Google Drive Stuck Uploading

When Google Drive for Desktop gets stuck uploading, you will see files in the upload queue displaying a constant progress bar, spinning icons, or the status “Syncing 1 of X files” that never progresses. In many cases, the upload freezes at 99% or returns errors during large file operations.

This guide walks you through releasing file locks, clearing stuck upload database queues, and running sync-clearing scripts on Windows and macOS.

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1. Primary Causes of Stuck Uploads

Upload queues generally freeze due to the following system interactions:

• Active Application File Locks: The application that created the file (e.g., Photoshop, Word, or Excel) still holds an exclusive read/write lock on the file. Google Drive cannot read the file stream to upload it.
• Corrupted Sync Database Queue: Google Drive’s local transfer queue database (stored in SQLite format) suffers a write collision, causing the syncing thread to stall.
• Network Packet Drop / Timeout: Large uploads (like video files) can timeout on unstable networks, causing the client to enter an infinite retry loop.
• Filename String Restrictions: File paths that exceed 255 characters, or filenames containing unsupported unicode symbols, are rejected by Google’s API during the finalization step.

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2. Identify Locked File Handles

Before resetting the entire client database, check if another process is locking the target files:

Windows File Lock Resolution

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
2. Click the Performance tab, then click Open Resource Monitor at the bottom.
3. In Resource Monitor, click the CPU tab, expand Associated Handles, and type the filename of the stuck file in the search box.
4. If a process is listed, right-click it and select End Process to release the file lock.

macOS File Lock Resolution

1. Open Terminal.
2. Run the lsof (List Open Files) command to find what application is blocking the Google Drive files:

   # List open files locked within the Google Drive folders
   lsof | grep -i "Google"

3. Close the listed applications to free the handle.

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3. Purge Stuck Upload Cache on Windows

If no files are locked but the queue is still frozen, force-quit Google Drive and clear the sync queue cache:

A. Reset Sync Queue databases via Command Line

1. Open Command Prompt (Admin).
2. Execute the following command block:

   :: Force close the client
   taskkill /f /im googlepackagedexe.exe
   
   :: Purge local DriveFS metadata database (deletes the stuck transfer queue list)
   rmdir /s /q "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Google\DriveFS"

3. Restart Google Drive from the Start Menu. It will perform a clean folder re-scan and start uploading the files cleanly.

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4. Purge Stuck Upload Cache on macOS

On macOS, FileProvider uploads can get stuck in a system queue. Purging the cache fixes this.

A. Clear macOS FileProvider Upload Pipelines

1. Open Terminal.
2. Stop the application and delete the cache directory:

   # Stop the client process
   killall "Google Drive" 2>/dev/null || true
   
   # Purge the local SQLite transfer queue databases
   rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/DriveFS

3. Relaunch Google Drive. The virtual drive will remount and re-examine the directory tree.

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5. Summary Quick Reference Checklist

Step Target	Operating System	Troubleshooting Action	Expected Outcome
Check File Locks (Win)	Windows	Use Resource Monitor -> Associated Handles.	Discovers and ends lock-holding apps.
Check File Locks (Mac)	macOS	Run lsof | grep -i "Google" in Terminal.	Pinpoints file handles held by macOS apps.
Clear Upload Queue (Win)	Windows	rmdir /s /q "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Google\DriveFS"	Purges corrupted SQLite sync queues.
Clear Upload Queue (Mac)	macOS	rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/DriveFS	Resets FileProvider transaction state.
Audit Path Limits	All Platforms	Ensure file path is < 255 chars; remove trailing spaces.	Resolves API filename rejection errors.