icloud for Windows - stuck on initializing

Did you see my post about logging out of the iCloud app and close it down. When you open it - right-click and select “run as administrator” this fixed the issue for me.

however subsequently updates have re-prompted for my password over and over which led to my Apple account being locked (no access for 2-3 days and all rescue methods failed). This happened twice so now I don’t use the iCloud app anymore - only via the web browser.

hope the admin thing works for you :)

This has been bothering me for like a year, so when i figured it out for my machine I rushed over here.

What worked for me is if when you click into the little arrow next to where it says "on" in the panel on the newest UI, you can then change the folder. If you delete the icloud drive folder in that explorer window that pops up, then save the new location in the same spot, it will adjust how the address looks in the "Drive Settings" menu.

For me it went from O://iCloudDrive to O:/iCloudDrive

Immediately started syncing right there. Hope this works for you!

I am having this issue as well, since weeks no sync for upload items. And like evgen244 I decided to log out and log back in and in the process lost all my recently created tax submission files. It did fix the upload sync for the duration of my logged in session. But next morning after booting the issue was back. I have since made the decision to migrate to OneDrive because I don't expect a fix for this in the coming months. My Reminders app space consumption issues also never got fixed after weeks of investigating with Apple Support. Given the low frequency of responders on this Discussion, I expect this will take years to fix. I advise to find a method that works for you, that allows you do to your job.

Hi,

i found the solution that worked for me after days of researching.

1. uninstalled icloud drive
2. sign out of microsoft acc from microsoft store
3. installed icloud drive
4. loged back into microsoft acc in microsoft store
5. loged into icloud drive

Now icloud drive works

Hope that helps

iCloud for Windows says it has not fully initialized

Hi!

I've had the same problem several times (today the last one) but I solved it by simply opening Microsoft Store and updating iCloud App.

I hope it works for you. If not, prior to reinstalling iCloud, I recommend that you manually update unsynced documents via iCloud Web.

Thanks,

@Baggio7 - This worked for me, too (Windows 11 PC). My situation was that I had iCloud Drive working for months, syncing to C:\Users\[MyName]\iCloudDrive. I had to reset my PC, and when I reinstalled iCloud, iCloud Drive wouldn't work.

Sometimes I got a message saying "iCloud Drive cannot run", sometimes one saying "Your iCloud Drive folder ... cannot be used", and sometimes it would just sit at "Initializing" but doing nothing.

Finally, I tried changing the folder right after turning on iCloud Drive in iCloud. Note that you don't pick the iCloudDrive folder, you pick the folder that you want the iCloudDrive folder to be in (the iCloudDrive folder is created automatically). I picked C:\Users|[MyName]\Documents, and then it worked. I guess it must be a permissions thing, but I'm no expert ....

So I fixed it, here's how:

buy another NON DELL computer.

I have been a Dell guy for a long time, the last 2 brand new Dells I bought would not run iCloud. One factor could be one was an i3 and the other an i5 -who knows. All I know is I bought a pretty beefy powerspec from Microcenter with an AMD Ryzen CPU and it loaded and RUNS iCloud MS store app perfectly. NO firewalls bypassed or other crazy suggestions in this thread, runs fine now on this new PC.

I would be curious to know how many of you having issues are using a Dell PC (desktop). ALL my Dells for the last 5+ years (all Windows 10 upgraded to 11) ran the iCloud app just fine. So eh I have to blame Dell on this one, at least in my case.

Hope this helps anyone out there

Not sure it’s related to DELL PCs - I have a brand new Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 - I’ve had issues with iCloud.

running the downloaded iCloud app as an administrator seems to be only a temporary fix. Others have had joy by moving where iCloud saves the directory too.

Overall, it does seem to be permissions related.

The same problem happened to me. When I first uploaded it, C: was selected as the file. I logged out of the iCloud application and then made it save to the desktop. The problem was solved.

Maybe you are on to something there - my Ms Surface Laptop 5 has an intel chip…. Interesting ..::

id just wish they’d fix it ! Lols

I am having the exact same issue. I have 5 folders that are stuck in limbo (haven't fully uploaded to the cloud). I am afraid to sign out of icloud for fear of losing all of the files. I did rename the files with .nosync at the end to see if this would get them to stop trying to sync, but it did not fix the issue...

Thanks!!!

I've been struggling with getting it working again for a couple weeks after updating iCloud for Windows. Followed your steps and it began initializing immediately after applying my settings.

Eric

Yes u will, i have 432 gb of data. Wiped all. And done how i said above and left it 1.5 days to finish all gbs . Now if a put something in icloud folder it syncs.

(If i dont leave it to finish all 432 gb and i restart pc it stucks again.)

Several times in the last few years I have started using icloud for windows to share files between pc and iphone APPs ( I don't know of any other way). Every time it's worked for a while then just stopped syncing. This time it's with that permanent "initialising" status, and every time it's been a lengthy rigmarole to get it working again, even without worrrying about data loss (I've generally backed important stuff up elsewhere).

Typically a complete re-install, delete of all visible traces of the app and data, doesn't fix it. There has to be some obscure persistence somewhere.

The bottom line is that it's JUST NOT ROBUST ENOUGH to rely on. Having to find magic sequences like the one NAGA posted EVERY BLOODY TIME IT BREAKS is beyond intolerable.