Windows 10: How do I stop Onedrive from moving my files from my PC and restore what's now in the cloud?

My windows 10 PC did some updates then I saw Onedrive personal asking me if I wanted to use it for the first time. I have a LOT of files and photos. I didn't realize that they would be removed from my PC and stored. I thought that they would be copied and stored. I don't like what it has done to the speed of my computer. I don't like that my files and photos aren't on my PC. I tried to get my files back and Onedrive made copies of everything. I was happy saving everything to a thumb drive prior to this. When I checked the file size of my documents on the thumb drive against my PC, the file s

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OneDrive Won't Stop Restoring Deleted and Moved Files After Reorganization

Hello! all4freedom

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community

It seems to me that you're experiencing issues with OneDrive. It sounds like you may have enabled the "Files Restore" feature in OneDrive, which allows you to restore files to a previous point in time.

Allow me to ask:

1. Can you still see your files in Your request has been blocked. This could be due to several reasons. ?
   
2. When you were reorganizing your files was the OneDrive still linked onto your device?
   
3. What error message are you getting?
   
4. Is this happening to all files? or just specific file?
   
5. Are you using OneDrive for Personal? or OneDrive for Business?
   

To disable this feature, please follow these steps:



1. Go to the OneDrive website and sign in with your Microsoft account.

2. Click on the gear icon in the upper right corner and select "Options".

3. Click on the "Restore your OneDrive" tab.

4. Under "Files Restore", toggle the switch to the off position.



Catch-22 Situation:

• You’re right; it can feel like a Catch-22. If you close OneDrive to prevent it from restoring files, it won’t sync. But if it syncs, it may revert changes.
  
• Consider using OneDrive selectively. For example, manually upload specific files or folders to share between your laptop and PC without relying on full synchronization.
  

Please note that Windows 10 21H1 has already ended its support back Dec. 13, 2022 and you can check this information here on this link: Windows 10 Home and Pro - Microsoft Lifecycle | Microsoft Learn

Here are some helpful link/s:

1. Save disk space with OneDrive Files On-Demand for Windows - Microsoft Support
   
2. Turn on OneDrive Backup - Microsoft Support
   
3. Fix OneDrive sync problems - Microsoft Support
   

This should prevent OneDrive from restoring any deleted or moved files. If you continue to experience issues, please let me know and we can explore other solutions.

Thank you,

Vince

Microsoft Community Moderator

 

Official OneDrive "restore" procedure for a new PC

Hi,

I got a new PC install. All my vital files from the old box are uploaded in OneDrive. I am now looking for the official Microsoft procedure how to get those files down to the new PC without OneDrive messing up my stuff in the cloud. BTW - I have this "Backup
my importan files to OneDrive" option enabled on the old box.

e.g. I am worried that when enabling OneDrive on the new box and signing in to OneDrive, that OneDrive either tries to sync my new empty folders onto the cloud (deletes all the stuff in cloud) or syncs some new system files into the cloud that in turn breks
again some file structures in my cloud account.

The OneDrive Help does propagate to use OneDrive as a backup media, but seems to totally neglect the restore process ... at least I was unable to find any sound step by step description for my restore scenario. And I won't go for this "just set it up again
and all will be well" - hey that is my data, right? :-D

thx,

Paul

 

OneDrive interfered with Carbonite restore

Hello, Joseph Kahle

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I understand that OneDrive’s automatic syncing has caused some inconvenience by moving your restored files to a different folder hierarchy. Let’s address your concerns step by step:

Disabling OneDrive Sync:

1. To prevent OneDrive from automatically syncing your files, you can unlink your PC from OneDrive. This will stop the syncing process without losing any files or data.
   
2. If you want to disable OneDrive completely, you can uninstall it or hide it from File Explorer.
   

How to unlink, disable, or uninstall OneDrive - Microsoft Support

Restoring Files to Original Location:

1. To move your files back to their original location, you can manually drag and drop them from the OneDrive folder to the desired location in File Explorer. You can also set up the folders OneDrive should back up: How to back up your folders with OneDrive - Microsoft Support
   
2. For the Quick Access tabs like “Documents,” you can right-click on the folder, select ‘Properties’, go to the ‘Location’ tab, and then click on ‘Restore Default’ to move it back to the original location.
   

After making these changes, you might need to restart your PC for all changes to take effect fully. If you encounter any permission issues while moving files, ensure you are logged in as an administrator or have the necessary permissions to make these changes.

For future reference, when setting up a new Windows installation, you can choose to skip the Microsoft account login, so that OneDrive won't sync your files automatically. Here are the steps:

Bought a new computer but can't use it due to not having an MS - Microsoft Community

Yuhao Li

Microsoft Community Technical Support