How to Fix ‘Upload Blocked’ Error in OneDrive?

Several Windows users have been reaching us with questions after encountering the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign-in” error when trying to work with Microsoft Office files that are hosted on a OneDrive account. In most cases, clicking on the Sign-in button and completing the sign-in process will only spawn a new prompt with the same error message. Although the issue is not solely encountered on Windows 10, the frequency of user reports is much higher than on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

What’s causing the “Upload Blocked. you are required to sign-in” error?

We investigated this particular issue by looking at various user reports and at the several repair strategies that users have used to fix this problem. As it turns out, several different scenarios will produce this “Upload Blocked” error. Here’s a shortlist of culprits that might be responsible:

If you’re currently looking for ways to resolve the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign in” pop-up, this article will provide you with several verified troubleshooting strategies. Down below, you’ll find a collection of potential fixes that other users in a similar situation have successfully used to resolve the issue for good.

If you want to remain as efficient as possible, we encourage you to follow the potential fixes below in the same order that we arrange them in (by severity and efficiency). Eventually, you will discover a method that will fix the problem in your particular scenario.

Let’s begin!

Method 1: Install every pending Windows update

As it turns out, the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign in” pop-up can also appear due to a OneDrive glitch that was since patched by Microsoft. However, if your machine is not up to date, you won’t be able to take advantage of the hotfix.

Several users that we’re also affected by this glitch have managed to resolve the problem by installing every pending Windows Update. Since OneDrive is developed by Microsoft Corp., the updating of the app is handled by WU (Windows Update).

Here’s a quick guide on installing every Windows update to resolve the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign in” pop-up error:

1. Open up a Run dialog box by pressing Windows key + R. Then, type “ms-settings:windowsupdate” and press Enter to open up the Windows Update tab of the Settings app.

   

2. Once you’re inside the Windows Update tab, move down to the right-hand pane and click on Check for updates. After you do this, wait for the initial scan to complete.

   

3. Once the scan is complete, proceed with the installation of all recommended updates. Follow the on-screen prompts to install them one by one.
   Note: If you’re prompted to restart before you get the chance to install every pending update, do so. But make sure to return to the same window at the next startup to complete all the update installations and bring your Windows build up to date.
4. After every update is installed, restart your computer once again and see if the error is resolved at the next system startup.

If the same “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign in” pop-up error is still occurring, move down to the next method below.

Method 2: Using Office to Sync Office files

This is by far the most common fix for this particular issue. As a lot of affected users have reported, they were able to resolve the issue by configuring OneDrive to rely on Office when having to sync files created with Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.

This small adjustment was confirmed to be effective by a lot of users, with the condition to have a recent OneDrive version on Windows 10. After doing this modification and restarting the computer, most affected users have reported that pop-up was no longer occurring whenever they tried to sync a file hosted on OneDrive.

Here’s a quick guide with what you need to do to fix the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign in” error:

1. Make sure that OneDrive service is open, then click on OneDrive’s taskbar icon once.
2. After you see the OneDrive menu, click on More and then click on Settings from the newly appeared context menu.
3. Inside the Microsoft OneDrive menu, select the Office tab from the horizontal menu at the top.
4. Then, inside the Office tab, check the box associated with “Use Office applications to sync Office files that I open”.
5. From the newly appeared Sync Conflicts menu, choose Let me choose to merge changes or keep both copies, then click Ok to save the changes.
6. Restart your computer to enforce the changes you recently made, then see if the issue is still occurring once the next startup sequence is complete.

If you’re still seeing the same “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign-in” error, move down to the next method below.

Method 3: Removing the Office Credentials via Credential Manager

Other users that were also struggling to resolve the issue have reported that the annoying “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign-in” pop-up was no longer occurring after they used Credential Manager to remove any Microsoft Office Data.

After doing so and restarting their computer, they were prompted to complete the sign-in process once again. But after they’ve done so, the pop-up stopped appearing. This suggests that the issue can very well be caused by an instance of corrupted credentials stored by the Credential Manager.

Here’s a quick guide on deleting your Credential Manager records to remove the inconsistency that is producing the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign-in” error:

1. Press Windows key + R to open up a Run dialog box. Then, type “control” and press Enter to open up the classic Control Panel interface.

