Solved Unable to restore OneDrive>Pictures back to Pictures

WonderingHpUser · Mar 14, 2023

I am the only user/Admin and have full rights/privs to everything. I'm attempting to restore default locations away from OneDrive. The only persisting problem is I can't restore the file explorer location link for Pictures nor rid of the reappearing \OneDrive\Pictures\..". I've removed OneDrive in its entirety, to the best of my abilities and yet "C:\Users\InsertUserNameHere\OneDrive\.." continuously reappears despite me deleting it. It gives me errors/pop-ups when I attempt to restore default location within Properties for folder. I've attached images for reference.

Does anyone know what's going on or could help? Please let me know If I can give anymore information.

garyb0125 · Mar 14, 2023

See if this video helps.....

WonderingHpUser · Mar 14, 2023

garyb0125 said:
See if this video helps.....

It did not. That video takes into account you still have OneDrive installed. I unlinked/disabled all backups before uninstalling OneDrive. The same issue still persist. He recreated the issue perfectly in that video but the fix doesn't work for me.

Haydon · Mar 14, 2023

WonderingHpUser said:
I am the only user/Admin and have full rights/privs to everything. I'm attempting to restore default locations away from OneDrive. The only persisting problem is I can't restore the file explorer location link for Pictures nor rid of the reappearing \OneDrive\Pictures\..". I've removed OneDrive in its entirety, to the best of my abilities and yet "C:\Users\InsertUserNameHere\OneDrive\.." continuously reappears despite me deleting it. It gives me errors/pop-ups when I attempt to restore default location within Properties for folder. I've attached images for reference.

Does anyone know what's going on or could help? Please let me know If I can give anymore information.

You need to:

1) stop OneDrive sync while still connected to the internet

2) disconnect from the internet

3) uninstall OneDrive app and delete OneDrive folders

I think you omitted step 1 and your machine still tries to sync to OneDrive.

Some useful links:

Turn On or Off OneDrive Folder Backup Syncing Across Windows 11 Devices Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off OneDrive folder sync for your Microsoft account across all your Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices you sign in with the same Microsoft account. You can use OneDrive to sync files and folders between your computer and the cloud, so you can get to...

www.elevenforum.com

Uninstall and Reinstall OneDrive in Windows 11 Tutorial

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

Default installation of OneDrive and clean uninstall thereafter

I am sharing an easy and clean (and the most radical) way to NOT use OneDrive, although non-believers may not want to believe the procedure below, LOL. Anyway, back up your data beforehand if you already have data on your computer. The following was done with a Lenovo laptop with W11 Home. 1)...

www.elevenforum.com

WonderingHpUser · Mar 14, 2023

Haydon said:
You need to:

1) stop OneDrive sync while still connected to the internet

2) disconnect from the internet

3) uninstall OneDrive app and delete OneDrive folders

I think you omitted step 1 and your machine still tries to sync to OneDrive.

Some useful links:

Turn On or Off OneDrive Folder Backup Syncing Across Windows 11 Devices Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off OneDrive folder sync for your Microsoft account across all your Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices you sign in with the same Microsoft account. You can use OneDrive to sync files and folders between your computer and the cloud, so you can get to...

www.elevenforum.com

Uninstall and Reinstall OneDrive in Windows 11 Tutorial

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

Default installation of OneDrive and clean uninstall thereafter

I am sharing an easy and clean (and the most radical) way to NOT use OneDrive, although non-believers may not want to believe the procedure below, LOL. Anyway, back up your data beforehand if you already have data on your computer. The following was done with a Lenovo laptop with W11 Home. 1)...

www.elevenforum.com

I didn't omit step 1. I did that before uninstalling everything. I manually unlinked, stopped all syncing/backup options and then uninstalled. Then deleted all files/folders associated. Including OneDrive folders. I just tried reinstalling to follow the process as you mentioned and as the links you added listed but the options they go through don't appear for me. While OneDrive is saying "Not Syncing" in the settings; it does not give the menu option for "OneDrive Folder syncing" to disable / unlink anything, anymore.

The only thing that I've seen mentioned that I'm hesitant to mess with until all resources are used is to edit the registry.

To add on a question: What is recreating the folder to begin with? I uninstalled everything associated to Microsoft 365 & OneDrive and any other suite programs, for the most part.

Haydon · Mar 14, 2023

WonderingHpUser said:
I didn't omit step 1. I did that before uninstalling everything. I manually unlinked, stopped all syncing/backup options and then uninstalled. Then deleted all files/folders associated. Including OneDrive folders. I just tried reinstalling to follow the process as you mentioned and as the links you added listed but the options they go through don't appear for me. While OneDrive is saying "Not Syncing" in the settings; it does not give the menu option for "OneDrive Folder syncing" to disable / unlink anything, anymore.

The only thing that I've seen mentioned that I'm hesitant to mess with until all resources are used is to edit the registry.

To add on a question: What is recreating the folder to begin with? I uninstalled everything associated to Microsoft 365 & OneDrive and any other suite programs, for the most part.

I'm surprised that the procedure did not work for you, but then, MS appears to be using guerilla tactics these days > commit the slightest inaccuracy > you get OneDrive back in full force

At this point, I can only suggest that you do a 'Reset this PC' after securing copy of your user data > select remove everything > wipe disk > try to follow the procedure again meticulously

Good luck

qim · May 15, 2023

Hi, tyhank you everyone

In the end I disabled OneDrive via the Registry, which allowed me to delete all the folders that were connected to OneDrive and import fresh data from the old computer.

Thank you