New Box Drive for Windows: Built on a New Architecture

Box Drive for Windows now runs on a new architecture built on native Windows technology, with better performance, reliability, and compatibility. Key updates include support for ARM devices, known folder redirection, flexible storage management options, the ability to mark files for offline access, new icons with multiple status indicators, and seamless integration into the Windows context menu. These enhancements provide users and administrators with greater control, clarity, and efficiency when managing cloud content on their devices. See the full list of new features and enhancements below.

New architecture OS requirements:

• Windows 10: Version 10.0.19045 or later
• Windows 11
• Windows Server: Version 2022 or later

ARM devices support

Starting with Box Drive version 2.47, ARM based devices running Windows OS are supported. Simply install Box Drive version 2.47 or later—no additional configuration is required.

Better compatibility with local AI agents

The new architecture improves how Box Drive interacts with local applications that read and write files directly on your device, including local AI agents such as Claude Cowork, and similar tools.

On the previous Box Drive architecture, some of these tools could intermittently fail to open Box Drive folders, list their contents, or complete tasks that depended on Box files despite the files appearing to be present locally. With the new architecture, Box content behaves similar to a standard local drive so local AI agents can reliably:

• Open and traverse Box Drive folders
• Read and write Box files as part of an agent task or build step
• Run multi-step workflows that depend on Box content without partial or incomplete results

Known Folder Redirection

Admins can configure known folder redirection for end users to Box Drive using system administration tools such as Group Policy Objects (GPO). This setup ensures folders such as Documents and Downloads are automatically synchronized with Box, helping users keep their important files backed up and accessible across devices without manual effort.

For more information on how admins can configure known folder location, visit Enabling Known Folder Redirection on Windows.

Custom Box Folder Location

Box admins can free up space on users’ system drives by configuring the Box folder location to a different internal drive. When this setting is changed, all downloaded Box content will be saved in the new custom folder location instead of the default system drive. For more information on how admins can change the default Box Drive folder location, visit: Configuring the Default Box Drive Folder Location (Windows Only)

Mark Single Files for Offline Access

Previously, only folders could be marked for offline access in Box Drive. With the new architecture, both individual files and folders can be marked for offline use directly from the main context menu using the “Always keep on this device” option. This provides users with greater flexibility and control over which content is available without an internet connection.

Previous architecture	New architecture
Only folders can be marked for offline To reach Box menu, users had extra clicks to see more of the context menu	Both files and folders can be marked for offline. Mark for offline option is available in the main context menu as “Always keep on this device”

New icons, multiple statuses and resolved icons overlay issues

Box Drive now features updated sync icons and a dedicated Status column in File Explorer, allowing users to easily view synchronization status, lock status, and when items are open by another user. The new architecture supports displaying multiple status icons simultaneously, offers additional tooltips for more detailed information, and delivers more reliable and consistent icon overlays—resolving previous display issues with other cloud providers on desktop.

Previous architecture	New architecture

Previous architecture	New architecture	Description
		Item is up-to-date in Box and available online-only.
		Item is a problem item. For more information on problem items and how to resolve them, see Problem Item Notifications.
		Item is in the process of being saved to Box.
		Item has been locked.
		Item is marked for offline access.
N/A		Item is downloaded.
		Item is open in an active co-authoring session.
N/A		Folder is marked for offline but contains items that can’t be downloaded.

New context menu

The new context menu in Box Drive is now seamlessly integrated into the native Windows context menu, allowing users to quickly access Box-specific actions without any extra clicks. This streamlines workflow and improves ease of use by presenting Box options alongside standard file operations.

Previous architecture	New architecture
To reach Box menu user had to do extra click to see the different context menu.	Box menu is seamlessly integrated into the native context menu.

Storage Management: Unpinning Folders and Files

Unpinning files and folders in Box Drive allows users to remove downloaded content from their local device, freeing up disk space while keeping the items accessible online. When a file or folder is unpinned, it becomes online-only—meaning it will no longer take up local storage but can still be accessed and downloaded again when needed.

Previous architecture	New architecture
Making files available online does not guarantee that local storage will be freed immediately. Some cached files may remain on the disk.	Users can identify which files are available locally on disk and have the capability to free up space by making them online-only.

Additional Improvements in Box Drive:

• Box Drive folders remain accessible even when the Box Drive application is not running.
• Improved read and write performance for files already cached on disk.
• Full compatibility of Box Drive with Windows applications from the Microsoft Store.
• Added a progress bar to indicate file download status from Box both in file explorer and as a pop up window
• Added notifications for background downloads, allowing users to monitor progress and cancel downloads if needed.
• Users receive notifications during background file downloads, with an option to cancel.

Limitations and key considerations

Important update required for VDI environments:

If your setup persists the application directory (%localappdata%\Box\Box), you must also persist the mount location (%userprofile%\Box by default). Box Drive now stores downloaded content in the actual mount location, so both locations need to be preserved.

Security Policy Exemptions for Executable Files

For organizations that use Group Policy or third‑party security tools to restrict executable files, update your allowlist to include:

•   C:\Program Files\Box\Box\FS\cf\cfctl.exe
  
•   C:\Program Files\Box\Box\FS\cf\streem.exe
  

Known Issue with Dell SupportAssist Remediation:
Dell SupportAssist Remediation may cause excessive local storage usage by including Box Drive content in its system snapshot backups. This has been observed on devices such as the XPS 13 and 15. Removing or reconfiguring the application can help resolve the issue. We recommend checking for this tool if you notice unusually high disk space usage.

	Previous architecture	New architecture
File Marked in Sync after Local Changes (Edit/Rename/Move)	On the previous architecture, the icon changed to synced as soon as the change was uploaded.	File is only marked as Synced after the file is closed in application such as Word, etc.
Custom Mount Location	Changing of the Mount location doesn’t require Drive logout if it was run in older location.	Changing of the Mount location requires Drive logout if it was run in older location. The user is prompted to logout to use new location.

Marked for offline access:

In the current Windows release of Box Drive, admin changes to the Mark for offline (MFO) setting may not immediately display in the context menu and possibly require restarts to show. MFO (mark for offline) options may appear briefly after the feature has been disabled by an admin. However, selecting these options will have no effect as MFO is already off in the background, and access to Box content is not affected.

Known Issue with HP Sure Click:

On some HP business devices, HP Sure Click can block required file operations and cause installation, upgrade, or migration failure. If HP Sure Click software is installed in your environment, we recommend testing the new architecture on a small set of devices before migrating your entire organization. Additionally, work with your IT team to adjust or disable the software for Box Drive if issues occur.

Known limitation: new architecture and FSLogix

The new architecture is currently incompatible with FSLogix environments on VDI (such as Azure Virtual Desktop). Users may encounter errors that prevent folder access and file synchronization, as Box Drive is not yet supported for use with FSLogix. Updates on a solution will be communicated from the release notes channel.

Restore deleted files or folders from your computer

If you deleted an item and need to restore it, check your Recycle Bin to see whether the item is there. Locally downloaded items (green check) are moved to both the Windows Recycle Bin and Box Trash when deleted. Online-only items (blue cloud) are moved only to Box Trash, in which case, deleted items may be in your Recycle Bin.