How do I sign onto OneDrive after OneDrive has completely filled up my laptop hard drive

Question

How do I sign onto OneDrive after OneDrive has completely filled up my laptop hard drive

Jim McGrath 15

I use an HP laptop with windows 11

there is now zero space on the 1 TB hard drive because OneDrive has used up all available space

files on-demand has not worked

thank you

Sang Le 0 Reputation points

2026-03-10T09:19:20.6933333+00:00

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/onedrive-release-notes-845dcf18-f921-435e-bf28-4e24b95e5fc0#osversion=downloads

2 answers

Your answer

Sang Le 0 Reputation points

2026-03-10T09:19:20.6933333+00:00

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/onedrive-release-notes-845dcf18-f921-435e-bf28-4e24b95e5fc0#osversion=downloads

Answer 1

Thomas4-N 10,990 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello Jim McGrath, welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

I understand your situation. You're stuck in a loop—OneDrive needs space to work, but the space is taken by OneDrive files.

Here's how to break out of it. First, you need to free up enough space for OneDrive to function again:

Run Storage Sense: Settings > System > Storage > Storage Sense > Run now. Or use Disk Cleanup: Press Win+R, type cleanmgr, select your C: drive, check Temporary files, Downloads, Recycle Bin, and anything else you can clear.
If that doesn't free enough space, you'll need to move some non-OneDrive files to an external drive or USB temporarily—just to get breathing room.
If you're still stuck, the big option is to manually delete files from your %userprofile%\OneDrive folder. Your files are safe in the cloud, so this just removes the local copies.

Once you have at least 10-20GB free, reset OneDrive:

Press Win+R, type %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset, hit Enter.
Wait about a minute, then sign back into OneDrive.
Right after signing in, make sure Files On-Demand is enabled: right-click the OneDrive cloud icon in your system tray > Settings > Settings tab > check "Files On-Demand."
Right-click your OneDrive folders in File Explorer > Free up space. This converts everything to online-only so it doesn't fill your drive again.

Check that your files show the cloud icon afterward—that means Files On-Demand is working and they're not taking up local space. Let me know how it goes.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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Thomas4-N 10,990 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-03T13:23:31.71+00:00

Hello Jim McGrath,

Just checking in to see if the above information was helpful.

Have you had a chance to check the answer provided? Any update would be appreciated.
Jim McGrath 15 Reputation points

2026-03-03T16:48:22.21+00:00

Thank you very much for following up; I'm sorry that my subsequent response to your March 1 recommended solution did not show up. I tried that approach but found that the many files that I deleted in my laptop's hard drive OneDrive (via the %userprofile%\OneDrive folder) did not free up any space. Each of these files had zero or minimal actual disk space despite showing as significant file sizes on my OneDrive cloud account. My attempt to reset OneDrive therefore would not work.

Once again, I appreciate your help on this perplexing problem !!
Thomas4-N 10,990 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-04T14:45:39.88+00:00
Hello Jim McGrath, thanks for the update. Don't worry, please try this:

Clear OneDrive cache

Sign out of OneDrive and close it completely

Press Win+R, paste this and hit Enter: %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive

Look for a FileCache folder, or any folder with cache in the name

Open it and delete everything inside

Start OneDrive again and sign in

Full OneDrive reset

Ctrl+Shift+Esc > Task Manager > end all OneDrive tasks.

Win+R > paste %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset > Enter.

Wait 2-3 min.

Restart laptop > open OneDrive & sign in.

Let me know how this goes.
Jim McGrath 15 Reputation points

2026-03-05T05:19:24.8866667+00:00

Thanks for the new guidance. After entering %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive there was no FileCache folder nor any folders named Cache to be found; I then did a search in OneDrive for the word FileCache; nothing. I then searched in OneDrive for Cache, and received 7 folders that included the word Cache; I deleted all 7 of these folders. I then tried to start OneDrive but it would not work. I then uninstalled OneDrive, and then tried to reinstall OneDrive - no success.

Your help with this problem is much appreciated !
Thomas4-N 10,990 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-05T14:15:51.8233333+00:00

Hello,

Thanks for sticking with this. Let me give you a more direct solution that should finally break this cycle. Rest assured your files are completely safe in the cloud at OneDrive.com, so we can do a full reset without losing anything.

First thing is to delete that local OneDrive folder that's holding the broken files. Press Win+R, paste %userprofile%\OneDrive and hit Enter, then delete the entire folder. This should finally free up your disk space since those corrupted sparse files will be gone.

Next we need to clean up the OneDrive registry so the reinstall goes smoothly. Press Win+R, type regedit and hit Enter. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\OneDrive, right-click the OneDrive key and delete it.

Now you can reinstall OneDrive fresh. Once it's installed, sign back in with your account and your files will sync down from the cloud. I'd recommend keeping Files On-Demand enabled—you can check this by right-clicking the OneDrive cloud icon, going to Settings, and making sure "Files On-Demand" is checked. This way files stay in the cloud until you actually need them, so you won't run into this disk space problem again.

