Windows 10: I find OneDrive extremely intrusive and I wish to completely avoid it.

I find OneDrive extremely intrusive and I wish to completely avoid it. Please provide instructions

:)

 

Avoiding the intrusion of "OneDrive" folder in fresh Windows 10 install

I have a Windows 10 laptop that is 4 years old. Yesterday I put a new solid state C: drive in it an re-installed Windows 10. So this is a newer version of Windows 10 than I had originally. (This one is 10.0.17763 Build 17763, AKA RS5 1809.)

A number of things seem to have changed in the setup of Windows. When installing it this time, I think I was forced to enter a "Microsoft Account" email address. I tried to skip this step, but I couldn't find a way to avoid it.

The first 5 letters of my email address are "jeffh". When I put a text file named "find_me.txt" on the desktop, the path to that file is:

Previously, that file's path would have been the far more elegant:

I am really puzzled and annoyed by that "OneDrive" in the path. I don't want to use OneDrive. The first thing I did when the computer was up-and-running was uninstall OneDrive. But by then my "Desktop" folder would have alrady been in this freaking OneDrive folder.

I am also annoyed by that "jeffh" in the path. I never said I wanted a username of "jeffh". If I had been asked to provide a username, it would have been "me".

Maybe I should just relax in give in to these Microsoft paradigm changes, but I just want my old setup back. Is there any way to avoid this intrusion of "OneDrive", and the required Microsoft email address, in a fresh install of this newer Windows 10?

 

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.

 

Avoiding the intrusion of "OneDrive" folder in fresh Windows 10 install

This is only the case on Windows 10 Home version 1903. In order to avoid it the next time, you have to disconnect from the internet, while you are installing Windows. This will cause Windows to be unable make the required checks, and will give you the option, to create a local account instead.

Source: Windows 10 Setup Now Prevents Local Account Creation

Since your account is linked to a Microsoft Account, all you have to do is disconnect the account, and you will be prompted to rename the profile. You will be asked to log out of the profile, when you log back into your local profile which will not be linked toyour Microsoft Account, you will have a new profile user directory.

This is due to the fact your username is your Microsoft Account, which does contain those characters, but the entire username would be an invalid directory so Windows concatenates the username. You can disconnect your Microsoft Account in order to be prompted to assign a new user profile name, this will create a new user profile directory, and migrate your data.





Sources:

• Disconnect Microsoft account from my local account
  
• Disconnect Microsoft Account
  

If you want to then connect to your Microsoft Account to your new local profile you can do so, which then assigned the linked profile, to the directory that already exists.

Source:

How do I disassociate Microsoft account credentials from an account in Windows 10?