Windows 11 - documents folder is linked to onedrive instead of the pc storage. can't unlink it.

Anonymous
2022-08-26T22:34:31+00:00

I recently got a new laptop and I'm not sure how windows 11 works. I noticed that my documents folder was just my OneDrive, which i don't want.

When i tried to redirect it to the main storage, i get:

I'm not sure how to get it to work.

I don't want to unlink my onedrive completely because i use it often to transfer files.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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Brian Tillman 27,030 Reputation points Independent Advisor
2022-08-26T23:08:01+00:00

Hi. I'm Brian and I will do my best to help you.

Go into the Settings on OneDrive, select the Backup tab and uncheck Documents (and Desktop and Pictures if you wish) and those folders should get moved back to their position under C:\Users<youraccount>, unless you've manually created folders of the same name, which is not the correct approach.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-01-02T09:32:14+00:00

    Hi Craigmore,

    I wouldn't take a step back when something is done without permission, on a tool/machine that is supposed to be private, for my own use only and is located within my own home. The right thing to do is to ask first, and definitely not integrate it so deep in the system.

    Thank you for your reply, but it didn't work, as OneDrive was allegedly removed but actually metastasized all over my computer (Photos, Documents, Desktop, etc.), even after following your solution "to a T".

    The only thing that had worked was following the solution offered in the link bellow, via Registry Editor (and after allegedly removing OneDrive), with the many helpful screenshots, which I am describing for others who might need it:

    How to remove OneDrive in Windows 11 - Microsoft Community

    Good luck to everyone else!

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-12-29T19:58:17+00:00

    I concur! There is no OneDrive under Settings. And cannot change path on location tab because the onedrive documents folder is within the other documents folder so it errors out. What to try now?

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-12-30T01:36:05+00:00

    Try disabling OneDrive by going to the settings and choosing "Quit OneDrive." Then relocate the Documents folder so it's in the right place (c:\users[yourid]\documents. Then re-enable OneDrive and choose a custom location for it during that process. This is how I fixed the problem. After that, I could relocate my Documents folder to a different drive and it was no longer under the OneDrive folder.

    Edit: The key is to "Unlink this PC." Then you can relocate Documents, Pictures, etc. Then go ahead and relink OneDrive. In my case, I put OneDrive on a separate internal drive instead of the system drive, and it's now well-behaved. Quite why MS decided to make this so difficult is a mystery. One of those bogus "user studies," no doubt. (See any Panos Panay presentation for a lesson in how not to upgrade a user interface.)

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-01T16:10:47+00:00

    Hi there,

    I have a similar issue - I need to unlink ALL folders and ultimately REMOVE the Trojan horse that is OneDrive (as I see it) from my Windows11. I am especially interested in unlinking the Documents folder.

    However, almost every step-by-step offer and video refers to icons I don't have/see:

    OneDrive isn't attached to my taskbar, I don't have any shortcut for it, and I definitely don't get to the grey window with tabs shown in many solutions (account tab, for instance).

    When I open OneDrive via Windows+I (or a general computer search) and click on Settings, the closest thing I have is Options (as shown in the screen shot below), which leads me to a frustrating webpage, that didn't help me at all and is really annoying, sort of "jumping" or "twitching" whenever I select different menus.

    Would really appreciate your help -

    Thank you so much

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