   

2. Once you’re inside the classic Control Panel interface, use the search function in the top-right section of the screen to search for “credential manager“. Then, click on Credential Manager from the newly appeared results.

   

3. Once you’re inside the Credential Manager, select Windows Credentials from the top of the screen, then go ahead and inspect all you stored credential for any mentions of Microsoft Office.
4. Expand every mention of Microsoft office, and then click the Remove hyperlink to remove it. Do this with every mention of Microsoft Office, until there are no such credentials stored inside the Credential Manager.

   

5. After all, credentials have been removed, restart your computer and see if the issue is resolved at the next system startup.

If the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign-in” pop up is persisting, move down to the next method below.

Method 4: Unlinking the OneDrive account

Judging by several different user reports, this problem can also surface in instances where the OneDrive account that is currently linked with the PC currently contains some glitched data. In cases like this, unlinking the account before adding it again should resolve the issue in the vast majority of cases.

Several users who were also encountering this problem have confirmed that this method allowed them to get rid of the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign in” pop-up error.

Here’s a quick guide with step-by-step instructions on unlinking your OneDrive account from your PC and adding it again:

1. Make sure that the OneDrive service is open, then click on the OneDrive taskbar icon (bottom-right corner) and click on More > Settings.

   

2. Inside the main Microsoft OneDrive menu, select the Account tab from the horizontal menu, then click on Unlink this PC to remove your current account.

   

3. Then, click on Unlink Account at the confirmation prompt to remove your account.
4. Restart your computer to complete the signing out process.
5. At the next computer startup, open OnePlus again and insert your email and password to link your account with the PC once again.

   

6. Repeat the action that was previously causing the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign in” pop-up error and see if the problem is now resolved.

If the same issue is still occurring, move down to the next method below.

Method 5: Deleting the cached files of Microsoft Office Upload Center

Another fix that will work in instances where you’re dealing with corruption is to clear the cached files belonging to the Office Upload Center. As it turns out, the issue can also arise in instances where the Windows Update Center is stuck in a limbo state when trying to upload an Office application that is involved in a syncing process with OneDrive.

Several users that were also struggling to resolve this issue have managed to do so by accessing the Microsoft Office Upload Center Settings and deleting the cached data files. After doing so and restarting the computer, some affected users have reported that the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign in” pop-up error was completely resolved.

Here’s a quick guide on deleting the Cached data belonging to the Microsoft Office Upload center:

1. Press the Windows key to open up the start menu, then start typing ‘office upload‘. Then, from the list of results, click on the Office Upload Center search result.
2. Once you’re inside the Upload Center screen, click on the Settings menu.
3. Inside the Microsoft Office Upload Center Settings, scroll down to the Cache Settings section and click on Delete cached files to remove all temporary files associated with the Office Upload Center.
4. Then, at the confirmation prompt, click on Delete cached information and wait for the process to complete.
5. After the operation is complete, restart your computer and see if the issue is resolved at the next computer startup.

   

   If the same “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign in” pop-up error is still occurring even after you performed this operation, move down to the next method below.

Method 6: Deleting the Identities keys via Registry Editor

As it turns out, the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign in” pop-up error can also occur due to an inconsistency having to do with a corrupted Identity value. This problem is quite common among computers that are joined with a domain network.

Some users encountering a similar problem have managed to fix the issue by navigating to the corrupted key manually via Registry Editor and deleting them to eliminate the problem. After they’ve done this and restarted the computer, the issue was resolved the majority of users encountering this problem.

Here’s a quick guide on deleting the Identities keys via Registry editor to resolve the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign in” pop-up error:

1. Press Windows key + R to open up a Run dialog box. Then, type “regedit” and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open up Registry Editor with admin privileges. When you see the UAC (User Account Control) prompt, click Yes to grant administrative privileges.

   

2. Once you manage to get inside Registry Editor, use the left-hand menu to navigate to the following location:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Identity\Identities
   

   Note: You can also paste the location directly in the navigation bar to get there instantly.

3. Once you get to the correct location, right-click on the Identities key from the left-hand menu and choose Delete from the newly appeared context menu.

   

4. Once the whole Identities folder has been deleted, close Registry Editor and restart your computer.
5. At the next startup, see if the “Upload Blocked. You are required to sign in” pop-up error has been resolved by repeating the action that was previously causing the issue.