Windows 10: Files vanished from OneDrive

i have been switching from one computer to another. Both using the same onedrive. When logging into my older pc i found out that some of the files from the older pc had not been synchronized. - and when the onedrive did synchronize ive had lost the old files that i found.


I need my files back. Where did they go?

:)

 

OneDrive vanished completely from the machine

I use OneDrive, but recently it vanished from my machine.

And by vanished, I mean it's completely gone.

I checked this folder:

%localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive

It has 0 files, 0 bytes.

I checked Add/Remove programs, it's not in the list. Nor is it in the list of Windows components to install.

It's not in Task Manager's startup list. There are no OneDrive related services in the services manager.

What happened here?

I did nothing to uninstall it, but it's gone. Completely gone.

How can I get this back on the machine?

 

Windows 10 - OneDrive

Right click on the app and one of the properties has an option to not automatically start it. Uncheck, restart the computer, and it should stop. If you want to go another step further, find the OneDrive app in the start menu, right click on it and uninstall.

If that is still insufficient, there is a batch uninstaller for OneDrive available online. I can copy the code here if you need it.

 

Why were SMART Files Removed from OneDrive in Windows 10?

Technical Level : Basic

Summary

This article details why SMART files, also known as placeholder files, were removed from OneDrive in Windows 10.

Details

OneDrive has gone through many changes in Windows 10, most notably the removal of SMART files (placeholder files) from OneDrive. They still exist in Windows 8.1, however they were removed, hopefully temporarily, from OneDrive in Windows 10 because of the
fragmented sync engines between OneDrive on Windows 7/Mac, OneDrive on Windows 8.1, and OneDrive for Business. The following article details what changes the OneDrive team made and why they made them:

Taking the Next Step in
OneDrive

From a development point of view, it's a much better approach to consolidate their codebase, but from a user point of view, it's very frustrating.

Like many of us, if you want that feature back, please vote for it here on the OneDrive UserVoice page:

OneDrive UserVoice: "Sync online only" for Ondrive

Getting Started with OneDrive and Choosing Folders

To get started with OneDrive in Windows 10, please review these pages to familiarize yourself with the tools new processes:

• Find your files - Windows Help
• Syncing and Saving - Windows 10

Since you cannot choose which files are Available Online-only and Available Offline, you can choose the folders you want to sync. Review these two pages:

• Keeping Fewer OneDrive Files on your PC
• How to see all of your OneDrive files in File Explorer