Google Drive is one of the most popular cloud storage services. The best feature of Google Drive is the ability to sync files in real time. Real-time sync ensures that any changes you make in Google Drive are immediately reflected on all your other devices.
However, if the Drive’s sync functionality breaks for any reason, you may lose some or all of your recently uploaded files. While there are many different causes of sync problems, a slow Internet connection can be one of them.
If you’re having trouble getting Google Drive to sync your files on Windows, keep reading for some recommended solutions.
1. Restart your computer
Restarting the computer is an ideal and recommended way to solve almost all Windows related errors.
If a Windows program crashes or your computer screen freezes for any reason, you can fix such problems by restarting your computer. Plus, you can fix syncing problems with cloud storage solutions like Google Drive, OneDrive, or MEGA with just a quick restart.
To restart your computer, click the Windows icon on the taskbar and then the Power button. Finally, click Restart to restart your computer. Once your computer boots up properly, try downloading or uploading a file through Google Drive for Desktop.
2. Disconnect and reconnect your Google Account
If your Google account is not properly connected during the initial Drive setup, it starts throwing syncing errors. Therefore, if you are unable to modify a file in Drive, you should try reconnecting your Google Account. Note that before you can reconnect your account, you must first disconnect it from Google Drive preferences.
Note that, when signing in with your Google Account, it will ask for some permissions—so make sure you tick all the checkboxes. Hope this fixes the syncing issues on your computer.
Once you login again, it will take some time to fetch all your files from cloud depending on the files you have stored in Google Drive.
3. Clear Temporary Files
While reconnecting your Google Account should usually work to resolve sync issues, it sometimes won’t. So, another way to fix syncing errors is to delete Windows temporary files.
The Windows operating system generates temporary files to ensure smooth operation of all programs running on your computer. However, if such files get corrupted for any reason, Windows programs start behaving abnormally and stop working properly.
If you often run into problems with Windows programs, you should know how to delete temporary files in Windows. By deleting temporary files, you force all Windows programs to recreate them on startup. It removes all corrupted files and fixes some common sync errors.
4. Check Internet Connection
Undoubtedly, a faulty internet connection can cause huge problems if not rectified in time. If everything is fine but the internet connection is weak, there is no way you can get sync to work flawlessly.
We have a dedicated guide with common fixes for no internet access errors. Also, even if your internet connection is fast and you are getting good speed, purge the DNS cache once in a while.
Clearing or deleting the DNS cache helps to resolve Internet related issues in Windows. Open a command prompt and type ipconfig /hdfludns to clear the DNS cache. Finally, press the Enter key on your keyboard.
If your problem is still not resolved, then continue reading as you may need to move on to some advanced troubleshooting methods.
5. Check the permissions required to sync files
Google Drive not only allows you to download and upload your files to the cloud, but it also allows you to access the files of others if they choose to share them with you. However, the sender must grant you the necessary permissions before sharing files through Drive.
Therefore, if you are trying to sync shared files, it is likely that you do not have the appropriate permissions. In that case, you need to click on Request Access or ask for approval from the actual owner of the shared file.
In case, the files are owned by you, it is always a good idea to change the Google Drive Streaming folder for troubleshooting. To do this, open Google Drive preferences and select a folder from the list of options under the Google Drive Streaming Location heading.
6. Restore Google Drive
If you’re still having trouble syncing, you can try reinstalling Google Drive.