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
    2022-12-30T01:36:05+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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  2. Anonymous
    2023-01-01T08:20:45+00:00

    i have killed my document and download folder playing with this. I am so mad at microsoft.

    I thought they had changed. it looks like they want to be like APPLE.

    guess I have to make my Debian drive from now on my first and only OS . I lost so much bu uninstalling onedrive before reading i had to unlink , and still no way to find this " settings " . I logged into the web site and just am ready to hit this computer with a hammer

    now I no longer have a document link in the file explorer or a downloads link . I hope the European Union files another lawsuit against you

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  3. 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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  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-02T03:03:16+00:00

    You will find OneDrive in the system tray if it's not visible on the taskbar. In Settings, go to Personalization > Taskbar and open the "Other system tray icons" section. You'll find an option to make OneDrive visible. Then you do need to run OneDrive in order to turn it fully off.

    In the OneDrive settings, under Account, choose "Unlink this PC."

    Quit OneDrive if you didn't already.

    Disable OneDrive in the startup apps in Task Manager if not already done.

    Uninstall OneDrive.

    All that aside, you might want to take a step back and think dispassionately about OneDrive. It's a cloud storage facility that has uses.

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