How to Fix iCloud Drive Not Syncing with Windows 10

Sofia Albert updated on Jul 28, 2023 to iOS & Mac Topics

Are you facing the problem that iCloud Drive not syncing with Windows 10 or iCloud drive not showing files on Windows 10? If so, here are the quick fixes to help you troubleshoot this issue. Besides, the EaseUS MobiMover Free is recommended in this article to sync files from iPhone to Windows PC and in the vice versa when the iCloud drive not working well.

iCloud Drive is an online service offered by Apple to let users share and sync photos, videos, contacts, notes, and many other kinds of files across all the iOS and Mac OS devices with iCloud enabled. For Windows users, Apple also has released iCloud for Windows to allow users to get up and running with Apple's cloud storage on your Windows PC to sync and manage the iOS data.

However, iCloud Drive on Windows, especially on Windows 10 is not working so smoothly as expected, and many users are stuck on syncing issues as listed below:

"I have recently started to use iCloud Drive for syncing contacts, photos, and other data by using the iCloud for Windows. It works with my iPhone and iPad but not with an excel file on my PC using Windows 10. I am also getting no new file in Windows 10! Why the iCloud drive not working properly on Windows 10? Any suggestions?"

If you are happening to run into the same problem and need to fix iCloud Drive not syncing with Windows 10, you can get all the possible solutions here. The Part 1 in the following text shows you a direct way to sync iPhone/iPad files to Windows PC and Part 2 includes the common fixes to iCloud Drive not showing up on Windows 10.

Part 1: How to transfer files from iPhone/iPad to Windows 10 without iCloud Drive

If you are encountering iCloud Drive not syncing documents on Windows 10 but you need to transfer the photos, contacts, videos, books, PDF or even Word files from iPhone or iPad to Windows 10 immediately, you are highly recommended to use EaseUS MobiMover Free, the Free iOS data transfer software to sync data from iOS device to Windows PC in a single click, including Windows 10, Windows 8 and Windows 7.

Not only compatible with Windows system, EaseUS MobiMover Free also can be installed on Mac OS devices to transfer files from iPhone/iPad to Mac, import photos from Mac to iPhone, download videos from Mac to iPad or transfer music from Mac to iPhone without iTunes.

Step 1. Connect your iPhone or iPad to your PC with a matched USB cable. Tap "Trust" on your iOS device screen if asked. Open EaseUS MobiMover and select the "Phone to PC" mode, and click "Next".

Step 2. MobiMover enables you to transfer individual data or export all the iOS data to your PC at one time. You can choose what you want to export and set the storage path for these files on your PC. Then, click "Transfer" to migrate the selected files on your iPhone/iPad to your PC in an accessible way

Step 3. Wait for a while to let MobiMover finish the transfer process. After then, you can view and edit the transferred content as you like.

Part 2: Common fixes to iCloud Drive not syncing on Windows 10

1. Enable iCloud Drive on Windows 10

After you have turned on the iCloud drive on the iOS device by going to Settings >  [your name] > iCloud and scrolling down to turn on iCloud Drive, you still need to enable iCloud Drive on your Windows 10 computer.

  • Run the Start menu and navigate to the iCloud folder.
  • Open the iCloud application and check the box next to iCloud Drive in the pop-up box.

2. Make sure you have signed in to the same Apple ID

Signing in to the same Apple ID is the basic condition to update and sync data across iOS and Mac OS devices. Open your iOS device or Mac to check the iCloud account is the same or not. 

3. Check the Wi-Fi or Cellular network

iCloud service will start only when a stable network is connected. Therefore, if you have WiFi not working or cellular not working problem, iCloud Drive won’t syncing files. Make sure you have connected a good network when you need the iCloud to update data.

4. Update the iCloud for Windows to the latest version

iCloud for Windows is a cross-system application that may be not working well due to system conflicts. In order to avoid issue caused by this reason, update the iCloud for Windows frequency to fix bugs.

5. Check the iCloud storage space

If there is no more free space on iCloud Drive, it won't update the new input data and you may get iCloud contacts not syncing to Windows PC or iCloud photos not syncing. You can check the iCloud storage on iPhone by going to Settings > [your name] > iCloud.