Windows 10: iCloud for Windows: Unable to create a directory for iCloud Photos Error 5

The following thread is locked without having been resolved, and I see the same issue posted on multiple sites, including Microsoft, Apple, Dropbox, and others ...https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/icloud-for-windows-unable-to-create-a-directory/a336d97a-feea-4686-87c7-052f963b2cf5My add is that this issue is not caused by only Dropbox ... I don't have, nor have I ever had Dropbox installed on my Win11 PC. What I do have is my pictures folder mapped to a drive on my own WD cloud solution, and I get the same error msg.Has anyone found a solution or at least a reasonable &l

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iCloud for Windows: Unable to create a directory for iCloud Photos (Error 5)

I've searched high and low for a solution to this error. I had given up after over a year of trying to resolve it, on Windows 10 and Windows 11.

I have some free time, so I used Hyper-V to setup a test bed and found the root of the issue.



I've been through every single community post here, in the Dropbox Communities, and in the Apple Communities. I'm happy to report that I've uncovered the cause, but can't find a solution.



When I install iCloud for Windows (from the Microsoft Store) on a clean Windows 11 machine, the app places iCloud Photos and iCloud drive at;

c:\users\your_profile\Pictures\iCloud Photos

and if you have Microsoft OneDrive, it gives a message that says something to the effect that OneDrive is the users home directory, so the iCloud folder is actually placed in the user's root folder;

c:\users\your_profile\iCloud Photos



...but when I install on a machine that has DROPBOX, AND has the user's Pictures folder inside DropBox, the folders are placed at;

c:\users\your_profile\Dropbox\Pictures\iCloud Photos

BAM, the error occurs!



However, if DropBox is not installed, no problem. And if, Dropbox is installed and the user's Pictures folder is not inside Dropbox, no problem. As soon as the user has their Pictures folder inside Dropbox, then no love and the error results.



iCloud for Windows is absolutely testing for the presence of a user's home folder (during install) being inside Microsoft One Drive and correctly handling that use case, but it does not do the same test for Dropbox and also correctly handle that use case.



It may even be that a user's home folder inside any cloud solution is a problem, but since this app is downloaded through the Microsoft store, they tested it for OneDrive and made it work only with that solution as far as I can tell. I did not test other cloud solutions like Google Drive or BOX.



Anyone have ideas on how to solve this issue? I'd like to also have DropBox engineering work with Apple and Microsoft to perform the same kind of installation handling that the app does when it finds OneDrive! The solution is to simply have iCloud for Windows test for Dropbox and if Pictures is found inside DropBox, handle it the same way it does with OneDrive, just place the iCloud Photos folder in the User's profile root folder!

From what I can tell, iCloud for Windows is a Microsoft supported product now and all references for support on Apple's sites point back to Microsoft, thus my post here.

 

icloud photo library

Hello Don,

There may be several reasons why your iCloud photos are not showing up on your wife's user account. To assist you better with your concern regarding syncing iCloud, kindly answer the questions below:

• When did this problem start?
• Is your iCloud up to date?
• Have you tried syncing iCloud while logged in to your wife's account?

You may refer to this article for steps on how to setup iCloud on Windows. Kindly make sure that you are logged in to your wife's account when performing the steps:
How to set up and use iCloud Photos on Windows 10.

We are looking forward for your reply.

 

iCloud for Windows: Unable to create a directory for iCloud Photos (Error 5)

I'm a programmer. It should be an iCloud paths problem with the iCloud application. The only time it wouldn't be is if something was out of their control such as if an application wasn't allowed access to another application's folder for instance. But, paths problems are things that can happen. All kinds of combinations of paths have to be tested including symbols in folder names along the paths, etc.

If you want a fix with Dropbox installed then you could look for a registry key with the path and change it if there is one for that (it might be in a file but also might be encrypted) or maybe a Windows junction point would help although I'm not sure how good of an idea that is here.

If iCloud offers a setting to change it then it would be best to just move it out of Dropbox.

Then too, it might be possible to have a junction point get the files into Dropbox.

But I don't use iCloud nor Dropbox so am not testing any of my ideas.

Really, though, if the path contains a Dropbox folder or not shouldn't do a single thing. Path's should work at one folder up to the max amount of sub folders possible and everything in between.

Either iCloud can access it or it cannot. Either iCloud can work with all paths well in its code or it cannot and is bugged. It is telling you it cannot create the folder there. So its one of these two.

I can't really help any further unless I went an did it. I'm not doing that.