I rearranged some directories on my Windows PC last night, and re-created some of my sync connections.
Now my system is littered with virtual synced folders (it’s size is 0 bytes) where real folders with contents used to be, and they’re all locked with the following error:
F:\Files\Job Related\#APPLICATIONS is not accessible.
The cloud provider is not running.
Does anyone know a way to fix this? For some I found the real folders with files in my Nextcloud. But I can’t resync these folders with my PC because the PC directory is locked with the above error.
How do I get rid of the virtual folder on my PC? I can’t delete it, and even using a PowerShell command to delete it returns the above error.
I tried uninstalling Nextcloud on my PC and rebooting, but that didn’t fix the issue.
Even with the Nextcloud re-installed, I still can’t access it.
I hate this virtual file BS.
I’m running Nexcloud Desktop client 4.0.1 on Windows 11 Pro, v23H2 (22631.5624).
Though I won’t say I resolved the issue, for the future if anyone comes across a similar situation here’s how I handled it:
Back up your most important accessible data on my PC
Delete all your folder sync connections from the Nextcloud Desktop app
Rebooted the PC into Windows Safe Mode
Move the directories that contained “The cloud provider is not running” locked subdirectories to a new temporary folder elsewhere - where they won’t be included in any syncs (don’t delete them until you’re sure everything is OK).
Reboot back into normal Windows.
Re-create folder sync connections WITH VIRTUAL FILE SUPPORT DISABLED, and let all the files download off the Nextcloud server.
Verify everything is working correctly.
Now you can go back into safe mode and delete those “The cloud provider is not running” locked subdirectories you moved in step 4.
I’d still like to know if there’s a better way to deal with this, and how it happened. There were literally dozens of files and directories that got locked into this virtual mode, seemingly randomly spread across all my synced folders.
Interestingly, when I went into Safe Mode, I could access all the files that actually reside on my PC that were locked this way in Normal Windows. But even after moving the files, upon returning to Normal Windows they’re still showing the sync icon, 0 bytes in properties, and still producing the “The cloud provider is not running” error when I try to access them.
Verify everything is working correctly.