How to map OneDrive as a Drive Letter in Windows 10

[rhapdog]

This tutorial will show you how to map OneDrive as a Network Drive Folder on your Windows 10 PC, and assign it a drive letter as well. You'll be able to browse all your files on your OneDrive without the need for smartfiles or place holders, which are now gone in Windows 10.

Why would you want to do this?

If you want to be able to easily browse your files in explorer without having them on your local computer, then that is one reason. You can browse files that are "online only" with this method.

If you want to keep your files on OneDrive, but not on your local machine, but have apps or programs that need a local drive path to work with them, then this solution is for you.

How to accomplish it.
1. Using your preferred web browser, go to onedrive.com and log into your OneDrive account.
2. Open any folder on your OneDrive account.
3. Now, take a look at the address bar. The URL here is very important. It will be something like:

URL

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=1234567890ABCDEF%12345678&cid=1234567890ABCDEF&group=0

What you want is the "cid=1234567890ABCDEF" part of this. Copy just the numbers/letters after "cid=", which in this example would be "1234567890ABCDEF".
4. Open up Windows Explorer. Select "This PC" in the left pane. Now the ribbon under the "Computer" tab will have a selection for "Map Network Drive". Let's map a network drive. Select it.
5. In the "Map Network Drive" dialog box that pops up, select the drive letter you wish to use for OneDrive.
6. Now in the "Folder" text box, enter "https://d.docs.live.net/" followed by the CID number you retrieved in step 3. Example:

Folder

https://d.docs.live.net/1234567890ABCDEF

7. If you wish the drive to be available every time you log into Windows 10, select "Reconnect at sign-in".
8. Check "Connect using different credentials" so that you can confirm your OneDrive sign-in information. If your login name is prefilled and it starts with "Microsoft Account", make sure to remove that portion. Only your email for OneDrive login should be in that box.

It will take time to connect the first time, and you will eventually be prompted to enter your sign-in for OneDrive.
Once you've entered your credentials, it will take time for your computer to fully connect. It will connect faster the next time you sign into your computer, but it may slow down sign-in by just a bit. It took about 10 minutes before the files began to show on my PC, but my new drive letter is there available in Windows Explorer with all my OneDrive files and folders showing.

Any app or program that can read files on your local PC can now access your OneDrive files.

Now, for another power tip:

As an added tip, once you set everything up as explained above, you can rename this newly mapped network drive from "https://d.docs.live.net/123456blahblahblah(G" , to something more suitable... Like "Onedrive"!

Thanks, Ed, for that valuable finishing touch. Makes it a bit nicer to look at.

For those of you that are using the two-step verification process, Ed Boland linked an article for us that gives you the steps on how to accomplish that.
Robert McMurray - Using the WebDAV Redirector with OneDrive Part 2 - Two-Step Verification

And we've got another tip from David Chapman5. Apparently, Windows 10 automatically prefills your email address with "Microsoft Account" before it when trying to log into OneDrive while trying to map the drive. Just be sure to delete that text before continuing.

Thanks, David!

I have just waisted an hour wondering why I was getting the "Access Denied" message when trying to map a drive letter to my OneDrive account. The small login box prefilled my login name and prefixed it with "Microsoft Account". Delete those words from your login name and everyone is happy.

 

[RumoredNow]

Great Work.

I'm using it already. Very clear instruction set. Kudos.

 

[SteveL8]

Thanks for this work around. Was about to roll back to Windows 8 as being able to preview my whole One Drive was a huge feature for me. Lets hope Microsoft doesn't disable this too. And I hope they come up with a decent resolution for One Drive in the future as I'm liking Windows 10.

 

[rhapdog]

Lets hope Microsoft doesn't disable this too.

People who had been successful at setting up on the old workaround are still able to use the same settings, it's just a matter of HOW to get the CID number has changed. Microsoft has made it where you can no longer get it by "right clicking" and copying a link in OneDrive, but by accessing a folder, I discovered it now shows up in the URL anyway, so the steps are just different. It wouldn't have broken an existing setup, and Microsoft would likely have a lot of angry Enterprise customers on their hands if they changed the access method. I don't foresee this being disabled anytime soon.

 

[zocster]

Nice! Trying this asap


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ed Boland]

As an added tip, once you set everything up as explained above, you can rename this newly mapped network drive from "https://d.docs.live.net/123456blahblahblah(G" , to something more suitable... Like "Onedrive"!

 

[rhapdog]

As an added tip, once you set everything up as explained above, you can rename this newly mapped network drive from "https://d.docs.live.net/123456blahblahblah(G" , to something more suitable... Like "Onedrive"!

Great tip, Ed! I'll add it to the tutorial and give you credit.

 

[Ed Boland]

Thanks, Ed, for that valuable finishing touch. Makes it a bit nicer to look at.

You're welcome. For those wondering, it does indeed retain the new name after rebooting the PC.

I assigned my OneDrive the drive letter (O for Obvious reasons :smile:

 

[thomasOmorrell]

Thank you for fixing the one thing that I was really upset about in Windows 10.

 

[IdaSox]

I could kiss you right now. The thought of downloading all of that data on my awful internet was making me extremely angry at Microsoft.

 

[thomasOmorrell]

I'm getting access denied after I enter my login credentials. Could it be my two step verification causing it?

 

[rhapdog]

I'm getting access denied after I enter my login credentials. Could it be my two step verification causing it?

That is entirely possible. I don't have two-step verification turned on, so I can't say for sure.

It is entirely possible that this solution simply won't work with the two-step verification.

 

[Ed Boland]

I'm getting access denied after I enter my login credentials. Could it be my two step verification causing it?

That is entirely possible. I don't have two-step verification turned on, so I can't say for sure.

It is entirely possible that this solution simply won't work with the two-step verification.

Apparently, it is actually possible to set this up with the 2 step verification by generating an application password. Have a look at the process here:

Robert McMurray - Using the WebDAV Redirector with OneDrive Part 2 - Two-Step Verification

 

[rhapdog]

Excellent, Ed. Thanks for that. This is just getting better and better, thanks to input from people.

I'll add the link to Robert McMurray's article in the opening post.

 

[Madam ImAdam]

Thanks for this tutorial. I have successfully mapped my OneDrive CID= as a network drive and renamed it as OneDrive (O.

How to prevent the original OneDrive from continuing to take up 54.GB of space on my local drive?

 

[Madam ImAdam]

Was able to figure it out - I un-synched all files and folders in my OneDrive. Select Settings by right-clicking on the OneDrive icon in the notifications tray, then Choose folders. 55GB returned back to my C: drive!

 

[davo_svk]

But its too slow, i also have to type password always when I turn on PC. Also, it doesnt support Grove music.... RIP

 

[rhapdog]

Groove Music supports accessing music on OneDrive without the need of mapping OneDrive to a network drive. It can also support Groove music when you add the drive/folder location to places to search for music to Groove. That's 2 ways it supports Groove music.

How fast or slow it is depends on the speed of your internet connection. Can't help you there.

 

[albertico]

Wow--did not know this was possible! Thanks for the clearly-written post!! Forgive my ignorance further, but is this how OneDrive could then be used as a network destination for Windows Backup/File History?

 

[rhapdog]

I haven't tried it as a network destination for backup/file history. I don't see why it wouldn't work, though. Give it a shot and let us know!