OneDrive for Business Known Folder Move troubleshooting for device refresh projects: creates duplicate folders

When you deploy a new device as part of a device refresh project and use Known Folder Move to redirect Desktop, Documents, and Pictures to OneDrive, you may see duplicate folders appear. Instead of the expected single set of redirected folders, your OneDrive shows folders like Desktop, Desktop – DeviceName, or Desktop (1). This duplication breaks the user experience and can cause confusion about which folder is the live sync target. This article explains why Known Folder Move creates duplicates during a device refresh, provides a step-by-step fix to remove the extra folders, and covers related failure patterns you should watch for.

Why Known Folder Move Creates Duplicate Folders During a Device Refresh

Known Folder Move is a feature in OneDrive that redirects the Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders from the local user profile to the user’s OneDrive. When you set up a new device, the user signs in to OneDrive and the sync engine checks whether these folders are already present in OneDrive. If the folders exist from the previous device, OneDrive should merge the new local folders into the existing cloud folders. However, during a device refresh, two conditions cause duplicates:

First, the new device often has a different computer name. OneDrive appends the computer name to a folder name when it detects a conflict between the local folder and the cloud folder. For example, if the local Desktop folder is empty and the cloud Desktop folder contains files, OneDrive renames the local folder to Desktop – NewDeviceName and creates a new sync relationship to the cloud Desktop folder. The old cloud Desktop folder remains, but the local folder is now a separate entity that syncs as a different folder.

Second, Known Folder Move is not automatically re-applied when the user signs in on a new device. The admin must re-enable the folder backup policy or the user must manually turn on Known Folder Move in OneDrive settings. If the user does not re-enable Known Folder Move, the local folders remain in the user profile and do not merge with the cloud folders. When Known Folder Move is later enabled, OneDrive sees two copies of the folder — one in the cloud and one in the local profile — and creates a duplicate with a suffix.

Steps to Remove Duplicate Folders and Reconnect Known Folder Move Correctly

Follow these steps in the exact order on the new device. Do not skip any step. If you skip the rename step, Known Folder Move will create another duplicate.

1. Sign in to OneDrive and let initial sync complete
   Open OneDrive on the new device. Enter the user’s work or school credentials. Let the initial sync finish. All existing cloud folders appear in File Explorer under the OneDrive node. Do not enable Known Folder Move yet.
2. Identify the duplicate folder in File Explorer
   Open File Explorer and navigate to the OneDrive folder. Look for folders named Desktop – DeviceName, Documents – DeviceName, or Pictures – DeviceName. Also check for folders with a number suffix like Desktop (1). These are the duplicates that need to be removed.
3. Open OneDrive settings
   Right-click the OneDrive cloud icon in the system tray and select Settings. Go to the Sync and backup tab and click Manage backup.
4. Stop folder backup for all affected folders
   In the Manage backup window, click Stop backup for Desktop, Documents, and Pictures. Confirm the stop action. This breaks the current Known Folder Move relationship and stops OneDrive from tracking those local folders.
5. Move the duplicate folder contents to the correct cloud folder
   In File Explorer, open the duplicate folder (for example, Desktop – DeviceName). Select all files and folders inside it. Press Ctrl+X to cut them. Navigate to the correct cloud folder (for example, Desktop inside the OneDrive folder) and press Ctrl+V to paste. If you see a file name conflict, choose to keep both versions or replace the older version.
6. Delete the empty duplicate folder
   After moving all content, right-click the duplicate folder and select Delete. Confirm the deletion. The folder moves to the OneDrive recycle bin. Empty the recycle bin to free the folder name.
7. Rename the local user profile folder to match the cloud folder
   Open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Users\%username%. Right-click the Desktop, Documents, or Pictures folder and select Properties. Go to the Location tab. The current path shows the local profile folder. Click Find Target and select the correct cloud folder path (for example, C:\Users\%username%\OneDrive – TenantName\Desktop). Click OK. Windows asks if you want to move all files from the old location to the new location. Click Yes. Repeat for each affected folder.
8. Re-enable Known Folder Move
   Right-click the OneDrive cloud icon and select Settings. Go to Sync and backup > Manage backup. Click Start backup for Desktop, Documents, and Pictures. OneDrive now detects that the local folders point to the cloud folders and starts the merge without creating duplicates.

If OneDrive Still Has Issues After the Main Fix

OneDrive shows a red X on shared Office files after the folder rename

When you rename the local folder location, Office file references break because the full path changed. Users see a red X on shared Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files in the Recent list. To fix this, open each Office app, go to File > Open > Recent, right-click the broken file, and select Remove from list. Then open the file from OneDrive directly. The file path updates the next time the user saves.

Known Folder Move policy in Microsoft 365 admin center does not apply to the new device

If your organization uses a Group Policy or Intune policy to enforce Known Folder Move, the policy may not trigger on the new device if the user already manually enabled backup. To fix this, in the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to OneDrive > Sync > Show the sync button on the OneDrive website and ensure the setting is not blocking Known Folder Move. Then on the device, run gpupdate /force from an elevated command prompt. If the policy still does not apply, remove the device from the domain and rejoin it to refresh the policy application.

OneDrive sync stops at “Processing changes” after the folder merge

After moving many files into the correct cloud folder, OneDrive may hang on “Processing changes.” This happens when the sync engine is recalculating file hashes for a large number of items. To resolve this, close OneDrive by right-clicking the cloud icon and selecting Quit. Open an elevated command prompt (Run as administrator) and run onedrive.exe /reset. Wait 30 seconds, then run onedrive.exe to restart the sync engine. The processing phase should complete within 15 minutes for up to 10,000 files.

Item	Manual Fix Steps	Policy-Based Fix Steps
Duplicate folder removal	Stop backup, move files, delete duplicate, rename location, re-enable backup	Remove device from domain, rejoin, run gpupdate, then apply manual fix
Sync stuck on processing changes	Quit OneDrive, run onedrive.exe /reset, restart app	Use Intune script to reset OneDrive on next device check-in
Broken Office file references	Remove from Recent list, reopen from OneDrive	Deploy Office File Open settings via Group Policy to disable Recent list caching

After completing these steps, the user sees only one set of Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders in OneDrive. All files from the previous device are present in the correct cloud folders. To prevent duplicates in future device refreshes, configure the Known Folder Move policy in the Microsoft 365 admin center to automatically redirect folders on new devices. As an advanced tip, use the OneDrive Migration tool in the SharePoint admin center to pre-provision the folder structure before the user signs in, which eliminates the conflict that causes the computer name suffix.