Disabling automatic backup to OneDrive

Question

Disabling automatic backup to OneDrive

Nigel Sharp 20

I disabled Onedrive several months ago and deleted the folder.

However, I saved an image today from a third party application and then couldn't find it on my hard drive.

On closer inspection , I found that a Onedrive folder had appeared on my file directory and the only file in there was the file I had just saved!! I did not create that folder. And, it won't let me delete the OneDrive folder, because it says it is being used by another application, but doesn't say which one!

I do not get the cloud icon in my system tray, so I can't follow the disable OneDrive instructions.

In any case, I do not have the OneDrive application installed - I uninstalled it last year and it is still not on the list of programs in Control Panel. So I can't understand why my documents are being sent to a OneDrive folder at all.

I also have Office 2024 [NOT 365]. I am running on Windows11 Pro 2025 build. However, I am using it on a private home-based laptop.

I also note, in my MS Word account, it says I am connected to the "OneDrive - Personal" service. I don't want to be, and didn't ask to be connected to this service. I do not want to use cloud backup.

What is going on here and how can I terminate this automatic cloud backup, which seems to have suddenly activated itself.

It may be a co-incidence, but I also discovered that Co-Pilot was loaded to my computer a few days ago - again not at my request. I had to go in and uninstall that today.

I am the only person with access to this PC, so I have no idea how these changes are happening. It is extremely intrusive and annoying. I consider it to be an unwanted invasion of my privacy.

Neil D 34,335 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-06-08T18:22:25.84+00:00

It could be a function of installing Office.

If you check the Location tab in any of the personal folder properties (say Documents) does it show the location as OneDrive or the local PC.

What is the setting under System > Storage > Where new content is saved.
Nigel Sharp 20 Reputation points

2026-06-08T18:53:53.0966667+00:00

ok, so I actually installed Office in 2025. This problem only started very recently.

I went into Word a few minutes ago and opened the Account Privacy settings and disabled the access to "all connected experiences".

This got rid of the Personal OneDrive service in ALL the Office applications.

So the default saving location is on my hard drive - no longer the cloud.

So that fixed the issue for Office apps. Although, why this setting was suddenly activated 15 months after I installed Office, is a bit of a worry!

As to the 3rd party app [a photo editing tool], I went into the "save as" feature and found OneDrive in the filename path. So, I removed it. When I closed and opened the app, and went to "save as" again, OneDrive had not been re-inserted. So that seems to be fixed now as well. However, what caused it to be inserted there in the first place?!!

However, the problem has not completely gone, because, when I then went into file manager to delete the unwanted OneDrive folder - which has no files in it now - it still wouldn't let me delete it. It had a subfolder called "documents" [empty], and it seemed to think some other application was still using it, but I have no idea which application that is.

So, somehow, OneDrive has been surreptitiously insinuated into the file saving processes of some applications, and though I have fixed that in Office and the Photo editing app, it still seems to be lingering in some other unknown app. This sort of thing is rather disturbing, as I have not explicitly asked for cloud backup, and do not need or want it. It just seems to be foisted on me out of the blue. I have not recently re-installed any of these apps, so I can only assume it has been caused by one of the monthly security updates that Microsoft sends out.

This problem occurred previously in December last year - which is when I removed the OneDrive application. I was then able to get rid of the OneDrive folder as well. However, it has now happened again, even though that application is no longer on my start menu. But this time, I haven't been able to delete the offending OneDrive folder. This is very odd and quite intrusive.
Neil D 34,335 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-06-08T19:04:29.0633333+00:00

What about the Location tab in File Explorer or where new content is saved in Settings?
Nigel Sharp 20 Reputation points

2026-06-08T19:33:50.6466667+00:00

The 3rd party app did not have a "where the content is saved" in its settings. That was the first thing I looked for. However, by changing the location in the save as window, it now seems to have made my local folder the default - and this persisted after I closed the app and re-opened it. The document files in explorer were already on my C drive. The OneDrive was an extra folder. However, after rebooting the PC a few times I was finally able to delete that OneDrive folder. I also found that I had 2 versions of Co-pilot on there! I deleted the first one using Control Panel an hour ago and then found another one in the Start menu that didn't appear on the Control Panel list of programs - so I deleted that a few minutes ago and then rebooted the PC. I was then able to delete the OneDrive folder. So, maybe Co-Pilot was using it? Who knows. As I said, the first Co-pilot I deleted had said it had only been installed a few days ago, so it could have been that installation that triggered the cloud backup issues - but that is just speculation.

Anyway, it now looks as if things have gone back to normal, at least for now. The fact that this sort of thing can be initiated without any prior notification or permission is deeply concerning. If I had not noticed it, I wonder how long it would have taken my free 5GB data allocation on the cloud to be used up, and whether Microsoft would have then come after me to take out a paid data subscription. At the very least, I have spent several hours of my life undoing all this - time I will never get back! I am not impressed.

