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
    2022-11-14T06:18:30+00:00

    This doesn't work.

    I unlinked OneDrive to prevent private data being hijacked by the two Documents folders, one for OneDrive and one for User..

    After unlinking and deleting OneDrive, I am now stuck with the Documents folder that is a onedrive folder. It should have automatically disappeared.. but alas no.

    BUG!!!!

    Because contrary to advice, the Documents folder does not 'switch back'.. both Document folders exist simultaneously.

    The correct approach, is to right click 'OneDrive' Documents folder (in the MyPC folder), choose Properties, then select Location Tab, then update the shortcut path to the correct Document folder in your username folder.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-11-14T23:47:41+00:00

    Unfortunately, this response does not tell us where to find "the Settings on OneDrive." I went to "Settings" but there is no "OneDrive" menu item from there. So where do we find this????? I must say, it is VERY, VERY frustrating to see how hard Microsoft is working to break our will and get all of our documents in their cloud.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-12-15T01:58:50+00:00

    That definitely does not work, nor do any of these folders move out of OneDrive. Any attempt to change the location (via Properties) also fails with an error.

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  4. 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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