Tmp.drivedownload
Anais Wachowski
This hidden folder named ".tmp.drivedownload" - which seems to be used by Google Drive's Backup and Sync desktop app - is taking up quite a bit of space on my SSD and with files as old as 2001. This is bizzare, as my laptop was bought 6 months ago brand new, so i assume all these files pre-2019 (basicly having files from every year in this folder) have been downloaded from my Google Drive account when installing the app.
I made a test, copied a file to my GD, this file was the duplicated into the newly re-created ".tmp.drivedownload" folder. Manually deleted the file from my GD, the duplicate was automatically deleted from the folder. So i think it really was full of "oh we forgot to delete these at some point" files.
The .tmp.drivedownload folder is from Google Backup and Sync.It is a hidden folder that appears at the root of your Google Drive folderas a temporary download space for new items that need to be synced and moved into place.
SOLUTION FOR MY PC. I tried everything I could find to delete the .tmp.drivedownload folder. The folder had 1022 files and showed each one as over 3GB, totaling over 3TB in the folder. My SSD has only 500GB so the folder could not have been 3TB. What finally fixed the problem was booting into "Windows 10 safe mode" and deleting the folder while in "safe mode". I rebooted my PC into regular Windows 10 mode, and poof the .tmp.drivedownload was finally gone. Search the internet for how to boot into safe mode. After deleting the .tmp.drivedownload folder in safe mode and while still in "safe mode" undo booting into "safe mode" and restart.
**** This article was originally written in 2017 when Google Drive was just a place to store a few items in the cloud. Many facets from the original article still hold true. There are a few updates at the end of the article which discus the NEW Google Drive Desktop Application which makes matters easier when searching for the virus.
From my understanding the .tmp.drivedownload Folder is created in Windows in c:\users\username\Google Drive and quickly removed in order for files from your Google Drive to transfer to your Windows device. The tmp.drivedownload is a temp folder that is supposed to be automatically removed once all files go to their specified folders in your c:\users\username\Google Drive. The problem with the .tmp.drivedownload occurs (at least in my case) if your Windows anti-virus finds a virus. It could occur if the file is corrupted or for other reasons that will not allow a file to be copied over. As I said before the .tmp.drivedownload only gets deleted once ALL files have been transfered. Your Windows anti-virus will quarantine the infected file that got transfered into the .tmp.drivedownload folder. Now you will have a situation where the files that are on your Google Drive do not match what is in your c:\users\username\Google Drive.
Again, I'm not actually taking any action at all - this happens totally without any interaction on my part. It happens for any file, not just the one seen in the example. Clicking the checkbox stops it from happening again for that particular file, but only for one instance. Anytime a new file is touched, the popup appears again for that next file.
The scary part is that what appears to happen is that the files seem to get dumped into trash or recycling on OTHER PEOPLE'S COMPUTERS - horrifying! I asked others to check, this and that's the only way we found out that files were getting nuked. I'm very worried that we will later discover that crucial files have gone missing, and only when it causes a crisis.
Tech support has told me over and over again to simply uncheck the box, despite my explanation that would stop it for that file, but this happens again for the next file - I want it to stop happening for new files. This has been extremely frustrating. It makes it clear that they are simply not reading my responses.
I have Googled enough to discover that this has to do with some sort of conflict with Google Drive syncing, but can't get any info about how to stop files from being deleted, let alone stop the error from happening.
Ideas? Thoughts? Things I can test? Please, any help will be gratefully accepted! In the meantime, I've stopped all file syncing in both GDrive and Dropbox, for fear of this accidentally leading to deletion of valuable project or client files.
Thanks, Jay, I did manage to delete it however it was not Dropbox that was stopping the process, it was Google Drive that was making it impossible have no idea why! I cannot understand how Google Drive put the folder in there in the first place then took control of it. I was thinking like yourself if Dropbox is finished syncing I should be able to delete it, however, I had to stop Google Drive to delete it. All worked in the end! All those pop-up messages also turned out to be saving files in that folder too which is why the folder was getting bigger and bigger and nothing got accidentally deleted.
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Yes, that's probably the case. At one point, I was trying to remove some items from DB and move them to GD as the client was migrating. But this started some time after that, so I wasn't able to be certain that the file move caused the problem. Either way, it's definitely a conflict. The problem is, nobody can figure out how to correct it.
I should restate for clarity, *nobody is trying to delete any files*, it's happening on its' own. This popup and the possible deletion occurs when (for example) another person (not me) opens the file, makes a change, and then simply tries to save it back where it came from.
This is the dangerous part that I couldn't get tech support to understand. If I were to click "move anyway" on the original popup box, I have no idea what would happen. I always clicked "cancel" and "don't show this message again", which I *hope* stopped the deletion of the file... again, no way to test this without seriously making a mess.
I am also having this issue! I to have had those messages and had to click on cancel. I can see the tmp.drivedownload folder in my Dropbox folder and it should not be there, for some reason it is, it is also in the Google Drive folder, however, there are no files in it. What I was attempting to do was move some files onto Google Drive and keep only some on Dropbox. However, my Dropbox folder has decided that will not be the case because I cannot delete the tmp.drivedownload folder that seems to be getting bigger and bigger. Therefore I think after all my files from Dropbox are uploaded to Google Drive I will have to uninstall dropbox as it is basically useless to me due to this undeletable tmp.drivedownload folder.
While using Google Drive you might discover a new folder tmp.drivedownload on your Desktop or My Documents directory. Before we head to the question whether it is safe to find duplicate content inside tmp.drivedownload folder, let us first understand what this folder is all about and the purpose behind its creation.
Continuous usage of Google Drive can bring about huge benefits for the user, but it might just lead to the duplication of data as well. The user might not be careful in organizing their data, and they will end up creating duplicates this way. Use Clone Files Checker for a swift and perfect duplicate file delete operation.
tmp.drivedownload is a temporary folder. It is created when you download any document or file from the Google Drive server. It contains files as part of Google Drive cache during the download process. If you further investigate, you might be shocked to find that the folder size is too large, sometimes in several GBs.
Yes, it is absolutely safe to delete the contents of tmp.drivedownload folder that are duplicates. However, Google Drive client application must be closed before you attempt to delete these files. This is because no files can be deleted while they are being used. You can confirm the same by checking the Google Drive application icon in the notification area of your Taskbar.
My D Drive contains old backups from almost 10 PC's from my old advertising agency I owned, and the ".tmp.drivedownload" folder is empy 0 byte that seems to be a hidden one (the icon is brighter/less visible), with no files inside (unless proven otherwise).
Let the Safety Scanner run finish. You do not have to watch it as it runs. But do ignore that display of "infected". Those are not confirmed & its just presumption. Only the final report is what matters.
By the way, about what you "saw" on intermediate displays of the Microsoft Safety Scanner, I would like you to review the remarks by AndyDavid about all that on this Microsoft community venue -us/answers/questions/326108/mar-1721-msert-detects-items-during-scan-but-at-en.html
Thanks for the reports. To best of my knowledge, "AutoKMS" is not something that Microsoft asks consumers to use any of it. Matter of fact, they classify it as a hacktool. See -us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclopedia-description?Name=HackTool:Win32%2fAutoKMS
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