How to *Completely* Remove OneDrive?

Win 11 25H2 BUILD 26200.7171

Following the advice in many videos and online info, I removed OneDrive. I still have a few occasions when it rears its despicable head... Desktop Shortcuts can end up in a folder within a OneDrive folder, for example and this file below is created.




While searching the Registry (because I can't find any reference to OneDrive anywhere else), I found this:



I also found quite a few paths starting with "C:\Users\Daniel Thomas Neal\OneDrive\

Does image 2 have anything to do with my issue?

Ed McCauley said:

Win 11 25H2 BUILD 26200.7171

Following the advice in many videos and online info, I removed OneDrive. I still have a few occasions when it rears its despicable head... Desktop Shortcuts can end up in a folder within a OneDrive folder, for example and this file below is created.



While searching the Registry (because I can't find any reference to OneDrive anywhere else), I found this:


I also found quite a few paths starting with "C:\Users\Daniel Thomas Neal\OneDrive\

Does image 2 have anything to do with my issue?

Click to expand...

Read every line in this tutorial a few times, before you start to remove OneDrive...




And here's ten points for filling out your computer specs.

CPU-Z will tell you what motherboard you have. The ZIP file is the portable version.



Here's mine, for example...

Press the Win+X keys on the keyboard (or right-click the Start button).
Select Terminal(Admin) to open the Terminal app elevated.
Type the following command, and press Enter to execute it: winget uninstall onedrive.

Wait for the winget to finish the removal and you are good to go.

You are done.

FreeBooter said:

Press the Win+X keys on the keyboard (or right-click the Start button).
Select Terminal(Admin) to open the Terminal app elevated.
Type the following command, and press Enter to execute it: winget uninstall onedrive.

Wait for the winget to finish the removal and you are good to go.

You are done.

Click to expand...

This is a good procedure, but it only confirms that I don't have the OneDrive Package which I've already uninstalled. I passed this on to my son who will use to remove OneDrive from his machine.

Ghot said:

Read every line in this tutorial a few times, before you start to remove OneDrive...

Uninstall and Reinstall OneDrive in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to uninstall or reinstall OneDrive for only your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. OneDrive is built-in to Windows 11 by default. With OneDrive, you can sync files and folders between your computer and the cloud, so you can get to your files from anywhere -...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

As I stated in my initial post: "I also found quite a few paths starting with "C:\Users\Daniel Thomas Neal\OneDrive\". If I delete them, they reappear...



Could this line in the Registry be creating the path(s) above? Can I delete it? If this is not the cause, how can I prevent these paths/folders from being recreated?

I get really peeved when one is advised to "just uninstall Onedrive" That's not the way it works and doing so can get the user in a real mess. There is a proper set of steps to follow in a certain order to correctly rid yourself of onedrive. If not followed there are still remnants of Onedrive left behind. Even worse, a users files can be affected if not done properly

Step by step Instructions included in post #15 here. OneDrive hijacks local folder, D:Pictures

Well here's the thing - you do not need to use it but going through hoops and loops to remove it is basically "cutting your nose to spite your face".

Even if you only use it for the free 5GB space, it is still really handy to help transfer files to mobile phones, other pcs etc. without installing other 3rd party cloud tools on pc or using cables/wifi.

I keep my favourite 25 music album and it only uses 3.4 GB. Rather than store all of them on my mobile phone(s), I just download them on demand to save space on mobile phones (especially as many have removed the SD cards). It takes seconds to temporarily install onedrive on mobile phones if you prefer not to leave app permanently installed.

Sure, there are other solutions using icloud, google drive etc. but I just like a simple common solution that works on virtually any smartphone.

Still, in the end, it is your choice but bear in mind that one day you might need a lot of cloud storage, and there is no doubt onedrive is the best for Windows.

Emasculating your pc to the extent of not seeing any traces of one drive can have unexpected side effects, and reinstating it may not be possible without a clean install. What happens, if e.g. you need to install MS 365 some time due to work requirements?

If you really do not have onedrive, just uninstall it, and ignore any traces - that way you are sure you can reinstate it if necessary.

Ed McCauley said:

As I stated in my initial post: "I also found quite a few paths starting with "C:\Users\Daniel Thomas Neal\OneDrive\". If I delete them, they reappear...


Could this line in the Registry be creating the path(s) above? Can I delete it? If this is not the cause, how can I prevent these paths/folders from being recreated?

Click to expand...

That I can't tell you. The tutorial I posted has all the currently accepted steps.
I believe you could delete that registry item though.
It sounds like that help OneDrive to reinstall.



I removed OneDrive very differently.
Without ever using it, I removed it with REVO uninstaller in Windows 10.
REVO removes ALL the leftovers.

When Win 11 came out, I just did an In-Place Upgrade from Win 10 to Win 11.
Win 11 never even saw OneDrive.

In the tutorial I linked above it warns that first, you need to turn off OneDrive backup.
You could do that and then use REVO to uninstall OneDrive, which would take care of those registry entries that you're seeing.

Another thing I've done on my system is to Disable Auto Update of Apps.
This will help to keep apps from returning after they're removed.

I had more or less the same thing happen to me a couple of weeks ago


I thought I had removed it thoroughly a few months ago, but some update (partially) brought it back.

Check your task scheduler.

Search->Task Scheduler->Run as admin->Task Scheduler Library-> Delete or Disable OneDrive from there.

Personally I don't like uninstalling things that are such a part of the OS -- I worry that by removing something that other things will break because of unknown (and unwanted) dependencies.

What I personally do is disable OneDrive and ensure that it doesn't start by using Autoruns instead of uninstalling. It's not perfect, but I don't have anything running that I don't want and all the files are still there just in case something else needs them.

An alternative is to disable OneDrive (by policy) for all users. This allows you to not worry about OneDrive getting updated or reinstalled.

Just ignore it if you don't want to use it. It is integral to the OS. It will get you into a lot of mess down the road if you "remove" it.
In a corporate setup, Onedrive is a lifesaver. I just recently had to replace my work laptop and onedrive just transferred everything to the new laptop including my personal settings, files and folder configurations like nothing happened.

To truly uninstall (eradicate) OneDrive you have to hit every possible settings available in Windows:
Windows Settings, Registry, Group Policy, Services, Task Scheduler, OneDrive folders and executables, PowerShell Package removal, hosts file, user account settings (Unlink this PC), etc. Getting rid of OneDrive will involve many days of research and execution.

But the problem is that if you allow Windows Update on your computer then the Update will reinstall/re-activate OneDrive. So, you have to be dead serious about getting rid of OneDrive and other Microsoft nuisances, such as CoPilot. Besides Updates, Windows uses Store to download and install packages in the background, so you have to suppress Store as well.

But before any of that, you need to protect your personal files: never store your personal files under any Windows folders. Put nothing under your c:\users\username, such as in the Documents or Pictures folders. Keep your personal files under a separate partition (such as D:\).

In the registry there are several entries for OneDrive and if they're not there you have to create the keys and then disable them. There are too many to list here, but for example, see HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\OneDrive, and the entries for
"DisablePersonalSync"=dword:00000001
"DisableFileSync"=dword:00000001
"DisableMeteredNetworkFileSync"=dword:00000001
"DisableLibrariesDefaultSaveToOneDrive"=dword:00000001
"DisableFileSyncNGSC"=dword:00000001

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OneDrive
"PreventNetworkTrafficPreUserSignIn"=dword:00000001

Good luck

Chris Titus has a program called "WinUtil" which i have used to remove one drive.
Works very well.
Here is his youtube on it...