Windows 10: Can an existing folder be added to OneDrive (without moving contents)?

Thinking about adding my music to OneDrive, since I just realized I have a ton of space (Office 365 subscription via my job), and the Groove music player would let me stream my collection for free.

The thing is, my music is all stored on an external USB drive, and I've configured other programs to use this location (Kodi, iTunes, the Groove player itself on a separate laptop). Is there any way to have OneDrive "watch" the music in its current location, like how I might add it to a local library folder? I'm antsy about just moving everything, plus the music wouldn't fit on my main hard drive anyway (it's why I started using an external in the first place).

I've looked around and it seems like I might be able to select a new location for OneDrive if I re-configure it from scratch. However, would this force me to keep all my work files on that external drive too? I'd prefer not to do that as I have kind of designated my external drive exclusively for media, and remote sharing over the home network. I'd rather not have all my day-to-day office stuff there.

I have a feeling I'm out of luck here but wondering if anyone has a figured out a good approach to this. I'm sure it's a relatively common issue, as dumping all one's digital entertainment onto network media shares, NAS devices, etc seem to be pretty en vogue these days.

:)

 

can wpa or wpa-2 be added to an existing network

Hi Charles,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

As per the description, I understand that you have a query.

I would like to know some information.

• 
  When you say WPA or Wpa 2 are you referring to Wi-Fi protected access?
  
• 
  Are you referring to set up a security key for a wireless network?
  

I would suggest you to refer to the Microsoft Help Article given below and check if that helps.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/set-security-key-wireless-network#1TC=windows-7



Note: Holds Good For Windows 10.



Hope this information helps. Please let us know if you need any other assistance with Windows in future. We will be happy to assist you.

 

can wpa or wpa-2 be added to an existing network

Hi Charles,

If you are still looking for an answer then I would say yes, this can be done using the router setup page.

You can either take help from the router support or contact the Internet Support Provider(ISP) in case the router and the ISP are not the same.

 

First, it is important to remember that if your Office 365 subscription is a so called workplace account (Office 365 Business or Enterprise), "ton of space" you've got is on OneDrive for Business which can't be added to Groove. If your OneDrive sign in email is type Your.Name@YourOrganization.com, your O365 account is a workplace account.

Only if the O365 subscription you've got via your job is O365 Home or Personal and you sign in to it with a Microsoft account, only then can you use OneDrive in Groove.

An easy way to check if your OneDrive is personal or business is to see the OneDrive icon in system tray. If your OneDrive icon in system tray is blue (#1 in screenshot) it is a OneDrive for Business account and can't be added to / used with Groove. If the icon is white (#2), it is a personal OneDrive and can be used in Groove:





If you have both blue and white icon showing, you have both OD for business and OD Personal. In this case you can add the personal OD account to Groove. However, if the "ton of space" is on OD for Business, it does not help you because with Groove you could only use the personal account.

Short answer: no.

All OneDrive folders must be on same location, subfolders of main OneDrive folder. You cannot add folders from outside OneDrive main folder to OneDrive without moving them under main OneDrive folder.

Selecting a new location for OneDrive moves everything, OneDrive content cannot be stored in two or more locations.

 

Great answers, thank you! Yes, I've got the blue OneDrive icon for the work account, so that settles the matter. Guess I'll just deal with Google Play's limitations for my cloud streaming needs, for the time being.

Thanks again!

 

Very easy to do this using symbolic junction links.

From an admin command prompt, type

mklink /j c:\users\yourname\onedrive\folder1 X:\folder1

where X is the drive letter of the external drive containing your folder containing music files.

See example below. I have a folder on external drive E containing one file - black.png

After creating junction link, there is a dummy folder in the one drive structure, and if you list it, you see the file.

It has not been physically copied to onedrive.

Beauty is you can now sync that onedrive folder to the cloud. If you add a file to the external drive folder, and you have it syncing, the file will automatically be synced to the cloud.

It remains on cloud if you detach external drive.

Of course, you need to make sure external drive is always given the same drive letter.

If you want to remove the symbolic link type

rd c:\users\yourname\onedrive\folder1

This deletes dummy folder AND folder in cloud. If you want to retain in cloud, rename folder in cloud first.

 

It is possible to do this using junction linked folders. See my other reply. It works even with external drives.

 

Edit:just realised using company onedrive. Obviously, not a good idea to do this without company permission but I see no reason in principle why it would not work but could be wrong?

 

Mklink is really useful to include other directories in onedrive ! Much appreciate the useful hint !