Windows 10: Duplicate Folders Junctions? in Home Folder after Removing from OneDrive Backup

Hi everyone! I apologize if this question has already been asked. I spent an hour or so searching and found several similar questions, but none exactly like my situation, and even the ones I found yielded no positive results. Thanks for taking the time to help! = P.S. I tried attaching a screenshot of my Explorer folder tree pane with the duplicate folders highlighted, but it failed to upload the first time.1. The ProblemI'm hoping someone might help me with an issue I'm having related to my home folder and OneDrive settings. I decided to install Windows 11 23H2 I believe? alongside Linux o

:)

 

onedrive duplicating my folders...

Hi.

Again, onedrive is going crazy and is duplicating my main folder, full of subfolders. It's locking me out of all my files. I have windows 10, Office 365 home. I paused synch at the moment before I have 1000 copy of my folder, which I can't open anyway!
Please don't ask me any question that will further delay the repair. Simply give me a step by step solution and then improve onedrive so this won't happen again to so many of us. I suggest you also add "onedrive" in the list of "Windows Topics" below since
thousands of users have issues with it.

Thanks

Michel

*** Email address is removed for privacy ***

 

Move the OneDrive Folder

Move the OneDrive Folder in Windows 10

When you set up OneDrive to sync with your computer, a folder C:\Users\XXXX\OneDrive will be created to store the contents. XXXX denotes your username. To move this folder to another location follow these simple steps:

1. Unlink OneDrive from your PC:

• Go to the taskbar notification area
• Right-click on the OneDrive icon
• Select settings
• Click: Unlink this PC

2. Delete the C:\Users\XXXX\OneDrive folder

3. Create a new folder (target folder) for OneDrive contents, e.g. D:\OneDrive

4. Create Directory Junction for the new folder

• In the search area of the taskbar type CMD and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter
• In the command window type

mklink /J C:\Users\XXXX\OneDrive D:\OneDrive

adjusting it to your specific username and selection of the target folder

5. Link again OneDrive to your PC using the OneDrive icon in the taskbar notification area

 

OneDrive Folder Issues and Removal Query

Hello, this is Emily.

I will go over your questions here:

Question 1: These folders are called the user profile shell folders. The ones you see in OneDrive are not duplicates. They are the same shell folders being synced to OneDrive. So plase do not try to copy them from OneDrive to your local folders, as they will then create actual duplicates and run into a dead cycle of sync.

Question 2: The space can be due to the fact that not all files are synced yet. Also Microsoft does allow you to go over, but then you will get warning and have to clear within x days before the account is suspended. So we will make sure this is resolved before it gets that far.

Question 3: To safely remove OneDrive from syncing these folders, do the following:

1. Right click on the OneDrive cloud icon on the lower right on your taskbar to go to Settings.

2. On the "Sync and Backup" tab, click on "Advanced Settings" to expand that section. Then under File On-Demand, click on "Download all files".

3. Give it plenty of time to allow the files to be downloaded from the online cloud. On your computer's file explorer, you can observe the OneDrive folder and its folders/files inside. You want all of the green checkmark icon to turn solid green with a white checkmark. Depends on how many files you have, this process can take a while, so please be patient.

4. Once all of the folders and files turn into the solid green icon with white checkmark, you can go back to OneDrive Settings. Very important - click on "Manage Backup" button, then turn off all folders listed there.

5. After you turn off the folders sync in Step 4, now go to Account tab, click on "Unlink this PC"

6. Go to your Windows Settings > Apps, find OneDrive and uninstall it. Restart the computer, and you will notice that your shell folder path will no longer have OneDrive in it. It will become C:\users\your username\desktop for example.

Question 4: Once you finish the steps from Question 3, you can safely delete content in OneDrive folder. Very important - only after you finish all the steps in Q3.