Visual Studio will not update

This was trying to update it. Same issue.

i notice this now on my other computer as well.

Could it have something to do with OneDrive? The settings and all locations I use are one drive locations. For example my settings location. It’s my documents on one drive.

Thanks for reaching out. Your suspicion that OneDrive is the root cause is highly likely correct, especially since the issue is recurring on another computer sharing the same OneDrive settings and locations, specifically the Documents folder

Solution: Resolving Visual Studio Conflicts with One Drive:

The conflict almost always stems from the “Files-On -Demand” feature in One Drive, which is used when local Windows folder like Documents are set to automatically sync (Known Folder Move). Visual Studio and its installer/ Updater often fail when they attempt to access files that are marked as “cloud-only” or are currently being synced

here is the targeted solution focusing on the OneDrive document folder conflict:

Primary solution: And your local file presence and pause sync

this is the fastest  and most effective way to unlock the current installation/update.

1.      Force documents to be local:

a.      open File Explorer and navigate to your OneDrive folder

b.     right click on the documents folder(or the parent folder containing their Visual Studio project/settings).

c.      Select” always keep on this device”.

This overrides “file on demand” for the entire folder , ensuring all files Visual Studio needs are physically present on the hard drive, preventing sync related access errors .

2.      Pause OneDrive Sync:

a.      Find the OneDrive cloud icon in the windows taskbar/notification area (you may need to click the up arrow)

b.     right click the icon, select settings (or help and settings), and then choose pause syncing. Select 24 hours to give yourself plenty of time to complete the update.

3.      Perform the Visual Studio update/repair:

a.      after completing the steps 1 and 2, run the Visual Studio installer and at time the update or repair operation again. Local file presence and paused sync should allow the operation to complete successfully.

Long term solution: change default Visual Studio user settings location(recommended)

while pausing sync it's a quick fix, the default location of some Visual Studio user configuration and template files can still create friction if left in a synced folder.

Visual Studio typically stores key user settings, project templates, and local cache files in the folder like:

C:\Users<YourName>\Documents\Visual Studio2022

If your documents folder is synced with OneDrive, you can change where Visual Studio saves its projects and settings to a non-synced drive (e.g., a folder on the D:drive) to avoid future conflicts.

1.      Change default project location:

a.      open Visual Studio (the IDE).

b.     Go to tools> options

c.      in the options window, go to projects and solutions> locations.

d.     Change the project location to a folder on a local, non-synced drive (e.g., D:\VS_Projects).

2.      Change other default locations:

a.      violin tools> options, review other parts if necessary (like those for SQL Server management studio or templates) and move them outside of the OneDrive documents path.

3.      Forcing local registry settings(advanced):

a.      some hidden paths may still point to the documents folder. If you continue to see issues after the above steps, you can try this at one step to fully redirect the Visual Studio user configuration folder:

·         Close all Visual Studio instances.

·         Open the developer command prompt for Vs 2022(run as administrator).

·         Run the following command using a new, non-synced path:

(This changes the user specific registry setting for a visual studios primary configuration folder, which is often a hidden location not directly exposed in the IDE’s options).

By implementing the primary solution, you should solve the immediate installation failure. By implementing the long-term solution, you ensure this conflict does not arise again due to synced user settings.

Let me know if you need any further help with this. We'll be happy to assist.

If you find this helpful, please mark this as answered.

Pausing did not fix the issue. It is ODD that is happens on both my PCs. Which both sync to the same OneDrive. However,completely CLOSING onedrive did the trick. What do you think I should do?

The only items that I changed are the following.

Settings Location is on OneDrive, Project location is on OneDrive, Templates (project and item) location is on OneDrive.

Everything else should remain whatever default is. Here is my Documents/Visual Studio 2022 folder that is SYNCED and is set to "Always Keep On this Device"

The root cause is that Visual Studio’s default user folders are located in the Documents folder, which is actively managed by OneDrive’s known folder move feature. Although the customer set the folder to “Always Keep on This Device”, the active OneDrive sync engine process (One Drive.exe)still interferes with the highly sensitive file operations of the Visual Studio Installer.

The permanent solution is to move the core Visual Studio user configuration, settings, and templated out of the OneDrive-synced location.

Step 1: Permanently stop OneDrive Interference

For the permanent fix, we need to move the file locations while ensuring OneDrive is not running.

1.      Close Visual Studio and the Visual Studio installer.

2.      Completely closed/exit OneDrive:

·         right click the OneDrive cloud icon in the taskbar/notification area.

·         Select settings(or  help and settings)> settings tab

·         At the bottom, click “unlink this PC”(this is the most aggressive way to ensure the sync process is completely halted for this session)

Step 2: create a dedicated local folder

create a new folder on the local drive that is not part of the OneDrive sync hierarchy(e.g., directly on the C: or D: drive).

·         Create a folder path like : C:\Local_VS_Settings\

Step 3: Redirect Visual Studio User Folders

We must change the default locations for Settings, templates and Projects inside the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to the new local folder.

1.      Re-launch Visual Studio 2022 (The IDE, not the installer).

2.      Go to tools>options.

3.      In the left-hand pane, navigate to Projects and Solutions > Locations.

                                                              i.            Project location: change this path from the OneDrive documents folder to the new local path(e.g., C:\Local_VS_Settings\Projects).

                                                            ii.            User project template location: Change this path to the new local path (e.g., C:\Local_VS_Settings\Templates).

4.      Save the configuration files:

                                                              i.            Manually copy the contents of the existing folders( Code Snippets, Settings, Templates, Visualizers) from the problematic OneDrive location:

C:\Users<YourName>\OneDrive\Documents\VisualStudio 2022

                                                            ii.            …To the new, non synced location

C:\Local_VS_Settings\Visual Studio 2022

(The IDE may recreate some of these folders, but manually moving them ensures all existing customizations are preserved).

Step 4: Final Validation and Update

1.      Run the Visual Studio installer again. It should no longer encounter file locking issues related to the Documents folder because the active files it needs to access are now wither local or have been closed by the InstallCleanup.exe you previously ran.

2.      Perform the Update or Repair.

Once the update is successful, you can safely re-link their PC to OneDrive. The critical Visual Studio files will now be in the local folder, preventing future conflicts. The customer should ensure to manually save any actual project code they want backed up into a regular, non-system OneDrive folder (e.g., C:\Users<Name>\OneDrive\Development).

Let me know if you need any further help with this. We'll be happy to assist.

If you find this helpful, please mark this as answered.