remove old folder (icloud photos) from file explorer side bar

Anonymous
2020-05-11T02:50:55+00:00

so I'm completely frustrated that I cant delete this stupid icloud photo's folder that has duplicated itself on the file explorer side bar.  Ive deleted the folder source so now it errors when you click the folder and I cant delete the shortcut which I never wanted in the first place and I have icloud photos disabled in icloud so now I'm totally lost.  other than that my system is completely clean and fairly recent install so I'm gonna be real disappointed if i have to do another reinstall for something this stupid.  wish i could show a screen shot but this is not the big icoud photos in the main section its a smaller folder on the side just under the quick access that's now duplicated itself 9 times.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Settings

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2020-06-15T23:59:00+00:00

https://github.com/svenkle/google-drive-add-to-explorer/blob/develop/Remove%20Google%20Drive.reg

This specific link gave me the steps necessary to solve the problem for me.  What I wound up doing I first uninstalled the iCloud app from settings apps.  Then I went into my one drive settings right click on the one drive cloud icon on the taskbar select settings then from there the backup tab.  On that specific tab I selected manage backup, pressed stop backup on the pictures option and closed that selection window by pressing the X on the top right and ok on the bottom of the backup tab.

Then while keeping my web browser on the above link open I opened Regedit and ran as administrator that specific link gives instructions regarding the keys for removing google drive but they work also for iCloud Photos.  First I searched the registry for iCloud Photos matching the whole string, the first results were on this location.

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\

There will be one key per iCloud Photos folder on the file explorer left side I resized Regedit in my case in order to see the entire key I had to delete I deleted the key and then.  I pressed F3 to get the next one, I had to do four deletions in that part of Regedit as I had four iCloud photos folders on my file explorer.  After deleting the fourth key I pressed F3 again and my next result was on this section.

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\

These part of the keys {81539FE6-33C7-4CE7-90C7-1C7B8F2F2D41} were identical to the ones I had just deleted in the previous section.  So I deleted four keys in this section as I said before I had four iCloud Photos folders.  For the next part I closed all the branches in Regedit and went to the third section directly.

-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\

Once there I checked each key and I had one key that had one drive which I left untouched and the rest had iCloud Photos I deleted four keys there, this  {81539FE6-33C7-4CE7-90C7-1C7B8F2F2D41} portion of the keys repeated themselves in the fourth and last location which is this location

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel

I accessed it directly and deleted the same four keys, there will also be one key for one drive which I didn't delete just like on the previous step.

Finally I exited Regedit, in my personal case I restared my computer checked my file explorer and the iCloud Photos folders were all gone.  I then reinstalled the iCloud app again restarted the computer twice and there is now only one iCloud Photos folder on file explorer.

The root cause of this problem is that if One Drive syncs the pictures folder, and for people who like me have both One Drive and iCloud every time the computer starts iCloud logs in again and One Drive creates an new iCloud pictures folder on file explorer and therefore those of us who use both applications need to make sure that One Drive does not sync the pictures folder prior to installing the iCloud app. That's why I started stopping the backup with one drive settings first.  Uninstalled iCloud as my second step, deleted the keys on regedit and then reinstalled iCloud.

Was this answer helpful?

80+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

72 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2020-07-21T16:00:45+00:00

    I followed exactly what Adam Henderson listed in his June 30th post.  Make sure when you're searching (Alt-F) in RegEdit for the keys that you're always starting at the top.  The search function didn't work backwards for me.  After deleting the specific key press F3 to search again and keep deleting until there are no more to find.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2020-07-21T15:38:22+00:00

    Thanks for the help everyone.  Updating through RegEdit did the trick!

    I have deleted every reference to iCloud Photos and still have folders showing up.  Apparently, I missed something.  Any other search parameters to use?

    Thanks, and glad you folks were successful.  I've been periodically trying this for months now and getting really tired of the phantom links.

    charley

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2020-07-14T23:26:33+00:00

    Thanks for the help everyone.  Updating through RegEdit did the trick!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2020-07-13T17:34:46+00:00

    I'm trying this and started copying what I found to a Notepad file.  As I'm searching I'm getting both of these as examples:

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{1B874529-8AC3-44E8-970A-6995E6CD307E}

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{1B874529-8AC3-44E8-970A-6995E6CD307E}\Instance\InitPropertyBag

    I'm getting the InitPropertyBag show up as duplicates for all my searches.  I have a lot!

    I'm just not too sure what I'm actually deleting.  Before doing something irreversible I wanted to reach out here.

    Thanks in advance!

    Out of desperation I ended up removing ALL keys that were associated with icloud photos - including multiple instances of initpropertybag and the keys above it in the same grouping.

    My impression, while removing them, is that the multiple copies were associated with the multiple instances of icloud photos showing up in windows explorer.   When I started, I counted 12 icloud photos folders, and I found 12 groups of registry keys similar to what is posted above--  the first key, followed by one or two other keys including InitPropertyBag in each instance.

    I'm a medical guy, not a computer guy - so I can't promise they won't be missed.  But I CAN say that since removing them (after first deleting the icloud program), the folders have not come back, and my computer hasn't skipped a beat.  I can still open and use itunes, and it still connects to the apple server to update my music library.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments