Using Expandrive for Onedrive Access

General Help
1

I was using Zorin 17.2 for a bit and really like it. Still in the learning curve but would love to move away from Windows 11 as much as I can. That being said, I need to access Onedrive for work and looked at the options. I was using insynch and it was working great but it requires a copy of all files locally on the hard drive. Long story short, it updated and started deleting all my local files and then wanted to re-download them while I was traveling and using a hotspot. It really made a mess of things.

It looks like Expandrive operates more like the Windows Onedrive client and only downloads on demand while showing all the files. I signed up for the free trial, got it installed and attempted to add my Onedrive account to it. I walk through the steps to add Onedrive, authenticate and it appears like it's going to add my account to the list and nothing shows up. I have tried several times including a clean install of Zorin 17.3. I even tried on Mint and it did the same thing. My Onedrive account never shows up in the app after going through the steps to add it.

I figure I'm the common denominator, what am I missing or doing wrong? I've seen Expandrive mentioned so I know there are other Linux users using it. Would like to give it a try.

2

I can't help you on using Expandrive, I've heard of it but not really given it a try. There is, however, this unofficial onedrive client for linux that may be worth looking into:

What I'm noticing about Expandrive is the last release seems to be from a couple years ago (2023), which in the world of cloud-based files and platforms, is basically an eternity. It wouldn't surprise me if something has broken between then and now and they haven't applied an update for it.

3

If you're considering upgrading, getting in touch with their support team is a good idea.

4

Thanks Applecheeks37 and Aisajib. I did actually reach out to their support team but so far no response.

I also looked at that Onedrive client by abraunegg but the on demand feature is just a feature request at this time. I'm hoping to avoid having to download a local copy of all my files, it can be rather time consuming and if something goes wrong, it really sucks.

5

I know this also doesn't help presently, but I believe in newer versions of Gnome they have this functionality built in to the Online Accounts section, and it should automatically be integrated in the file manager as well. Hopefully when Zorin 18 comes out, that gets included and you'll be able to natively do this without anything extra.

1 Like
6

The latest Gnome has that option.

Screenshot From 2025-04-10 10-39-19
Screenshot From 2025-04-10 10-39-191920×1080 82.5 KB

2 Likes
7

Thanks guys, good to know that this is coming for Zorin and currently available with the latest version of Gnome. I may have to find a distro I can evaluate this on, even though I'm liking Zorin.

8

You are doing nothing wrong. Expandrive is broken, and they have stopped answering support requests.

I am an Expandrive user for some years and really liked it, mainly for accessing BackBlaze B2 but also OneDrive and DropBox. Those services still work fine, but OneDrive fails to connect. I emailed support several times about this with no response. Searches suggest that they have given up, but their website is still up and accepting orders which is poor practice in my opinion.

We had another thread with a fair bit of Expandrive talk including some alternatives:
https://forum.zorin.com/t/recommended-paid-applications/

1 Like
9

Thanks Neil for letting me know I'm not crazy. Sounds like it offered what I was looking for, too bad they haven't supported their product though.

I'll have to take a look at that thread, thanks for including that!

10

it's already available for zorin 17.3

11

Nourpon,

Is it something I have to enable or install? I see Microsoft and Exchange listed in the online accounts (both email) for 17.3 but I don't see Microsoft 365. Sorry for all the questions, still learning the ways of Linux but liking it so far, even with the learning curve.

12

sorry, I was thinking Microsoft option was for OneDrive also :frowning:

13

did you try this :

or this :

14

I did look at that Onedrive client by abraunegg but the on demand feature is just a feature request at this time. I'm hoping to avoid having to download a local copy of all my files, it can be rather time consuming, not to mention if something goes wrong, it's a royal pain.

15

I had an email from Expandrive today, bearing in mind I am (was...) a registered user with a 'lifetime' account, and had emailed support a few times last year with issues.

So, my lifetime license has been discontinued, on the other hand their free offering may be sufficient. Worth investigating, perhaps.

