Sync Microsoft OneDrive in Linux

Problem:

I need to use my Microsoft One Drive on Linux as a local hard disk and keep it sync.

Solution:

There is no official OneDrive client for Linux computers. The functionality of drive syncing can be achieved by using the third party software RClone. RClone requires a Linux computer with a GUI interface (it will not work on command line only installs).

¡Important! RClone is a third party software not supported by Microsoft.

We are following the solution in two parts:

PART 1. Install and setup rclone and OneDrive on Linux
PART 2. Mount the One Drive in a Linux

PART 1. Install and setup rclone and OneDrive on Linux

¡Important! RClone is a third party software not supported by Microsoft.

Open a terminal window and install RClone using the following command.
```
 curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash
```
Start configuring OneDrive in RClone by running the config command.
```
 rclone config
```

You will be prompted with configuration options. Choose n to create a new remote.

 >>>No remotes found, make a new one?
 n) New remote
 s) Set configuration password
 q) Quit config
 n/s/q> n

Enter OneDriveITC as the name for the remote.
For storage type, enter onedrive (or the corresponding number).

Leave client_id and client_secret empty. Press enter key to leave the fields blank.

 >>>Option client_id.
 OAuth Client Id.
 Leave blank normally.
 Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
 client_id> 
 >>>Option client_secret.
 OAuth Client Secret.
 Leave blank normally.
 Enter a value. Press Enter to leave empty.
 client_secret>

Enter 1 for the region.

Press n to skip advanced configuration.

 >>>Edit advanced config?
 y) Yes
 n) No (default)
 y/n> n

Press y to authenticate using a your default web browser.

 Use web browser to automatically authenticate rclone with remote?
 * Say Y if the machine running rclone has a web browser you can use
 * Say N if running rclone on a (remote) machine without web browser access
 If not sure try Y. If Y failed, try N.
 y) Yes (default)
 n) No
 y/n> y

A browser window will open to a Microsoft login screen. Login using your TecNM email address and NetID password.
After logging in, close the browser window and go back to the terminal that is running RClone.
When prompted for config_type (Type of connection) enter onedrive or 1.
When prompted for Option config_driveid choose 2 (Documentos (business)).

You’ll be prompted to connect to the root of your OneDrive. Press y to continue.

>>>Drive OK?
Found drive "root" of type "business"
URL: URL: https://itculiacanedu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/d24171315_culiacan_tecnm_mx/Documents

y) Yes (default)
n) No
y/n> y

Press y to confirm that the remote is ok.

>>>y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y

Press q to close the remote configuration procedure.

Current remotes:
Name                 Type
====                 ====
OneDriveITC          onedrive
e) Edit existing remote
n) New remote
d) Delete remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
e/n/d/r/c/s/q> q

Create a OneDriveITC directory in your home folder to mount the remote that you just created.
```
mkdir ~/OneDriveITC
```

Mount the remote by using the command:

rclone --vfs-cache-mode writes mount OneDriveITC: ~/OneDriveITC &

Close the terminal window. You should now have OneDrive mounted in your file system.

¡IMPORTANT! If you reboot the computer you will need to remount the remote using the command in step 17.

PART 2. Mount the One Drive in a Linux at startup

You can verify that your remote is working by using:
```
 rclone ls OneDriveITC:
```
It will appear a listing remote contents:

Get the config location using:

 $ rclone config file
 /home/rogelio/.config/rclone/rclone.conf

Copy the file path!

Set read permissions to the config file :
```
 chmod 640 /home/rogelio/.config/rclone/rclone.conf
```
Please, replace (paste) the config file path.
To mount, try this command:
```
 rclone mount --vfs-cache-mode full OneDriveITC: ~/OneDriveITC --config /home/rogelio/.config/rclone/rclone.conf
```
Please, replace (paste) your config path.

Try to copy or create files for testing that mount point is working.

Note: vfs-cache-mode has two options: full or writes. full is recommended if you want to reduce latency, but the space in HDD will be up. writes is the option if mainly you will write.

In these next steps, we’ll create a systemd service. Go to /etc/systemd/system/ and create a new file called rclonemountITC.service and paste this in:

 [Unit]
 Description=Rclone mount ITC
 AssertPathIsDirectory=/media/rogelio/DATA-HD-4TB/OneDriveITC
 After=network-online.target
 [Service]
 Type=simple
 ExecStart=/usr/bin/rclone mount \
         --config=/home/rogelio/.config/rclone/rclone.conf \
         --vfs-cache-mode full \
         OneDriveITC: /media/rogelio/DATA-HD-4TB/OneDriveITC
 ExecStop=/bin/fusermount -u /media/rogelio/DATA-HD-4TB/OneDriveITC
 Restart=always
 RestartSec=10
 User=rogelio
 [Install]
 WantedBy=default.target

Replace rogelio by your username in your local computer.

Save it and execute it by running systemctl start rclonemountITC. You can view if it failed or not by running systemctl status rclonemountITC.

To make it execute on next boot, execute systemctl enable rclonemountITC and it should run on the next reboot.

If you do any changes to rclonemountITC.service file, make sure to execute systemctl daemon-reload to reload any changes you’re done.

Fixing things

After terminating rclone, FUSE usually doesn’t dismount correctly. We’ll have to run fusermount -u <mountpoint> to unmount it correctly. If it says its busy, force it by umount -l <mountpoint> and then using the fusermount command again.

Source:

Knowledge Base - University of Connecticut

https://kb.uconn.edu/space/IKB/26050527301/Setting+up+OneDrive+on+Linux

Mounting Onedrive with Rclone mount on startup with Systemd

https://thunderysteak.github.io/rclone-mount-onedrive

Forum - Rclone is very slow to opening files

https://forum.rclone.org/t/rclone-is-very-slow-to-opening-files/33416/4

Rclone cache

https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_mount/#vfs-file-caching

Rclone OneDrive setup

https://rclone.org/onedrive/