Video thumbs refuse to load in DO after nextcloud uninstall

Help & Support
1

this is not really about nextcloud but I'll have to mention it to tell the story so here goes:

I was intrigued by the nextcloud workspace app and downloaded the desktop app and installed, then I was asked to pick a folder. I picked a folder of videos to test with. I was assuming I'm sharing my directory with my friends in a workspace chat, but turns out it was the just the basic cloud feature and it started uploading it. I promptly cancelled the operation and uninstalled the app.

now, later I noticed that this directory is no longer displaying thumbnails on any of the videos on DO. I am using icaros for thumbnailing, and so I tried resetting the cache on windows, icaros and DO, but the problem remains.

I asked AI for help and it keeps saying something about alternate datastreams, which I have found in a few files that were unrelated, and now deleted. no change. I even tried to robocopy the files to a different folder, stripping them of things AI said could be the cause, but again no change. new files added to the dir do generate thumbs. changing the dir name or location does not help. there are no added non-video files in the dir tree. the videos also playback perfectly fine. the thumbs even turn up normally on windows explorer, but not DO. it does not have anything to do with filetypes since the same types are also present outside the directory and they work fine.

I am trying really hard not to have to do a fresh windows install just because of this. plz help

2

Are they also broken in File Explorer?

3

no, in file explorer they load fine

4

Is the problem only in the folder which Nextcloud had taken over?

Is that folder listed under Preferences / Folders / Special Folders?

(I'm assuming you've tried the simple stuff like rebooting after the uninstall.)

5

yes only in the folder which nextcloud took over for a brief moment. That folder is not listed in special folders. Yes I've rebooted.

6

That probably means Nextcloud didn't fully remove itself, and the folder is still flagged as cloud storage, or some of the files are still flagged as being offline.

What do you see next to the files if you turn on the General > Availability column in that folder?

Also check the General > Attributes column (if it's not on already) to see if there are any exotic attributes set like o or i.

7

"available when online"
"-a---o-"
on all the affected files

8

The o (offline) attribute needs to be removed from those files. (Assuming they still have the data that was in them, and it isn't only in the cloud or gone entirely now.)

Uninstalling Nextcloud should have done that, but I guess they overlooked it.

9

I did attrib -o -p -u . /s /d on the dir and that fixed it. thank you! what data are you referring to that might be gone?

10

Cloud storage services usually offer the ability to either:

  • Synchronise your files with a remote storage (even if it is a local NAS) :play_button: files are both stored locally and remotely
  • Move your files to that storage but leave a shadow file on your system that will be downloaded when needed :play_button: files are only stored remotely unless you want to use them (then they are maybe temporarily stored locallyl)

If your NextCloud installation and usage led to the second option, and the uninstall did not place back the real files on your local hard drive, data could be lost.