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Windows-Specific Known Issues for Box Drive

Box Drive , End User , Troubleshooting , Article , Product Utilization , Desktop - Windows

The following are known limitations for Box Drive on Windows machines:

Unsupported Operating Systems

  • Windows 8.x
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Box Drive is not supported on ARM-based systems, such as the Microsoft Surface Pro X. If you try to use Drive on these systems, you'll see the error message, "This installation package is not supported on this platform. Contact your application vendor."

Unsupported Applications

  • Windows Store Applications (Photos, Office, etc.): Users are unable to open files from the Box Drive folder when navigating to it from within these applications. Users may also experience errors or silent failures when saving from these applications into Box Drive. 
    We recommend you install the .exe or .msi version of these applications (for example, Photos or  Office) instead of the Windows Store app.  Otherwise, on the windows store app you'll need to save the item outside of the Box folder and then drag the item back into Box.
  • Windows Photo Viewer: Users are unable to open files using this application. Microsoft has deprecated Windows Photo Viewer, so the application remains unsupported by Box Drive. 

Unsupported Windows Features

  • Box Drive does not support Windows folder redirection.
  • Previews of Box files are not visible in the Windows Explorer Preview Pane unless the file is cached or marked for offline.
  • Windows search tools such as Cortana or File Explorer search do not return Box Drive results. Use Box Drive's search tool instead.
  • Folders inside your Box folder do not respect global folder view settings (for example, icon size, column width).
  • Accessing or saving Box Drive content from Windows "libraries" (smart collection) is not supported.
  • The Author, Title, Subject, and Keywords document properties are not visible in Windows Explorer.
  • Windows-specific attributes, such as Read-Only, are not synced to Box.
  • When you right-click on a Box Drive folder that is pinned to Quick Access, sometimes the Box Drive context menu or status icons do not appear.  If this happens, remove the pin and then re-pin the folder.

Known Windows Issues

  • During installation, File Explorer windows restart. If you have more than one Explorer window open, only one restarts after the installation. No option is available to suppress restart of Explorer.
  • Your computer can display a black screen for a second during the installation.
  • Box Drive cannot be launched with double-byte character Windows login. This includes Japanese and Chinese characters.
  • Using Box Drive with additional language packs installed may result in errors unzipping files. To unzip them, drag .zip files out of the Box folder.
  • The mounted Box folder may display a "Read Only" attribute. You are still be able to write into the folder as long as you are logged in to Box Drive.
  • Windows 10/Edge: Downloading from Edge and using Save As to the Drive folder creates a blank file. You should download the file into a local folder and then move it into the destination folder in Box Drive. You can also use the Chromium-based version of Edge instead.
  • A file path's maximum length is 260 characters.
  • Custom Box locations with extended unicode characters are not supported. In this case, Drive is unable to read the mount path and uses the default location. For more information, please see our article on configuring the default Box Drive folder location.
  • With Windows 32-bit machines, after attempting to open the Drive folder in a custom configured mount location, the system may display a dialog box indicating the location cannot be found. If this occurs, please restart Explorer or restart the computer.
  • When navigating folders via Run (Win+R) or opening folders from a hyperlink to the Drive directory, overlay icons and context menus do not appear. Opening a folder using the Run command alters the drag & drop behavior for item(s) in Box Drive. In this case, items dragged by the user to a different location are moved instead of copied.
  • Azure AD Conditional Access blocks login with Microsoft Edge WebView2 in Box Drive. As a workaround, the affected users should use the “Having trouble logging in?” link, and switch back to old the login flow to login. This issue is planned to be fixed in upcoming release of Box Drive (v2.27).

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