Solved Best method to disable OneDrive on new PC with 23H2 on it

I'm in the process of setting up a new PC with 11 Pro and it has 23H2 on it. What is the best way to disable OneDrive from running on this system and how do I set a default open location for PC to open in file explorer?

Have you searched the Tutorials section? There are tutorials for what you want to do with OneDrive.
I’m not sure about a custom default way to open File Exporer. I’d guess you’d have to setup a shortcut. Someone will know. Perhaps if you right click on the folder you want Explorer to open to and choose create shortcut, it would save the shortcut to your desktop, I believe.

Group Policy, there's a group policy specifically for this

antspants said:

Have you searched the Tutorials section? There are tutorials for what you want to do with OneDrive.
I’m not sure about a custom default way to open File Exporer. I’d guess you’d have to setup a shortcut. Someone will know. Perhaps if you right click on the folder you want Explorer to open to and choose create shortcut, it would save the shortcut to your desktop, I believe.

Tutorials

Windows 11 tutorials, tricks, tips, and guides.

www.elevenforum.com

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I did have a look but wasn’t sure if it applied to 22H3

Alicia J said:

I did have a look but wasn’t sure if it applied to 22H3

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As far as I know, it still should be relevant.

CSharpDev said:

Group Policy, there's a group policy specifically for this

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I did that and then somehow completely messed up file explorer.

Microsoft has also supplied their own version of disabling OneDrive

Alicia J said:

I did that and then somehow completely messed up file explorer.

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Can you go into details? I have this GPO injected into my system images and I've never had issues

2 scenarios to do away with Onedrive-
SCENARIO 1 If during oobe setup you used a local account, it will not be tied to onedrive. All you have to do is disable onedrive from autostarting in
Task Manager-Startup Apps.
You can also uninstall it, but it will probably come back through an update. Disabling is a preferable option.

SCENARIO 2 If you set up your computer using a Microsoft account and that account is synced to Onedrive
You first have to turn off backup folder syncing. This tutorial tells you how and also how to get your files onto your local drive.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/turn-on-or-off-onedrive-folder-backup-syncing-across-windows-11-devices.4321/

NOTE: ONLY IF FOLDERS DO NOT MOVE TO DEFAULT LOCATION IN STEP 1 ABOVE DO THIS
If this happens, then you could try option three below to restore the default folder location and move your files manually from Onedrive into the folders..

• Move or Restore Default Location of Desktop Folder in Windows 11
• Move or Restore Default Location of Documents Folder in Windows 11 Tutorial
• Move or Restore Default Location of Pictures Folder in Windows 11
• Move or Restore Default Location of Videos Folder in Windows 11

2. Then you have to unlink account & PC from onedrive.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/unlink-account-and-pc-from-onedrive-in-windows-11.15162/
Once you do this the files you have in onedrive will remain there until you login to Onedrive on the Web and delete them.
Sign in - Microsoft OneDrive

3. You can then either uninstall Onedrive or disable it. I prefer to disable it. Open Task Manager>Startup Apps
Find Onedrive in the list and, right click on it, select disable. This prevents Onedrive from auto-starting.

4. If you want to uninstall it instead use Revo Uninstaller Freeware Portable. Be sure to delete any leftover files and registry entries Revo finds. Download Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Free and Full Download

CSharpDev said:

Can you go into details? I have this GPO injected into my system images and I've never had issues

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I couldn't begin to tell you how I got to the last state of file explorer not opening at all. Since I hadn't personalised the setting very far, I just did a reset.

Thank you for all your replies. I used the tutorial to stop file back up to onedrive, unlocked from pc and disabled in startup
Apps. There was nothing yet stored on the web.