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The files are all there and nobody can find them. Desktop and Documents were never told they moved. What Known Folder Move does, how to deploy it weeks ahead, the two states that empty the desktop, and the cutover sequence for OneDrive.
By Alex Makey · 6 September 2026 · 7 min read · Verified against Microsoft documentation, September 2026
After a migration the files are all there and the users cannot find them. Desktop is empty, Documents is empty, the sync client shows a green tick, and the helpdesk queue fills up. The files are in OneDrive; the folders on the machine were never told. Here is what Known Folder Move does, how to roll it out before a migration rather than after, and the two states that produce the empty-desktop call.
Three folders on every Windows machine — Desktop, Documents, Pictures — are where people actually keep things. Known Folder Move redirects them into the user’s OneDrive: the folders stay where they are in Explorer, the paths users see do not change, but the contents live in OneDrive and sync from there.
The consequence for a migration: if the folders are redirected, the user’s desktop and documents are in their OneDrive, and moving the OneDrive moves them. If the folders are not redirected, the desktop and documents are only on the local disk, and no cloud migration touches them.
This is an Intune policy, or a Group Policy if the machines are domain-joined, and it takes a week of pilot plus a fortnight of rollout.
Intune: Devices → Configuration → create a profile → Settings catalog → search OneDrive. Set Silently move Windows known folders to OneDrive to enabled, supplying the tenant ID; set Prevent users from redirecting their Windows known folders to their PC to enabled; set Silently sign in users to the OneDrive sync app with their Windows credentials to enabled. Assign to a pilot group, then everyone.
Group Policy: the same three settings under Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → OneDrive, with the OneDrive ADMX templates installed.
Then verify. The OneDrive sync client reports Known Folder Move status to the OneDrive admin centre, and the Intune device report shows the policy applied. A machine with the policy applied but the folders not moved usually has files over the size or path-length limit, or a folder on a different drive letter.
State one: folders were never redirected. The user’s desktop is local. The migration moved OneDrive, which contained nothing from the desktop. After cutover the user signs in with the new account, gets a fresh profile, and the old profile with the old desktop is still on the disk under the old username. The files are not lost; they are in C:\Users\<old-profile>\Desktop. Copy them across or, better, redirect the folders before cutover so this state never occurs.
State two: folders were redirected, but the new account has not finished setting up. The user signs in with the new account, the sync client is not yet signed in or is still enumerating, and the redirected folders point at a OneDrive that is empty until sync completes. This resolves itself in minutes to hours depending on volume. The helpdesk answer is: wait for the green tick, and do not save anything to the desktop until it appears.
1. Known Folder Move deployed and verified on every machine, weeks ahead.
2. OneDrive content migrated to the target tenant by the migration tool, per user, while the source stays live. Large OneDrives start early.
3. At cutover, the OneDrive policy on the machines updated to the target tenant ID — the same Intune profile, new tenant — so the sync client redirects to the new tenant on next sign-in.
4. Delta pass on OneDrive content for anything changed after the main copy.
5. Users sign in with the new account. The sync client signs in silently, the known folders point at the new OneDrive, the content is there.
6. Source OneDrives set read-only, then retired after the retention period.
The sync client is still bound to the old tenant. Symptom: it shows the old account and cannot sign in. Fix: unlink the account in the sync client settings and sign in with the new one; the redirected folders reattach.
Files that would not sync. Invalid characters, paths over the limit, files locked by an application. They stay in the local folder with a warning icon. The sync client’s error list names them; fix the names and they go.
Two OneDrives. The old account’s OneDrive folder is still on the disk after the new one is set up. Leave it for a month, then remove it, once nobody has asked for anything from it.
Files on Demand. If it is on, files show in Explorer but download on open. On the first day after migration, with everyone opening everything, this is slow. Consider pinning the Desktop and Documents folders to always keep on this device for the first week.
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Either the Desktop and Documents folders were never redirected to OneDrive, so they stayed on the local disk under the old user profile, or they were redirected and the new account’s sync client has not finished setting up yet. The first needs the files copied from the old profile; the second resolves when sync completes.
A setting that redirects a user’s Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders into their OneDrive. Explorer paths look the same; the contents live in OneDrive and sync from there. It is deployed through Intune or Group Policy.
Before, by weeks. If the folders are redirected, migrating the OneDrive migrates the desktop and documents. If they are not, no cloud migration touches them.
Update the OneDrive policy on the machines with the new tenant ID at cutover; the sync client signs in to the new tenant on next sign-in. If it stays bound to the old account, unlink it in the client settings and sign in with the new one.
On the local disk under the old user profile, and in the old tenant’s OneDrive until it is retired. Copy from the old profile if the folders were never redirected; otherwise the delta pass and the new sync bring them across.
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