Answer accepted by question author

EmilyS726 269.5K Independent Advisor

Please type regedit in the search on the taskbar to launch registry editor, and go to this path, then take a screenshot and share in your reply.

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Nigel Sharp 20 Reputation points

2026-06-08T20:54:19.09+00:00
Nigel Sharp 20 Reputation points

2026-06-08T20:54:44.2533333+00:00

This is the screen I got from Regedit.

I notice that it includes a reference to a OneDrive documents folder - the one I keep trying to remove!

I also found that changing the privacy settings in Office to block connected experiences removes the cloud backup, but it also removes a lot of other useful functionality from Outlook - such as translate. Unfortunately, there is no option in those settings to remove just the cloud backup
EmilyS726 269.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-06-08T22:02:01.3233333+00:00

Thanks for the screenshot.

You can change your privacy settings back to what you used to have.

Then go to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps, make sure oNeDrive is uninstalled.

Then back to registry.

Right click on the yellow ones.. one at a time, choose modify, and change its value data.

For My Pictures, change it to %USERPROFILE%\Pictures

For Personal, change it to %USERPROFILE%\Documents

This should return those folders to local paths and not be synced to OneDrive. However, you need to go to C:\users\sharp\OneDrive\Pictures, manually copy the files out of there and put it in C:\users\sharp\Pictures, then do the same for Documents.

Once you've moved the files, you can delete these two folders:

C:\users\sharp\OneDrive\Pictures
C:\users\sharp\OneDrive\Documents

And then in the Registry, you can right click and delete the two blue ones.

Restart the computer and you should be all good to go.
Nigel Sharp 20 Reputation points

2026-06-08T22:58:24.92+00:00

Thanks

This worked.

Fortunately, there were no longer any files in those OneDrive folders, so no moving was required!

Do you have any idea why all this suddenly happened?

I mean, I did not have the OneDrive application installed. I think I uninstalled it last December, when a problem similar to this occurred after a major Windows update had occurred. That time all my local files were moved to OneDrive and my local folders were empty! This time, that move didn't occur - it was only new saves that were going to the OneDrive folders - and that was just one picture file.

However, I don't think I used OneDrive to actually disable the backups back then. I just copied all the files back to their original local locations and then deleted the OneDrive folders. I noted today, from another post on here, that maybe I should have disabled the backups, before uninstalling OneDrive. Still, if that were the cause, you would have thought that all the files I saved since December would have gone to Onedrive - but that didn't happen - it was just the recent file that went there.

The only thing that appears to have happened very recently was that the version of Co-Pilot that was on my PC was installed. I didn't do that, but I have now uninstalled that as well.

So I am wondering whether Co-Pilot could have had something to do with what happened today?

It is all a bit disconcerting when things like this happen for no obvious reason!
EmilyS726 269.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-06-08T23:04:47.21+00:00

OneDrive is technically baked into Windows, even if you don't run the actual desktop app for OneDrive, it can still run through Windows' integrated component. For example, if you go to Windows Settings > Accounts > Windows backup, the first thing you see on that page is OneDrive. It is literally part of Windows now.

When you set up Windows out of box, the folder backup is enabled, whether you like it or not. This is my huge pet peeve. I always disable this right away after I set up new computers.

Many users think they can simply unlink the account and uninstall OneDrive, but that's wrong. As long as these folders are still nested in OneDrive folder, they can still sync via the integrated OS OneDrive component. Hence, any unlinking or uninstalling should be done only after you remove these folders from backup settings. Or, review the registry, it will tell you right away if they are still in OneDRive, then do the manual route like I showed you.
Nigel Sharp 20 Reputation points

2026-06-08T23:11:51.9033333+00:00

They certainly don't make life easy for us, do they. A cynic might think Microsoft wants you to use this cloud backup, so they can eventually get you to subscribe to extra data storage. But they wouldn't do that, would they!

1 additional answer

Your answer

Neil D 34,335 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-06-08T18:22:25.84+00:00

It could be a function of installing Office.

If you check the Location tab in any of the personal folder properties (say Documents) does it show the location as OneDrive or the local PC.

What is the setting under System > Storage > Where new content is saved.
Neil D 34,335 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-06-08T19:04:29.0633333+00:00

What about the Location tab in File Explorer or where new content is saved in Settings?
Nigel Sharp 20 Reputation points

2026-06-08T19:33:50.6466667+00:00

The 3rd party app did not have a "where the content is saved" in its settings. That was the first thing I looked for. However, by changing the location in the save as window, it now seems to have made my local folder the default - and this persisted after I closed the app and re-opened it. The document files in explorer were already on my C drive. The OneDrive was an extra folder. However, after rebooting the PC a few times I was finally able to delete that OneDrive folder. I also found that I had 2 versions of Co-pilot on there! I deleted the first one using Control Panel an hour ago and then found another one in the Start menu that didn't appear on the Control Panel list of programs - so I deleted that a few minutes ago and then rebooted the PC. I was then able to delete the OneDrive folder. So, maybe Co-Pilot was using it? Who knows. As I said, the first Co-pilot I deleted had said it had only been installed a few days ago, so it could have been that installation that triggered the cloud backup issues - but that is just speculation.