Let me know once you've deleted that OneDrive folder and freed up the disk space. That should break the deadlock.
Jim McGrath 15 Reputation points

2026-03-06T09:54:41.2233333+00:00

Thanks for the May 5 recommended solution. When I tried the %userprofile%\OneDrive, I received a message that "This file does not have an app associated with it for performing this action." This could be because I tried deleting everything to do with OneDrive the night before? So, I then performed the steps that you recommended for cleaning up the OneDrive registry and deleted everything I found there. But when I tried to reinstall OneDrive, I got "Error code 0x80070070" again because there was virtually no available space on my Laptop's C: drive. I then ran the Storage Sense and CleanMgr steps but could not free up any more space.

I hope that there is a way to get past this full hard drive problem?

Thanks for your continued efforts and patience relating to this problem.
Thomas4-N 10,990 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-07T11:25:08.9133333+00:00

Hello Jim McGrath,

Sorry that my previous steps aren't working and wasted your time going back and forth. Thank you for your patience, and don't worry - I'm always here to help.

I'll try a higher-level fix with the ultimate goal of freeing up the space. This looks like a deeper issue where OneDrive left behind corrupted data that normal cleanup tools can't remove, so we need to do a more thorough cleanup in Safe Mode.

Step 1: Boot into Safe Mode

Settings > System > Recovery > Advanced startup > Restart now > Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart > Press 4 for Safe Mode.

Step 2: Force-delete ALL OneDrive folders (Admin CMD)

Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run these commands:

rd /s /q "%userprofile%\OneDrive"

rd /s /q "%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\OneDrive"

rd /s /q "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft OneDrive"

rd /s /q "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft OneDrive"

rd /s /q "%temp%"

rd /s /q "C:\Windows\Temp"

Step 3: Run Disk Cleanup in Safe Mode (Admin)

While still in Safe Mode, press Win+R > type cleanmgr > select C: drive > click "Clean up system files"

Check these options: Windows Update Cleanup, Temporary files, Previous Windows installations, Delivery Optimization Files, System Restore and Shadow Copies.

Step 4: (Optional, if still not enough space) WinSxS cleanup

Run:

Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase

Finally, restart to normal mode and check if you have space now.
Thomas4-N 10,990 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-08T13:02:04.31+00:00

Hello Jim McGrath,

Just checking in to see if the above information was helpful.

Have you had a chance to check the answer provided? Any update would be appreciated.
Jim McGrath 15 Reputation points

2026-03-09T08:28:19.9633333+00:00

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

I got as far as the ADM CMD but couldn’t properly type in the 1st command; I got the response of “the file name, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect”; or I got “Parameter format not correct”

You can tell that I’m not used to entering command line prompts.

I will try again when it’s daylight here.

thanks very much for your perseverance !!
Jim McGrath 15 Reputation points

2026-03-10T06:17:42.0233333+00:00
Hi:

Similar to my efforts last night to follow the instructions you had sent me, on the second night;

I completed Step 1: Boot into Safe Mode

I tried to execute Step 2: Force-delete ALL OneDrive folders via the Admin CMD. Upon opening the Command Prompt as Administrator, I tried to run the 1st command rd /s /q "%userprofile%\OneDrive" and received the response "The system cannot find the file specified"

I then tried to run the following command rd/s/q"%userprofile%\OneDrive" and received the response that "Windows cannot find rd/s/q"%userprofile%\OneDrive"

So, I am no further ahead after 2 nights of effort and hope that you can help me move forward in solving this problem?

Thanks for your efforts and patience.
Thomas4-N 10,990 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-11T10:41:54.08+00:00

Hello,

Let me take a step back here. Since deleting those OneDrive files didn't free any space, the files were likely just placeholders with minimal local data.

Before we go any further, I need to see what's actually filling your drive. Please open Settings > System > Storage and share a screenshot of what you see there. It'll show a breakdown by category — that'll tell us what we're dealing with and what to target next.

If the Storage page is still too broad and does not make the cause clear, you can also use a disk usage tool such as TreeSize Free or WinDirStat to identify the exact folder consuming the space.
Jim McGrath 15 Reputation points

2026-03-12T06:57:16.81+00:00

Thanks for your suggested next steps.

I have attached a picture of the System - Storage display and a picture of the WinDirStat display.

Is this helpful?

Thanks again !
Thomas4-N 10,990 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-12T14:07:43.3766667+00:00

Hello Jim, thank you for the screenshots. It was very helpful.

What I can see in the WinDirStat report is the path C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\. Under that folder, there appear to be multiple large iPhone backups totaling hundreds of gigabytes — this looks to be what's consuming all of your space, not OneDrive.

May I ask if you've been using an iPhone and connecting it to this PC regularly? The reason I ask is that iTunes backs up automatically and silently each time and never cleans up old backups on its own — so they can accumulate significantly over time without you realizing it.

Please open iTunes (PC) > Edit > Preferences > Devices and check if you see a (long) list of saved backups with dates. If so, try deleting the older backups you no longer need and see how much space is recovered.

Once there's enough breathing room on the drive, we can look at getting OneDrive sorted out next.

If there's any problem, remember to give me the relevant screenshots. Let me know what you find.

Answer 2

Jim McGrath 15

OneDrive would still not work due to the continuing problem of insufficient disk space. Tried to “free up space” on all OneDrive files but no success. Tried to reinstall the Windows OneDrive app, but that failed also because of insufficient space.

More assistance on this very challenging problem would be appreciated.

Thanks

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How do I sign onto OneDrive after OneDrive has completely filled up my laptop hard drive

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