Stuck after an upgrade to Desktop App 7.1? How to go back to 6.x for ownCloud Server (Classic)

[DeepDiver1975]

Who this is for

You were using the ownCloud Desktop App 6.x with an ownCloud Server (ownCloud Classic / oc10) account. The client then got upgraded to 7.1 — and now your account no longer connects. Reinstalling 6.x didn't help — the client just shows a warning and closes.

This can happen in several ways: a Linux distribution upgrading the package automatically, or a manual update on Windows or macOS where the jump to 7.x wasn't expected. Whichever way you got here, this post explains why it happens and how to get back to a working 6.x setup without losing your account configuration or re-syncing everything.

💡 Before upgrading at any time in the future, please read the release notes at https://github.com/owncloud/client/releases. They exist precisely to flag breaking changes like this one, and a quick read would have warned that 7.x drops ownCloud Server support.

Background: 7.0 removed ownCloud Server support

Starting with Desktop App version 7.0, the client no longer supports ownCloud Server — it only connects to ownCloud Infinite Scale. If you need to keep using ownCloud Server, you must stay on a 6.x client.

So when a 7.x client is pointed at an ownCloud Classic server, the connection can no longer work as before. That is expected behaviour, not a bug in your setup.

Why you can't just reinstall 6.x

The Desktop App records which version last wrote its configuration. When you start a client whose major version is lower than the one stored in the configuration (i.e. starting 6.x after 7.1 has already run), the client deliberately refuses to start: it shows a warning that the settings were created by a newer version, and then quits. This guard exists because a newer configuration may use features an older client doesn't understand.

Because the 7.1 client already rewrote your configuration and stamped it as "7.1", a fresh 6.x install hits this guard immediately.

The good news: your old 6.x configuration was backed up automatically

Every time the Desktop App starts after a version change, it makes a backup copy of your configuration before updating it. The backup sits right next to the live configuration and is named like:

owncloud.cfg.backup_20260115_103000_6.0.0.12345

(the pattern is owncloud.cfg.backup_<date>_<time>_<old version>)

Because you were upgraded from 6.x, there is a backup file that still records your original 6.x configuration. Restoring it makes a reinstalled 6.x client see a 6.x configuration again — so it starts normally and reconnects to your existing ownCloud Classic account.

Where the configuration lives

OS	Configuration folder
Linux	~/.config/ownCloud/
Windows	%APPDATA%\ownCloud\ (e.g. C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\ownCloud)
macOS	~/Library/Preferences/ownCloud/

The live configuration file is owncloud.cfg; the backups are the owncloud.cfg.backup_* files in the same folder.

Step-by-step downgrade

1. Quit the Desktop App completely — close it from the system tray / menu bar, don't just close the window.

2. Open the configuration folder for your operating system (see the table above). Make sure hidden files and folders are visible.

3. Find your 6.x backup. Look for a file named owncloud.cfg.backup_…_6.x.x…. If there are several, pick the newest one that ends in a 6.x version. Note its full name.

4. Replace the 7.1 client with 6.x.

   • Uninstall the 7.1 client.
   • Install the latest 6.x Desktop App.

5. Restore the backup configuration. In the configuration folder:

   • Rename the current owncloud.cfg to something else (e.g. owncloud.cfg.7.1) so you keep it as a safety copy.
   • Make a copy of your chosen 6.x backup and name the copy owncloud.cfg.

   Tip: copy, don't move — keep the original .backup_… file untouched in case you need it again.

6. Start the 6.x Desktop App. It reads the restored 6.x configuration, recognises your ownCloud Classic account, and resumes syncing your existing local folder. Because the sync state is preserved, it won't re-download everything.

If there is no 6.x backup file

If you can't find an owncloud.cfg.backup_…_6.x… file (for example, it was cleaned up), you can set the account up again on 6.x:

1. Quit the client and (optionally) move the 7.1 owncloud.cfg aside.
2. Install and start 6.x, then add your ownCloud Classic account again.
3. When choosing the local folder, point it at your existing sync folder. The client detects the previous sync state and avoids a full re-download — only changes are reconciled.