Anyway, it now looks as if things have gone back to normal, at least for now. The fact that this sort of thing can be initiated without any prior notification or permission is deeply concerning. If I had not noticed it, I wonder how long it would have taken my free 5GB data allocation on the cloud to be used up, and whether Microsoft would have then come after me to take out a paid data subscription. At the very least, I have spent several hours of my life undoing all this - time I will never get back! I am not impressed.
Nigel Sharp 20 Reputation points

2026-06-08T20:54:19.09+00:00
Nigel Sharp 20 Reputation points

2026-06-08T20:54:44.2533333+00:00

This is the screen I got from Regedit.

I notice that it includes a reference to a OneDrive documents folder - the one I keep trying to remove!

I also found that changing the privacy settings in Office to block connected experiences removes the cloud backup, but it also removes a lot of other useful functionality from Outlook - such as translate. Unfortunately, there is no option in those settings to remove just the cloud backup
EmilyS726 269.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-06-08T22:02:01.3233333+00:00

Thanks for the screenshot.

You can change your privacy settings back to what you used to have.

Then go to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps, make sure oNeDrive is uninstalled.

Then back to registry.

Right click on the yellow ones.. one at a time, choose modify, and change its value data.

For My Pictures, change it to %USERPROFILE%\Pictures

For Personal, change it to %USERPROFILE%\Documents

This should return those folders to local paths and not be synced to OneDrive. However, you need to go to C:\users\sharp\OneDrive\Pictures, manually copy the files out of there and put it in C:\users\sharp\Pictures, then do the same for Documents.

Once you've moved the files, you can delete these two folders:

C:\users\sharp\OneDrive\Pictures
C:\users\sharp\OneDrive\Documents

And then in the Registry, you can right click and delete the two blue ones.

Restart the computer and you should be all good to go.
Nigel Sharp 20 Reputation points

2026-06-08T22:58:24.92+00:00

Thanks

This worked.

Fortunately, there were no longer any files in those OneDrive folders, so no moving was required!

Do you have any idea why all this suddenly happened?

I mean, I did not have the OneDrive application installed. I think I uninstalled it last December, when a problem similar to this occurred after a major Windows update had occurred. That time all my local files were moved to OneDrive and my local folders were empty! This time, that move didn't occur - it was only new saves that were going to the OneDrive folders - and that was just one picture file.

However, I don't think I used OneDrive to actually disable the backups back then. I just copied all the files back to their original local locations and then deleted the OneDrive folders. I noted today, from another post on here, that maybe I should have disabled the backups, before uninstalling OneDrive. Still, if that were the cause, you would have thought that all the files I saved since December would have gone to Onedrive - but that didn't happen - it was just the recent file that went there.

The only thing that appears to have happened very recently was that the version of Co-Pilot that was on my PC was installed. I didn't do that, but I have now uninstalled that as well.

So I am wondering whether Co-Pilot could have had something to do with what happened today?

It is all a bit disconcerting when things like this happen for no obvious reason!
EmilyS726 269.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-06-08T23:04:47.21+00:00

OneDrive is technically baked into Windows, even if you don't run the actual desktop app for OneDrive, it can still run through Windows' integrated component. For example, if you go to Windows Settings > Accounts > Windows backup, the first thing you see on that page is OneDrive. It is literally part of Windows now.

When you set up Windows out of box, the folder backup is enabled, whether you like it or not. This is my huge pet peeve. I always disable this right away after I set up new computers.

Many users think they can simply unlink the account and uninstall OneDrive, but that's wrong. As long as these folders are still nested in OneDrive folder, they can still sync via the integrated OS OneDrive component. Hence, any unlinking or uninstalling should be done only after you remove these folders from backup settings. Or, review the registry, it will tell you right away if they are still in OneDRive, then do the manual route like I showed you.
Nigel Sharp 20 Reputation points

2026-06-08T23:11:51.9033333+00:00

They certainly don't make life easy for us, do they. A cynic might think Microsoft wants you to use this cloud backup, so they can eventually get you to subscribe to extra data storage. But they wouldn't do that, would they!

Answer 1

Nigel Sharp 20

User's image

This is the screen I got from Regedit.

I notice that it includes a reference to a OneDrive documents folder - the one I keep trying to remove!

I also found that changing the privacy settings in Office to block connected experiences removes the cloud backup, but it also removes a lot of other useful functionality from Outlook - such as translate. Unfortunately, there is no option in those settings to remove just the cloud backup.

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