Default save location for newly installed programs still OneDrive

Buddy · Feb 9, 2023

I disabled OneDrive with the Group Policy Editor change from the Tutorials. I left it installed, on the off chance that I might want to use it again some day. It's stopped trying to sync, but...

Every time I install a new program, the default save folder for documents that it creates is c:\Users\Buddy\OneDrive\Documents. It's not hard to change that to c:\Users\Buddy\Documents, but it's still an aggravation and one that I'm likely to forget doing one of these days. At one time, I thought the save folder name was baked into the program install, but I've about decided that the program is getting that location from Windows and that it's OneDrive. So...

If there is a default save folder supplied by Windows, how do I change it?

James · Feb 10, 2023

As an out-of-the-box approach, you could relocate onedrive? Change the location of your OneDrive folder - Microsoft Support

Buddy · Feb 10, 2023

James said:
As an out-of-the-box approach, you could relocate onedrive? Change the location of your OneDrive folder - Microsoft Support

Yeah, maybe I'll just rename it or move it. I keep thinking there's a setting somewhere that says "put Windows default save locations here".

I've thought about uninstalling OneDrive, but even that might not fix a setting located somewhere else.

TairikuOkami · Feb 10, 2023

Buddy said:
If there is a default save folder supplied by Windows, how do I change it?

The whole purpose of onedrive is to take control over system folders, so it could back them up.
If you want to place files in separate folders, just create something unrelated, like docs and so on.

Buddy said:
I've thought about uninstalling OneDrive, but even that might not fix a setting located somewhere else.

It would, but make sure to disable ondemand only, or it will take all your files with it.

Enable or Disable OneDrive Files On-Demand in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off OneDrive Files On-Demand for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. You can use OneDrive to sync files and folders between your computer and the cloud, so you can get to your files from anywhere - your computer, your mobile device, and even...

www.elevenforum.com

Buddy · Feb 10, 2023

@TairikuOkami Thanks for your comments, but I've already taken care of the two things you mentioned.

First, I have already gone into the preferences of all the programs that I installed and set them to save to folders directly under my c:\Users\Buddy.

Second, moved all my folders and files out from under the c:\Users\buddy\OneDrive folder before I disabled OneDrive with the Group Policy Editor setting, so there's nothing to lose.

In short, I've already stopped using OneDrive and have deleted everything from my OneDrive storage.

What I'm trying to do now is to stop Windows or the remnants of OneDrive or whatever else that is telling each newly installed program to set their default file save location in a folder under c:\users\buddy\OneDrive. I'd go ahead and uninstall OneDrive, but I don't know for sure that doing so would stop new programs, if the setting is somewhere controlled by Windows itself.

James · Feb 10, 2023

Onedrive files are stored on the cloud and your pc. Are program files saving to documents in onedrive?

Buddy · Feb 10, 2023

James said:
Onedrive files are stored on the cloud and your pc. Are program files saving to documents in onedrive?

I understand how OneDrive works. You save a file into a specific folder tree on your PC and it gets synced to the cloud site. Any files in a folder in the tree under c:\users\"yourname" will gets synced.

The problem I'm trying to convey here is this: Even though I've disabled OneDrive, every time I install a NEW program, its default save folder is under c:\users\buddy\OneDrive. I'd wondered if that behavior was baked into the program install, but some of these are legacy programs and WAY predate OneDrive. So I can only assume that Windows is supplying the default save location to them. And I want to know where to go to change that setting, since it seems that disabling OneDrive left that behavior still functioning.

Trust me, I've Googled, but can't seem to find the right keywords to get the answer.

Buddy · Feb 13, 2023

I think I've probably gotten about as far as I can get with this.

Specifically, I recently installed VueScan. HP stopped supplying drivers long ago for my flatbed 7400 scanner, otherwise still a good piece. VueScan supports it. Even though I disabled OneDrive from Group Policy Editor AND also disabled using OneDrive as the default save location, VueScan continues to save its config files to C:\users\buddy\OneDrive.

I sent the VueScan folks a support question and they quickly replied that VueScan asks Windows for the default save location in CSIDL_MYPICTURES. So, it would seem that the CSIDL was set by Windows to push you to OneDrive and hasn't been changed to reflect disabling OneDrive as the default save location.

This is just one more reason why it looks like I should have uninstalled OneDrive first thing out of the box. I didn't do that, because I wanted to use it for a while and see if I liked it. I didn't. Now, six weeks later, it's still pestering me.

To those of you who use and like OneDrive, I have read plenty of posts and understand why it works for you. I'm just a one-person one-computer shop, no need to collaborate, no need to sync multiple computers. OD adds a layer of complexity that I don't need. And the few people that I do infrequently share data with all use Google Drive, which is less invasive in my meagre experience.

Buddy · Feb 14, 2023

Installed Macrium today. Started my first image backup a few minutes ago. And it reports that the backup definition file was saved to c:\users\buddy\OneDrive\Reflect. (To be completely clear, this is Macrium's xml file with the details of the backup parameters chosen, not the image itself, which correctly went where I pointed it.)

This behavior is after I turned off default saving to OneDrive using the Group Policy Editor. It looks like the CSIDL mentioned by the VueScan folks is also queried by Macrium and lots of other programs and that turning off default saves didn't reset it. If a program doesn't offer a settings option for where to save stuff, it keeps going to OneDrive even after you shut off OneDrive.

Yes, I realize the file was only saved locally, since I have OneDrive synching turned off. It's still an aggravation.

Does anyone know how and where to change the CSIDL? Or whether uninstalling OneDrive will reset it?