While reusing an existing folder, don't change files locally or on the server at the same time, to avoid sync conflicts.

Prevent this in the future

Before applying any client update — automatic or manual, on any platform — read the release notes first: https://github.com/owncloud/client/releases. They call out breaking changes such as the removal of ownCloud Server support, so you can decide before upgrading whether a new version still fits your setup. Be especially careful with any "automatic update" mechanism that could jump you to 7.x while you still rely on ownCloud Server.

Notes & caveats

• Restoring an older configuration is not an officially supported downgrade path, but it works because it relies on the client's own automatic configuration backup.
• Keep the set-aside 7.1 owncloud.cfg and the original .backup_… files until you have confirmed 6.x is working.
• This applies to connecting the desktop client to ownCloud Server (Classic / oc10) only. If you are moving to ownCloud Infinite Scale, stay on 7.x instead.

[dennisvanderpool]

For those with ArchLinux (use config restore from DeepDiver1975)

Fixing ownCloud Client Compatibility on Arch Linux

Problem: owncloud-client 7.x no longer supports legacy ownCloud servers (requires Infinite Scale).
Solution: Downgrade to version 6.x and pin the package to prevent future updates.

1. Pin the Package Version

Prevent pacman from upgrading the client by modifying pacman.conf.

sudo vim /etc/pacman.conf

Add the following line to the [options] section:

IgnorePkg = owncloud-client

2. Downgrade to Version 6.x

Remove the current version and reinstall an older 6.x version from the local cache.

sudo pacman -R owncloud-client
sudo pacman -U /var/cache/pacman/pkg/owncloud-client-6*

Note: This assumes an older version is still available in /var/cache/pacman/pkg/. If not, use the downgrade helper tool instead.

3. Verify

Check that the correct version is installed:

pacman -Q owncloud-client

[AP-Sig]

This worked perfectly for me running CachyOS. Thanks for the step-by-step Dennis!

[iyanmv]

I have also created owncloud-client-6 in AUR for those interested.

[iyanmv]

And to downgrade, instead of relying on the cache folder, you can use Arch Linux' archive directly with: sudo pacman -U https://archive.archlinux.org/packages/o/owncloud-client/owncloud-client-6.0.3.18040-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst. But note that this might stop working in the future when dependencies are updated and a rebuilt is needed.

[ltomuta]

So I should read the release notes before applying an automatic update? Good one!

winget pin add --id ownCloud.ownCloudDesktop --version 6.* is something you may want to "advertise" as well.

[DeepDiver1975]

issue to track this owncloud/client#12574

[phil-davis]

Yeh, I didn't "do" anything. The v7 upgrade "just came" to my Ubuntu laptop as part of it automatically fetching new software. So I didn't know about it until after it had been already installed and was complaining to me about no connections.

[iyanmv]

@phil-davis Exactly, like everybody else here... the expectation that end-users will read release notes is simply delusional. If this even got by surprise to owncloud servers operators (yes, I had to notify switch.ch about this and only then they updated their instructions), imagine the average Joe user. As I mentioned here, I find it funny that owncloud-client does not support owncloud-server. If there was rebranding in the server side, there should have been a rebranding in the client side as well, and not break anything by default to all the users which, let's be honest, DO NOT read release notes of ANYTHING and they receive updates automatically from their package managers. Distros could have made a better job with this update? Yes, I think so. But definitely owncloud as well... like showing a warning in the app since some months ago, e.g., since v6.0.3, when connecting to a server that will stop working.

[SaschaHornauer]

So effectively this means owncloud is dead? If they abandon the free server this won't get updates and become more and more insecure?

