Green Check marks on desktop icons

Hi,
I know updates are pushed on Tuesdays, but I have been around my Windows 11 desktop computer much of the day and just noticed (for the first time ever) that there were green check marks on my desktop icons. A google search says that means the icons (files) are synced with OneDrive to the "Cloud".

My initial Windows install was built from NTLite and installed about 2 months ago. One of the settings in NTLite was to NOT install OneDrive. Even so, I ran the popular OneDrive uninstall script after I installed Windows just to be sure. Also I only have a local account on Windows.

I realize some custom settings may get lost when updates occur, but even if an update did reinstall OneDrive, the green check mark indicates those files are synced to the cloud. Where are those files stored if I do not have a Microsoft account? I just happened to notice this on my desktop. What other files and folders has Microsoft copied without my consent and where to?

Windows 11 Pro 22H2

From file explorer, right click on your desktop folder, select properties, select location tab. What it the location of the folder?

And yes, some updates, especially version updates, will reinstall Onedrive so rather than uninstalling it, I always disable it from starting.. But you are right, it does require a MS account. Did this computer EVER use a MS account?To see if Onedrive is installed go to settings>apps>installed apps. Is Microsoft Onedrive in the list?

My desktop folder is located in the standard Users>[name]>Desktop folder. I never had a MS account and don't use my actual name on my local account.

Right after I seen the green check marks I googled it and it looked just like the articles google found saying it is OneDrive synced files. I then ran the script that was floating around to remove OneDrive again. I didn't think to look under Apps, Installed, but I used NTLite to build my install disk and I did set it to not install OneDrive, Edge, and SmartScreen. As you mentioned to look in Installed Apps, as expected I already removed OneDrive as I explained, but I see Edge is now installed again.

There is nothing so private on my computer that I am worried about, but I prefer not to share for example my contacts or quicken data (those are not on my desktop).

I have a companion computer that is similar and it has no personal data. It is rarely connected to the internet, but I did allow it to do it's updates and it never got those green check marks. That computer was built with the same NTLite install stick.

I do have a MS account to be an insider (chose though not to be one several years ago) or to download files, but I never used that email address as credentials for my local computers. The email address used is stored in Firefox's password manager. IF some files were actually synced to the cloud, what account would they be under?

It's kind of a mystery, but thanks for for your thoughts and ideas.

Hollywood said:

what account would they be under?

Click to expand...

They would have to be under your MS account IF they are indeed in the cloud. You can check by logging in here. You will see everything that has been uploaded to the cloud.

It sounds to me like, for whatever reason, there's may be some sort of file/registry corruption or even a corrupted user account.
I don't know anything about this script to uninstall onedrive as I always use Revo to uninstall it. Maybe the script didn't remove everything it was supposed to.

As a side suggestion, the next time you make bootable media you might want to give Rufus a try. It can create media that bypasses all requirements, as well as MS account.

glasskuter said:

for whatever reason, there's may be some sort of file/registry corruption or even a corrupted user account.

Click to expand...

maybe. all seems OK since my initial post 3 days ago.

glasskuter said:

you might want to give Rufus a try. It can create media that bypasses all requirements, as well as MS account.

Click to expand...

yes! Rufus is great.

Thanks again!