Microsoft issues emergency patch after breaking OneDrive with Windows 10 update

Windows 10 users who installed Patch Tuesday updates this month have reported that OneDrive and OneDrive for Business is broken.

The problem relates to the KB5018410 update and others released after it. People affected by the issue report app crashes, being unable to sign out of OneDrive, problems with syncing, and various other symptoms. Microsoft acknowledged the problem fairly quickly and has now issued an emergency fix (the KB5020953 update).

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Describing the problems caused by the KB5018410 update, Microsoft says: "Microsoft OneDrive app might unexpectedly close. You might be unable to signout or unlink your OneDrive account and sites or folders from Microsoft Teams and SharePoint".

Expanding upon this in an entry on the Windows release health page, the company says:

After installing KB5018410 or later updates, OneDrive might unexpectedly close, and you might receive an error when attempting to do the following:

- Sign out or unlink your account in the Microsoft OneDrive sync app.

- Unlink sites or folders from syncing to your device from Microsoft SharePoint or Microsoft Teams sites.

- Uninstalling the OneDrive sync app might fail.

Note: These issues might affect both OneDrive and OneDrive for Business.

Now Microsoft has released the out-of-band KB5020953 update with the following description:

It addresses an issue that causes Microsoft OneDrive to stop working. This occurs after you unlink your device, stop syncing, or sign out of your account.

For now, the KB5020953 update is only available to download via the Microsoft Update Catalog.

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