How do I "uncouple" OneDrive from the dang Documents folder?


probe7

Member
Local time
8:41 AM
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84
OS
Windows 11
I delivered and hooked up a new all-in-one, for a computer client of mine. Everything was going TOO smooth, even the router and printer was no problem. Then, I was made to look like a fool, because all picture, document, etc. files in those folders will not let me open them. They all have the "cloud" symbol next to them. I shut down Onedrive, but still cant open files or pics. A little window popped up on each one saying something about "make sure personal files" something. I dont use Onedrive on my laptop so a little stumped at this. I want to just have the files open normally on their computer, no cloud involved. If I uninstall Onedrive, that wont take their onboard files or photos away? I think that would be easiest. They didnt even know what Onedrive was.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    AMD Rizen 5
    Memory
    8gb
    Screen Resolution
    1080 UHD
    Hard Drives
    SSD
    Browser
    FF
    Antivirus
    Defender
Things with the cloud icon are in OneDrive, and haven't been used and accessed on the local computer...else they would have a little checkmark instead. If Onedrive is running, you should certainly be able to click on anything and it should open a local copy.

Honestly, if you just setup this machine then the files shouldn't only be in the cloud only, but should be on the local computer and in the cloud too, and hence have the checkmark. Are these files you are seeing from their previous computer that might have been using OneDrive?

Uninstalling ONeDrive won't remove what's in the cloud. It will just stop this machine from syncing them. (You could just log into the web interface and download the files to any location on your hard drive you wish). Using OneDrive is pretty much transparent from using files on any local folder on your machine. You should be able to open them up just fine.

The thing that is nice with OneDrive, is that your files will be in 2 places. 1 copy on your local HDD and a secondary copy in the cloud. In the event your computer is stolen, dies, hard drive quits, house burns to the ground....your files would naturally be protected as it's a second copy stored offsite. An end user doesn't have to do or know anything . It just happens. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately, people here cloud and I think they default to thinking cloud=bad/insecure
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Beelink SEI8
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-8279u
    Motherboard
    AZW SEI
    Memory
    32GB DDR4 2666Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Iris Plus 655
    Sound Card
    Intel SST
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus ProArt PA278QV
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    512GB NVMe
    PSU
    NA
    Case
    NA
    Cooling
    NA
    Keyboard
    NA
    Mouse
    NA
    Internet Speed
    500/50
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Mini PC used for testing Windows 11.
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Ryzen 9 5900x
    Motherboard
    Asus Rog Strix X570-E Gaming
    Memory
    64GB DDR4-3600
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA GeForce 3080 FT3 Ultra
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQ. ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27” WQHD
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    2TB WD SN850 PCI-E Gen 4 NVMe
    2TB Sandisk Ultra 2.5" SATA SSD
    PSU
    Seasonic Focus 850
    Case
    Fractal Meshify S2 in White
    Cooling
    Dark Rock Pro CPU cooler, 3 x 140mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser Mouse
    Keyboard
    Corsiar K65 RGB Lux
    Internet Speed
    500/50
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender.
Open OneDrive folder.

Right-click the folder you want to restore to default location.

From Location tab, click Restore Default button.


Let me show you how to stop OneDrive sync in the Windows operating system.

 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
    Motherboard
    Erica6
    Memory
    Micron Technology DDR4-3200 16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC671
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster U28E590
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG MZVLQ1T0HALB-000H1
Are these files you are seeing from their previous computer that might have been using OneDrive?

I bet they are. He has a MS account and logged in to it, and I bet their old laptop was synced to the cloud. I have to go back tomorrow to transfer all the folders off the old laptop to a thumb drive.

These are seniors I'm working with and he wants the files on a thumb drive, didn't know what the "cloud" was. I agree its nice to have a BU in the cloud, but he wants them on a thumb. Said get rid of Onedrive because he'll never use it.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    AMD Rizen 5
    Memory
    8gb
    Screen Resolution
    1080 UHD
    Hard Drives
    SSD
    Browser
    FF
    Antivirus
    Defender
Open OneDrive folder.

Right-click the folder you want to restore to default location.

From Location tab, click Restore Default button.


Let me show you how to stop OneDrive sync in the Windows operating system.

Thanks FB, I'll check out the vid and your instructions. I really think MS should not do this "out of the box" in the background. There should be a pop-up to ask if you want to sync the folders or not.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    AMD Rizen 5
    Memory
    8gb
    Screen Resolution
    1080 UHD
    Hard Drives
    SSD
    Browser
    FF
    Antivirus
    Defender
Hello probe7, :alien:

In addition, be sure to turn off backing up the Documents folder to OneDrive first like below. You should then be able to manually copy the files back from OneDrive.

