While it is normal for OneDrive to use a reasonably higher amount of CPU (5 to 15%) during its regular syncing activities, OneDrive can cause High CPU usage; if it is suffering from a glitch/bug and facing problems interacting with File Explorer, Microsoft Office and other apps on the computer.
Increased OneDrive activity is also noticed after Major Windows Updates and password changes; which requires OneDrive to compare its cloud library with local files; which can drive up CPU/RAM usage if there are a large number of files.
In addition to above, high CPU usage by OneDrive could be occurring on your computer due to the following reasons.
- Number of Files: OneDrive actively monitors local files/folders for changes; which can lead to high CPU usage, if it has to go through a large number of files.
- Frequently Modified Files: Files that are being accessed by multiple users and frequently modified attract frequent and resource intensive scanning/syncing activity by OneDrive.
- Background Activity: OneDrive carries out indexing, thumbnail generation and other activities in background, which can lead to high CPU usage; if the computer is running other resource intensive applications and processes at the same time.
- Corrupted Cache: Presence of corrupted files in OneDrive cache can trigger endless syncing activity; which can often lead to persistent high CPU usage.
High CPU Usage by OneDrive in Windows 11/10
If you are not actively using OneDrive, you can totally rule out the possibility of OneDrive causing high CPU usage on your device by preventing the OneDrive app from automatically starting up with the computer.
If you are actively using OneDrive, you can should be able to fix the High CPU usage problem on your computer by using the following steps.
1. Terminate OneDrive Process
If the CPU usage by OneDrive on your computer is at a very high level (Over 60%), you can bring it down almost immediately by terminating the OneDrive process.
1. Right click on the Start button and click on Task Manager.
2. On the Task Manager screen, go to Details tab > select OneDrive.exe and click on End Task.
This should immediately bring down the level of CPU being used by OneDrive on your computer.
2. Backup Selected Folders
An effective way to reduce the footprint of OneDrive on Windows computer is by allowing OneDrive to backup only selected folders to Microsoft’s cloud storage service.
1. Click on OneDrive Cloud icon on the Taskbar > click on Gear Icon and select Settings.
2. On the Settings screen, select Sync and Backup tab in the side-menu and click on Manage Backup.
3. On the next screen, you can switch off Folders that you do not want to be automatically backed up to OneDrive.
4. Select exactly the Folder that you want to backed up to OneDrive and click on Save changes.
3. Enable Files On-Demand
You can significantly reduce OneDrive file download activity by enabling “Files On-Demand” option; which makes OneDrive to download shortcuts (1 KB size) to files, instead of downloading the actual files. The actual file is downloaded (On-Demand!) only when you try to open the file by double-clicking on the File Icon.
The disadvantage of this feature is that it requires the OneDrive Desktop application to be active and running on the computer, when online-only files are being accessed.
1. Open the Settings menu in OneDrive.
2. From the Settings screen, go to Sync and Backup (left-pane) > Advanced Settings > scroll down to Files on Demand section and click on Free up disk space button.
3. On the pop-up, click on the Continue button.
4. Use Selective Sync
You can reduce OneDrive syncing activity on your computer by making use of the “Selective Sync” feature; which allows you to select the exact cloud folders that you want to be downloaded to your computer.
The unselected Folders will be hidden from the File Explorer on your local computer, but they will be available on cloud.
1. Open the Settings Menu in OneDrive.
2. On the Settings screen, select Account in the left-pane and click on Choose Folders in the right-pane.
3. On Choose Folders screen, you can select the exact Cloud Folders that should sync directly to your local computer.
4. Click on the Save changes button to preserve these settings for the OneDrive App on your computer.
5. Reset OneDrive
If your computer is constantly indicating a high level of CPU usage by OneDrive, the problem can by fixed by Resetting OneDrive.
1. Press Windows + R keys to open Run Command.
2. Type %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset in the Run Command window and click on OK.
Once you click on OK, you will see the OneDrive Icon in the system tray disappearing and then re-appearing after a while (Can take 60 seconds or more).
3. If the OneDrive Icon does not appear, type %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe in the Run Command window and click on OK.
4. After this, you can monitor the CPU usage by OneDrive by going to the Task Manager.
6. Delete OneDrive Setup Files
In certain cases, the reason for high CPU usage is due to OneDrive constantly trying to complete File Operations that are failing due to non-English characters in Account Usernames and File Profile Paths.
This problem can be fixed by deleting specific hidden files on the computer and for this you need to enable the option to View Hidden Files on your computer.
1. Open File Explorer > click on the View Tab and check the option for Hidden items.
2. Next, navigate to C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\setup\logs > Scroll down to bottom and delete userTelemetryCache.otc and userTelemetryCache.otc.session files.
3. After deleting the files go to C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive and double-click on OneDrive.exe file.
After this, you should find the CPU usage by OneDrive being drastically reduced on your computer.