***** expandrive email ******
ExpanDrive was purchased by new ownership in 2024 and a transition process occurred during 2024 and early 2025. The prior owner is no longer involved with ExpanDrive as of April 2025.

As of April 2025, we have relaunched ExpanDrive under a new licensing and support model.

Free License
We are excited and proud to announce that the main ExpanDrive application for Windows, Mac, and Linux is now completely free for personal use.

Commercial, academic, or government use is also free for enterprises where fewer than 10 people use ExpanDrive across the enterprise during a calendar year.

The Free license does not include technical support, ExpanDrive For Teams, or ExpanDrive Server Edition.

You can download the latest version on the ExpanDrive download page which doesn't require a license key and see if that resolves the issue.

Any further additional request for technical support would require a paid license.

Paid License (Recurring Subscription Model)
Paid Licenses are available to anyone, and required for Commercial, academic, or government use by more than 10 people at an enterprise.

Paid Licenses include access to the main ExpanDrive application, ExpanDrive For Teams, and ExpanDrive Server Edition.

They also comes with full technical support, including our commitment to make ExpanDrive work for you.

A Paid License costs $99/month and allows for use by up to 50 people. For larger deployments, please contact our Enterprise Sales team. Enterprise site licenses are available.

All Paid Licenses are a recurring subscription model. This allows us to fund the ongoing costs of development, security, and customer support. Lifetime or perpetual licenses are not offered.

Lifetime or perpetual licenses sold by the prior owner only apply to use of prior versions of ExpanDrive (versions labeled 2023 or earlier), and do not include technical support from us. The prior owner is no longer a going concern.

A Note About Support
Under our new ownership, we have dramatically improved the caliber of ExpanDrive technical support. If you were frustrated by ExpanDrive support in the past, please give us a try again. We're here to help!

Our new technical support is only available to our current ExpanDrive customers.

Refunds For Non-Recurring License Purchases Within The Last 12 Months
We understand that the transition to new ownership may cause frustration to people who purchased perpetual licenses in the past.

If you purchased a non-recurring (lifetime or perpetual) license for ExpanDrive, S3 Pro, or StrongSync within the last 12 months, we will provide you a full refund. We are offering this as a courtesy.

You can then choose to obtain a Free License or a Paid License, depending on your requirements. See above for the differences between Free and Paid licenses.

We are not able to provide refunds beyond a 12 month window.

16

Just saw your post. I also made a post earlier this morning about the same thing, and tagged you as a courtesy (since you were involved in the other discussion we had a few months ago about Expandrive). So, yeah. It's a no-go for me. They need to update their installer, big time. Looks like it's two years old now. Not good.

17

NeilW and Omnimaxus,

Thank you for the update. I received the same email last week while traveling for work. I decided to see if it would work and downloaded the installer (ExpanDrive_2023.4.1_amd64.deb). It still asks for a license key or free trial. The free trial is longer than 7 days (113 days) however. After installation, I attempted to add Onedrive by going through all the steps (email, password, etc.) and it attempts to connect and add Onedrive but it never gets added as a connection/drive. Same thing as before. So, it looks like it's still broken, at least for Linux/Onedrive.

2 Likes
18

Thank you both Omnimaxus and rhedelius,

I had just recently reinstalled Zorin onto its own drive rather than a dual boot. I had not yet attempted to install Expandrive as I have no current need for it.

I've migrated all my use of cloud services onto my own nextcloud instance on a server under my control. There is a nextcloud desktop app for both windows and Linux which meets my needs.

2 Likes
19

Well, I'm halfway to making my decision to switch to Dropbox (ask me how Windows deleted my OneDrive stuff out of nowhere -- somehow I'm not suprised that Microsoft's own software don't play well with each other).

20

OneDrive failed me on a couple of occasions - luckily I never trusted it with anything important or that I hadn't already backed up elsewhere, I used it more as a convenience tool between PCs in different locations.

I would never trust any cloud service as my main repository.