 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
Hello probe7, :alien:

In addition, be sure to turn off backing up the Documents folder to OneDrive first like below. You should then be able to manually copy the files back from OneDrive.

Okay will do boss, thank you for that. I just had a thought, can I just delete Onedrive and be done with it? The owners don't want a "cloud" service. If I do uninstall OD, will his doc, photo, video files in the folders will they revert to local automatically?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    AMD Rizen 5
    Memory
    8gb
    Screen Resolution
    1080 UHD
    Hard Drives
    SSD
    Browser
    FF
    Antivirus
    Defender
:shawn:
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
I bet they are. He has a MS account and logged in to it, and I bet their old laptop was synced to the cloud. I have to go back tomorrow to transfer all the folders off the old laptop to a thumb drive.
So, they must have stored all of their files and folders elsewhere then on the old machine. Otherwise, you wouldn't have to transfer anything from the folders off the old machine as they should just magically appear on this machine. Essentially it would be like you already copied them to a thumbdrive and then copied them back.
These are seniors I'm working with and he wants the files on a thumb drive, didn't know what the "cloud" was. I agree its nice to have a BU in the cloud, but he wants them on a thumb. Said get rid of Onedrive because he'll never use it.
That's the thing with OneDrive, you don't have to consciously use it. You use it without knowing. And then if tragedy occurs and the machine dies, nothing gets lost. The files you had before would still be safely sitting there waiting for you to reconnect with a new computer.

Obviously if they had files in the cloud that you can clearly see, he was using OneDrive...he just didn't know he was using OneDrive.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Beelink SEI8
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-8279u
    Motherboard
    AZW SEI
    Memory
    32GB DDR4 2666Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Iris Plus 655
    Sound Card
    Intel SST
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus ProArt PA278QV
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    512GB NVMe
    PSU
    NA
    Case
    NA
    Cooling
    NA
    Keyboard
    NA
    Mouse
    NA
    Internet Speed
    500/50
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Mini PC used for testing Windows 11.
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Ryzen 9 5900x
    Motherboard
    Asus Rog Strix X570-E Gaming
    Memory
    64GB DDR4-3600
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA GeForce 3080 FT3 Ultra
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQ. ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27” WQHD
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    2TB WD SN850 PCI-E Gen 4 NVMe
    2TB Sandisk Ultra 2.5" SATA SSD
    PSU
    Seasonic Focus 850
    Case
    Fractal Meshify S2 in White
    Cooling
    Dark Rock Pro CPU cooler, 3 x 140mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser Mouse
    Keyboard
    Corsiar K65 RGB Lux
    Internet Speed
    500/50
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender.
Yeah, hes using OD without knowing it. But I have the files he wants taken off his old laptop and put on his thumb drive, so he has a BU. I just want to get OD off the new computer.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    AMD Rizen 5
    Memory
    8gb
    Screen Resolution
    1080 UHD
    Hard Drives
    SSD
    Browser
    FF
    Antivirus
    Defender
Then, I was made to look like a fool, because all picture, document, etc. files in those folders will not let me open them..
Clean installing Windows 11 - by default - saves documents, pictures, etc to the cloud.
See Step 20(L) of this tutorial.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro v 23H2 (Build 22631.3374)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Precision 3660 Tower Workstation
    CPU
    12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900 5.10 GHz
    Motherboard
    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
    Memory
    32.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD Graphics 770
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell P2714H Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 x 512GB NVME PC801 NVMe SK hynix Boot
    1 x 1TB Seagate ST1000LM049-2GH172 Internal HDD
    1 x 1TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    1 x 2TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    1 x 4TB Seagate STGX4000400 External HDD
    PSU
    300 Watts
    Cooling
    Air
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600
    Mouse
    Microsoft USB Basic Optical Mouse v2.0
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender + Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    BaseBoard Manufacturer Dell Inc.
    BaseBoard Product 0J1CP3
    BaseBoard Version A01
I went back the following day and just went into OD and where the little window that pops up, clicked on "Unlink OD from this computer". and it unlinked.

I know why I didn't think of that when I was there the first day setting it up. Long story short, I couldn't get his Windows mail to work. (more important than his OD problem) Tried troubleshooting steps. He assured me it was the correct mail password. Told him let me come back tomorrow and I'll do some research on the mail problem.

Came back the next day and was going to work on both OD and his mail. He said "that may have been the wrong password, try this one." Sure enough, all his mail came flooding in! :ffs:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    AMD Rizen 5
    Memory
    8gb
    Screen Resolution
    1080 UHD
    Hard Drives
    SSD
    Browser
    FF
    Antivirus
    Defender

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