icloud drive does not sync from my PC

iCloud Drive is simply not syncing with my PC.


When I open iCloud Drive in Windows, and then open it at icloud.com (OR on e.g. my iPhone) there are SEVERAL folders and files which I created in Windows but which simply don't exist at icloud.com (OR on e.g. my iPhone).

There are SOME files which I created MONTHS ago, which simply are not there.


When I check out iCloud for Windows, it DOES NOT say that there are currently any files being uploaded.


It says "Updated at 4/27/16, 12:15pm (i.e. THREE days ago).


Is it beyond the wit of Apple to simply have a "refresh from PC" option within the iCloud for Windows program?


Hopeless.

iPhone 6, iOS 9.3.1, iCloud for Windows

Posted on Apr 30, 2016 2:52 AM

Reply
21 replies

Jul 13, 2017 1:30 AM in response to Why do computers all suck

All,

as mentioned by "Why do computers all suck" the solution that worked for me is turning the sync preferences to daily in the software update app on win10 that is automatically installed with icloud on win10. My issue was that though all icloud files transferred fine, any changes made on the win10 side did never sync to icloud.


Now any changes made on either side - macOS or win10 - sync correctly though speed depends on network traffic apparently and other things you are up/downloading at that moment.


reg,

wolf

Jul 7, 2017 7:34 AM in response to jon_leigh

We ran into this issue with a user who had already established GB's worth of data in iCloud drive. After setting him up on a new Windows 10 laptop he'd installed and began syncing his iCloud account. His photos came down just fine but the data in his iCloud drive never populated for him. I tried various tricks (deselecting iCloud drive and turning it back on, changing the Auto Software update to daily) but ultimately ended up in the task manager looking at the iCloud drive process using 10% of the CPU and a consistent 2 Mbps of the disk. It turns out there's some sort of database file (ckcachedatabase.db) that was being built at an incredibly slow pace. I told him to keep an eye on that folder and eventually once the file stopped growing his data began to come down into his iCloud drive folder.


The ckcachedatabase.db file was located in C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Local\Apple Inc\CloudKit\iCloudDrive.


I hope this helps anybody else struggling with the lack of a sufficient UI with the iCloud software.

Jul 3, 2017 5:29 PM in response to stephenshh

So I turned off two-factor authentication (appleid.apple.com) altogether, but with no success.


As of June 15th, if you wish to use a secure Apple service such as iCloud Mail or contacts/calendars, with a 3rd party app like Outlook or Thunderbird, you MUST use an app specific password.


Using app-specific passwords - Apple Support


In order to generate an app specific password you MUST have either 2 Step Verification or 2 Factor Authentication enabled for your Apple ID.


Two-factor authentication for Apple ID - Apple Support

Two-step verification for Apple ID - Apple Support

Jul 3, 2017 5:31 PM in response to [EMBEE]

Assuming this worked for you until about 3 weeks ago, as the OP is over a year old..


As of June 15th, if you wish to use a secure Apple service such as iCloud Mail or contacts/calendars, with a 3rd party app like Outlook or Thunderbird, you MUST use an app specific password.


Using app-specific passwords - Apple Support


In order to generate an app specific password you MUST have either 2 Step Verification or 2 Factor Authentication enabled for your Apple ID.


Two-factor authentication for Apple ID - Apple Support

Two-step verification for Apple ID - Apple Support

Jun 15, 2017 3:56 AM in response to jon_leigh

After twenty years of nothing but Apple hardware, I switched to Windows 10...and I cannot access any of the files on iCloud Drive either. One thought is the dreaded two-step verification. Often with other older devices, to the Apple ID password, you must tack on the six-digit verification code sent to other Apple devices connected to the same Apple ID. Unfortunately none of these efforts worked either. So I turned off two-factor authentication (appleid.apple.com) altogether, but with no success. I've even tried to sign out and back in to iCloud services multiple times on my Windows system. No luck with that approach either. As mentioned above, I've tried changing the Apple Software Update setting to "daily," too...with no luck. I wanted to keep one foot with Apple still -- at least my iOS devices. However, without access to iCloud drive on my non-Apple device, it seems I will be forced to simply switch everything to MS. Thanks Apple.

Aug 7, 2017 5:27 AM in response to SeanITD

Thanks for taking the time to share, i encountered the same issue.


I agree that the Windows icloud app could use the status "building database" or at least something better than "Updated x minutes a go" which suggests it's not doing anything at the moment. (Also a "Update Now" button would be nice, but that's another discussion)

Aug 26, 2017 2:29 AM in response to SeanITD

thanks Sean, i encountered this issue as well with a user who had roughly 50GB of data in iCloud Drive. it was pretty frustrating to reinstall, try various different methods of troubleshooting worth hours on end only to find out its not an user-end issue and there isn't much else we can do.


Apple should definitely look into this if its causing the de-sync issues

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icloud drive does not sync from my PC

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