One drive creating duplicate folders on random dates

Dear @Lolo64,

I’m truly sorry to hear about your issue with OneDrive. As a forum moderator, I genuinely wish I could directly access your account or delve into the backend systems to diagnose and fix this for you. However, our role here is limited to providing general guidance and solutions that can be applied by users.

From your description and my research, your issue, where OneDrive is automatically creating empty duplicate folders in File Explorer (often under This PC > OneDrive or in user folders like Documents or Pictures), appearing on random or inconsistent dates with no files inside, is a sync or configuration issue reported by many users, especially in business/shared setups. These aren't usually true duplicates of your actual content, but artifacts from sync conflicts, credential issues, Known Folder Move (KFM) misconfigurations, multiple devices syncing the same account, or OneDrive trying to "reconcile" folder structures during background operations.

Before deleting anything:

• Confirm the folder is empty and not needed: Right-click the duplicate folder > Properties > Check size (should be near 0 KB if empty). Open in File Explorer and ensure no subfolders/files. Sort by Date Created/Modified in the parent folder to spot patterns (e.g., creation dates matching sync times).
• Check OneDrive on the web first: Go to onedrive.com or office.com > OneDrive. If these duplicate folders don't exist there (or are empty), they're local File Explorer artifacts only, not in the cloud so deleting locally is safe.
• Backup if you’re concerned: Copy any suspect folders to a separate drive before mass-deleting.

After that, please follow these steps to see if they help:

1.Clear OneDrive Cached Credentials 

• Press Windows key, type Credentials, open Credential Manager.
• Go to Windows Credentials tab.
• Look for entries like "OneDrive Cached Credential" or anything with "OneDrive" > Remove them all.
• Restart your PC, then sign back into OneDrive. This will refresh the authentication process and help stop OneDrive from creating duplicate folders due to stale credentials.

2.Reset OneDrive

• Press Win + R, type: %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset
• Hit Enter. OneDrive will close and restart (may take 1-2 minutes).
• If it doesn't restart automatically, search for OneDrive in Start menu and launch it.
• This forces a full re-sync check, often eliminating phantom empty folders.
• For reference: Reset OneDrive - Microsoft Support

3.Pause/Resume Sync or Check for Conflicts

• Right-click OneDrive icon in taskbar (cloud) > Settings > Pause syncing (2/8/24 hours).
• Wait, then Resume.
• In Settings > Account tab > Choose folders ensure only needed folders are synced.
• Also check Sync and backup > Manage backup disable if backing up Desktop/Documents/Pictures (this can cause duplicates if folders were previously redirected).

4.Unlink and Re-link OneDrive 

• Right-click OneDrive icon > Settings > Account > Unlink this PC.
• Confirm (files stay in cloud; local copies remain but unsynced).
• Relaunch OneDrive, sign in again, and choose the same folder location when prompted.
• Select "Use this folder" to merge OneDrive will detect and avoid re-creating duplicates.
• Monitor for a day; this resolves most auto-creation problems in team/multi-device environments.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this. Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments so I can continue to support you. I'm looking forward to your reply.

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