PC. If you try to have more than one OneDrive operating from the same Microsoft account, it's only a matter of time before trouble arrives.

Answer 1

Scott Neale 0

THe problem persists only with my personal account and not my university account.

Jeronimo Fuerte 48,705 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-10T04:09:25.3533333+00:00

Thank you for confirming that the issue affects only your personal OneDrive account. When you sign in with your personal account, does the error appear immediately, or only after you select the location for your OneDrive folder? Also, is the original personal OneDrive folder still present on D:, with your files inside it?

Could you please share a screenshot of the OneDrive setup window showing the selected folder location and the error, hiding your personal information? Also, did anything change shortly before this started, such as a Windows update, a change to your university account, or a modification to the drive?
Scott Neale 0 Reputation points

2026-11-10T04:35:50.2766667+00:00

It happens only when I select the location for your OneDrive folder. Some updates since I posted this: I had to shift gears in order to be able to press forward with a n impending deadline for my design business. So my short term solution was to install my Personal One drive to a separate internal drive 'M' I use for archiving until I can come back and sort out the "E" drive (apologies, I mislabeled the E drive "D" in my post). It installed just fine on the "M" drive. Before I moved it to 'M' I noticed that when I double clicked the "OneDrive" folder for my personal account, it launched a window for both the personal and university accounts. This happened a few weeks ago as well and in a panic I copied a few of my recent files that had not sync'd yet to my university drive. And even after I deleted them later, I did notice a "Onedrive" folder still in my university folder. I've since deleted everything, unlinked, uninstalled, cleared the profiles in the HKEY registry, reinstalled and the same issue occurs.

In the image below, the default location is the C drive, but I use that only to run software. I save working files on E. It's when I try to change it to E at setup that I get this error.
Jeronimo Fuerte 48,705 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-11T00:14:19.8133333+00:00

Since your personal OneDrive account successfully synchronizes on M:, but the setup rejects E:, we can reasonably rule out a general restriction on your personal Microsoft account.

This suggests that the problem could involve how OneDrive is recognizing or validating your E: drive, although we should verify that before drawing conclusions.

Could you please check the following?

Open PowerShell and run:

Get-Volume -DriveLetter E | Select-Object DriveLetter, FileSystem, DriveType, HealthStatus

Then run:

Get-Partition -DriveLetter E | Get-Disk | Select-Object FriendlyName, BusType, IsReadOnly

In File Explorer, create a new empty folder named E:\OneDriveTest, then create and delete a text file inside it. This will help confirm that Windows can write to that location.

Please share the results of both PowerShell commands and confirm whether the folder test succeeds.
Scott Neale 0 Reputation points

2026-11-11T03:09:24.2566667+00:00
Thank you for your helps so far

Powershell results:

DriveLetter FileSystem DriveType HealthStatus

E NTFS Fixed Warning

FriendlyName BusType IsReadOnly

ST3000DM007-1WY10G SATA False

Onedrive Test folder was successful.
Jeronimo Fuerte 48,705 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-12T01:01:24.9233333+00:00
The HealthStatus: Warning result deserves further investigation. Since you mentioned that this drive contains working files for your design business, please make sure your important files, particularly any that have not synchronized to OneDrive, are backed up to another drive before proceeding. I would also leave your working OneDrive configuration on M: unchanged for now.

Next, please open PowerShell as Administrator and run these two commands:

Get-PhysicalDisk | Select-Object FriendlyName, HealthStatus, OperationalStatus

Get-Partition -DriveLetter E | Get-Disk | Select-Object Number, FriendlyName, HealthStatus, OperationalStatus

These results will help us distinguish a warning affecting the E: volume from one reported by the underlying Seagate drive. Once your files are safely backed up, we can also check for file-system corruption using:

Repair-Volume -DriveLetter E -Scan

Answer 2

Keep the existing personal OneDrive folder unchanged and test the account with a new, empty folder on D: after confirming that Windows identifies the drive as an NTFS fixed disk.

1. Validate the D drive

Open File Explorer → This PC.
Right-click D: → Properties.
On General, confirm File system is NTFS.
Press Windows+R, enter diskmgmt.msc, and select OK.
Confirm D:
- Appears as a partition on a physical disk.
- Is Online and Healthy.
Create D:\OneDriveTest, create and delete a text file there, and confirm that succeeds.

OneDrive requires a suitable local drive; removable USB drives are unsupported, and Windows OneDrive locations should use NTFS.^1^ A closely matching case with several OneDrive accounts recommends checking NTFS, fixed-disk status, write access, and a fresh folder.^2^

If D: is FAT/FAT32, back up important data before changing its file system. Microsoft documents converting it from an elevated Command Prompt with:

convert D: /fs:ntfs

Do not format the drive; formatting would erase its contents.

2. Select a new, empty folder for the personal account

Since reinstalling and relinking to the old location did not work, do not reuse that folder for this test.

Create an empty folder such as D:\OneDrive Personal New.
If the personal account is currently linked, select: OneDrive cloud icon → Help & Settings → Settings → Account → Unlink this PC.
Start OneDrive and sign in with the personal Microsoft account.
At the folder-location screen, select Change Location.
Select D:\OneDrive Personal New and finish setup.

This follows the supported location-change sequence, while avoiding possible permissions or configuration left on the original folder.^3^

If synchronization starts: the old folder’s configuration or permissions are the likely problem. Allow the new folder to synchronize from the cloud, and copy across only files that were local-only.
If the same message appears: continue below.

3. Reset OneDrive configuration

Back up any important files that exist only locally first. Resetting does not delete data, but it disconnects all personal and work/school sync relationships and triggers a full resynchronization.^4^

Press Windows+R.
Run:

%localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset

If Windows cannot find it, try:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset

If necessary, try:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset

Open Start, search for OneDrive, and launch it.
Reconnect both accounts as needed, testing the personal account with the new empty D: folder.

4. Distinguish a D-drive problem from a broader block

Test the personal account temporarily with a new folder under its default C:\Users\<username> location.

If it works on C: but not D:, focus on D: being classified as removable, its file system, or folder permissions.
If it fails on both drives, the issue is likely not specific to D:. Check for device-management policy next.

Go to Settings → Accounts → Access work or school. If the PC is connected to or managed by the university, its Group Policy or Intune configuration can disable personal OneDrive synchronization only, while the university account continues working. The relevant policy is DisablePersonalSync under HKCU\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\OneDrive.^5^

If the device is university-managed or that policy is present, contact university IT and ask whether personal OneDrive synchronization is intentionally blocked. Otherwise, if the personal account also fails at the default C: location after reset, contact Microsoft Support for the personal account.

References