[iyanmv]

@SaschaHornauer I think you are mixing things here, and your logic (A and B, therefore A->B) is wrong. ownCloud client v6.x will continue to be supported and receive security updates as long as ownCloud server 10 (and 11) are supported. This was mentioned here above or in some of the issues that pointed here.

[phil-davis]

On Ubuntu 24.04 to get owncloud-client to install version 6.0.3 I did:

1. make a “pin” file to tell “apt” what version to lock to:

sudo nano /etc/apt/preferences.d/owncloud-pin

Put this text in owncloud-pin:

Package: owncloud-client
Pin: version 6.0.*
Pin-Priority: 1001

2. Change the URL that is used to look for owncloud-client:
   sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/owncloud-client.list
   Edit replacing “latest” with “6.0” so that it has:
   deb https://download.owncloud.com/desktop/ownCloud/stable/6.0/linux/Ubuntu_24.04/ /

3. Update apt to get the latest into its cache:
   sudo apt update

4. Confirm that the pinning is correct:
   sudo apt-cache policy owncloud-client

owncloud-client:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 6.0.3.18040
  Version table:
     6.0.3.18040 1001
        500 https://download.owncloud.com/desktop/ownCloud/stable/6.0/linux/Ubuntu_24.04  Packages
     5.2.1.13040+dfsg-2build1 500
        500 http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/universe amd64 Packages

5. Install owncloud-client:
   sudo apt install owncloud-client

Now I have owncloud-client 6.0.3 on my Ubuntu laptop.

6. rename the existing “accidental” config to preserve it “just in case”

cd .config/ownCloud
mv owncloud.cfg owncloud.cfg.7.1

7. copy the old config into place

cp owncloud.cfg.backup_20260620_123910_6.0.3.18040 owncloud.cfg

8. start the ownCloud desktop client UI

It showed my 2 sync connections, knew where the local folders are stored, and has sync changes from the last few days.

[kbulgrien]

Ha, good one. This does not appear to work on Windows. Downgrading results simply in re-upgrading automatically on the next reboot (in a very unfriendly way that kills explorer and gives a black screen such that one has to ctrl-alt-del, start task manager, and restart explorer.exe). In fact, using various (differing) web search results on how to disable automatic update by either the configuration file or by the registry does not help either (and trying the owncloud documentation suggestions for 6.00 does not work). What does work is to prevent auto-upgrade by blocking the machine from accessing download.owncloud.com.

[dennisvanderpool]

Ha, good one. This does not appear to work on Windows. Downgrading results simply in re-upgrading automatically on the next reboot (in a very unfriendly way that kills explorer and gives a black screen such that one has to ctrl-alt-del, start task manager, and restart explorer.exe). In fact, using various (differing) web search results on how to disable automatic update by either the configuration file or by the registry does not help either (and trying the owncloud documentation suggestions for 6.00 does not work). What does work is to prevent auto-upgrade by blocking the machine from accessing download.owncloud.com.

Winget pinning worked for me, see how above

[kbulgrien]

Interestingly, my user is not an administrator user, and even if I am able to run winget from a UAC-elevated PowerShell instance, my user is unable to use winget for this after extensive troubleshooting and supposed remediation steps (gets "Failed when searching source; results will not be included: winget"), so not everyone has the same capability within easy reach.

[prajwel]

This was such a confusing problem. I am just realising what transpired.

Asking users to read release notes is just being evasive. Such a breaking change should have been better communicated.

[AdoHaha]

Script that worked for me (Ubuntu 24), to restore the 6 or prevent from upgradeing: https://github.com/AdoHaha/owncloud_keep_six

[flagrama]

What's the Fedora method to go back to 6? Or am I just fucked? Is there a third party application I don't need to deal with this garbage with?

[DeepDiver1975]

https://download.owncloud.com/desktop/ownCloud/stable/6/linux/download/

[flagrama]

Thank you. That works for now. Seems pretty clear that I should start looking for alternatives for owncloud in the future. Sure looks bleak.