Haydon · Mar 5, 2023

I came here from the 'other' thread where you stated that you will go with Google Drive. That solves one aspect (the cloud aspect) of the issue.

The other aspect (the local aspect) remains, i.e. there is aggravation each time you install a new app. May be time to try out your own advice?

Buddy said:
... I should have uninstalled OneDrive first thing out of the box.

I'm very much interested as I will face the exact same issue if and when I upgrade my workhorse to W11.

Buddy · Mar 6, 2023

@Haydon As the old saying goes " if I knew then what I know now".

tedtarg · May 25, 2023

I was happy to find this thread today just to know that it was not just me that is aggravated by this behaviour... and that, like you, i thought I could try out onedrive on my shiny new laptop and see if it is useful and then disable or uninstall...but that onedrive file structure and default save location behaviour is like a tar baby...once you have touched it, you can not get rid of it... have you found out any further info on the CSIDL ?

DigitalGoat · May 25, 2023

Instead of trying to find and edit a setting in the registry, that may mess up the handling of file types from several apps and that might just be reset with a cumulative update or baked in Windows troubleshooting tool, I suggest you just uninstall OneDrive.
The setup program for it should remain on your system in case you want to re install it at some point, uninstalling it will solve the issue of where files are saved without causing potential damage to the rest of your system.
This works fine on my system.

tedtarg · May 25, 2023

thanks , thats good advice... i've uninstalled onedrive completely before i got more files scattered into it and i believe this is the best solution for me... thanks again..

Buddy · May 25, 2023

@tedtarg I scraped all over the web trying to find info about the CSIDL, to no avail. Not much luck poking around in the Registry, either. I finally gave up. It's somewhere, or else the VueScan developers wouldn't be referring to it. <shrug>

I originally posted about this in February. At that time, I was holding off on completely uninstalling OneDrive, to see how well using Google Drive worked out for me, as well as out of a bit of skepticism that completely uninstalling it might introduce some other woes. Or that MS might reinstall it as part of an update. Sort of leaving well enough alone...

Anyway, after reading plenty of posts where people successfully uninstalled OD, that's what I should have done when I was first setting up the PC. 20/20 hindsight. It's been a while since I've needed to install new software, but I'll get rid of OD before I do another install.

GaryW · May 25, 2023

Buddy said:
I disabled OneDrive with the Group Policy Editor change from the Tutorials. I left it installed, on the off chance that I might want to use it again some day. It's stopped trying to sync, but...

Every time I install a new program, the default save folder for documents that it creates is c:\Users\Buddy\OneDrive\Documents. It's not hard to change that to c:\Users\Buddy\Documents, but it's still an aggravation and one that I'm likely to forget doing one of these days. At one time, I thought the save folder name was baked into the program install, but I've about decided that the program is getting that location from Windows and that it's OneDrive. So...

If there is a default save folder supplied by Windows, how do I change it?

First thing I do when I install a new drive is to open One Drive settings and turn off the backup function.
The One Drive menus vary somewhat between various Windows installations, but the capability is still there.

Below is the procedure for W11 22H2

1. Click on the One Drive Icon.

2. Click on the Settings Icon.

3. Click on Settings

4. Click on Manage backup.

5. Turn off the folders you don’t want backed up.

After doing these steps, I drag and drop files that I want backed up to OneDrive onto the One Drive folder on my C drive.

DigitalGoat · May 26, 2023

Buddy said:
@tedtarg I scraped all over the web trying to find info about the CSIDL, to no avail. Not much luck poking around in the Registry, either. I finally gave up. It's somewhere, or else the VueScan developers wouldn't be referring to it. <shrug>

I originally posted about this in February. At that time, I was holding off on completely uninstalling OneDrive, to see how well using Google Drive worked out for me, as well as out of a bit of skepticism that completely uninstalling it might introduce some other woes. Or that MS might reinstall it as part of an update. Sort of leaving well enough alone...

Anyway, after reading plenty of posts where people successfully uninstalled OD, that's what I should have done when I was first setting up the PC. 20/20 hindsight. It's been a while since I've needed to install new software, but I'll get rid of OD before I do another install.

The CLSID keys are easy enough to find with Regedit, for example here : Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WOW6432Node\CLSID\
There can be hundreds of entries for both 64 & 32 bit handlers depending on the software you have installed, the keys are referenced by other keys in a nested method and are not as straightforward as 'open .txt with Notepad', although a few are that simple.
Unless you know exactly how the nested references work for a particular file type and application you can cause an awful lot of damage to a working system, hence the recommendation to just uninstall OneDrive as the easier, safer option.

idgat · May 26, 2023

RevoUninstaller to remove it completely, including using the Advanced option to remove all leftover files/folders/registry entries!!!

It can always be re-installed if needed again

To para-phrase, and with apologies to, King Henry II ... "Will no-one rid me of this turbulent beast"

MisterEd · May 26, 2023

After I stopped syncing to OneDrive I uninstalled it. The C:\Users\<username>\OneDrive folder still exists but nothing ever goes into it.

I also have VueScan. The Default folder (i.e. save) location is C:\Users\<username>\Pictures. However, that can be changed to somewhere else.
The default configuration folder is C:\Users\<username>\Pictures\VueScan. That can't be changed.

Buddy · May 26, 2023

@MisterEd You must have uninstalled OneDrive before you installed VueScan. I didn't. My config folder is stuck at c:\Users\buddy\OneDrive\Pictures\Vuescan.

As you noted, you can indeed change the save location for the scans.

Default save location for newly installed programs still OneDrive

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