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Windows app stuck on 'Connecting drive...' (Sophos AV)

Updated 4 May 2026 Apps

Windows app stuck on ‘Connecting drive…’ (Sophos AV)

Symptom

After signing into the Foldr Windows app, the drive never mounts. Instead, the status loops on Connecting drive… indefinitely. Quitting and re-launching the app reaches the same stuck state. This affects only Windows clients running on machines protected by certain antivirus deployments, most commonly Sophos Central.

Cause

The Foldr Windows app can mount the drive in two modes: Removable disk or Network drive. The looping symptom occurs only when the app is in Removable disk mode.

Sophos Central (Enterprise / Education edition) ships with a Peripheral Control module. Even configured for passive monitoring (rather than blocking), Peripheral Control intercepts the removable-storage activation in a way that prevents the Foldr drive from completing its mount. The result is the indefinite “Connecting drive…” state.

Network drive mode does not pass through Peripheral Control and so isn’t affected.

Network drive mode has been the default since Foldr Windows app version 1.4.16 (April 2020). If you’re hitting this on a fresh install of a current app build, the user has explicitly switched to Removable disk mode in the app settings.

Fix 1: switch the user’s app to Network drive mode

For a single user fix:

  1. Quit the Foldr app so it is no longer running in the system tray.
  2. Open File Explorer to %localappdata%\Foldr.
  3. Inside this folder, open the Foldr.exe_ directory. There are subfolders for each version of the app that has been installed.
  4. Navigate into the most recent version folder and delete user.config.
  5. Relaunch the app, but do not sign in yet. Right-click the Foldr system tray icon, choose Settings, then the Drive tab.
  6. Change Drive Type from Removable disk to Network drive.
  7. Sign in. The user will need to enter the Foldr server address again, as it was cleared when user.config was deleted.

If the Drive Type option is greyed out, the Foldr administrator has locked it via an App Profile. Use Fix 2 instead.

Fix 2: enforce Network drive mode centrally via an App Profile

For a fleet-wide fix:

  1. Sign into Foldr Settings as fadmin.
  2. Open Devices & Clients → App Profiles.
  3. Click + ADD NEW to create a new profile.
  4. Scroll down to the Windows section and find config.drive_type_removable. Set it to NO.
  5. Open the Users & Groups tab. Add the AD groups (or specific users) the profile should apply to. The built-in Foldr Users group covers everyone.
  6. Configure any other Windows-app settings you’d like to enforce, then click SAVE CHANGES.

The next time affected clients connect to Foldr, they pick up the profile and switch to Network drive mode automatically.

For more on App Profiles, see Configuring Foldr apps from the server.

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