New Windows 10 update fail breaks some of its best features
OneDrive and Outlook don’t seem to work
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It seems yet anotherWindows 10update fail has been unleashed byMicrosoft, and this time it appears that some recently-released updates have ended up breaking a few essential apps.
Rather embarrassingly, the apps in question are both made by Microsoft. AsWindows Latest reports, people have been complaining that after installing theWindows 10 May 2020 Update(also known asWindows 10version 2004), they cannot access files synced toOneDrive– even if they can be seen in Windows 10.
OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud backup tool which allows you to save files on the internet, and access them from any Windows 10 device as if they were stored locally. By storing your important files in OneDrive, the idea is that they are backed up and safe – so any error that prevents you from accessing those files is pretty serious.
Some users are reporting that they are getting an error message that states “OneDrive cannot connect to Windows”.
Evenmoreembarrassingly for Microsoft, it seems this bug has been around for months in early versions of Windows 10 May 2020 Update, with Windows Insiders, who can try out versions of Windows 10 before other people in order to spot bugs like this, complaining that OneDrive no longer works.
It seems there is a way to fix this problem, by resetting OneDrive.
To do this, press the Windows key + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog window. Paste
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into the text box, then press ‘OK’. Now try opening OneDrive.
For people who are getting the ‘OneDrive cannot connect to Windows’ error, you’re going to need to go into the Windows Registry. Be warned – you need to be really careful with editing the registry, as editing the wrong thing can break Windows 10 even more.
Type ‘Reg’ into the search bar (next to the Start menu) and select ‘Registry Editor’ when it appears. In the left-hand menu, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CldFlt\Instances. You should see ‘DefaultInstance’ in the right-hand pane. Click it and change its value fromCldFlttoCldFltUpper.
Apparently, Microsoft is aware of this problem (it should be, if it has indeed been knocking around for a while), and is working on a fix. Hopefully that won’t take too long to arrive.
Outlook woes
It seems like Microsoft’s Outlook email application has also been broken by a recent Windows 10 update.
Microsofthas admitted thatpeople running Outlook version 2005 build 12827.20268 and who have installed the June 2020 patch could end up getting the error message “Something is wrong with one of your data files and Outlook needs to close. Outlook might be able to fix your file. Click OK to run the Inbox Repair Tool.”
Frustratingly, there doesn’t appear to be a fix just yet – though you could try uninstalling the update. However, Microsoft claims it is working on developing a fix ASAP and it will be made available via Windows Update soon.
So, it seems Microsoft is continuing to have problems with Windows 10 updates. We kind of hoped it would have sorted them by now.
Matt is TechRadar’s Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there’s no aspect of technology that Matt isn’t passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. He’s personally reviewed and used most of the laptops in our best laptops guide - and since joining TechRadar in 2014, he’s reviewed over 250 laptops and computing accessories personally.
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