Windows 10: I need to uninstall OneDrive and all its Documents/files

I had a problem with my OneDrive and all my Documents got messed up. I have cleaned them up in "My Documents" on my Windows 11 laptop but i need to delete the OneDrive versions of them from the laptop and my iPhone 11 so that the bad ones dont come back when i unpause OneDrive sync. In a perfect world i would like to reach a stage as if i was setting up OneDrive for the first time. Can anyone out there help me please?

:)

 

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.

 

Onedrive is uninstalled but it's controlling Documents folder

I dont know how any of the above are related to my case as onedrive is uninstalled in my pc.


I tried to solve the issue with the "Can't move the folder because there is a folder in the same location that can't be redirected. Access is denied." by changing the registry value of Document folder to %USERPROFILE%\Documents.
Then I manually copied all files from onedrive\Documents folder to the original location and wiped the onedrive\Documents folder

I hope this will solve and but I wonder if any future update will undo what I did and revert my Documents folder to onedrive again.

The Document folder is the default destination folder for many programs I use.
So my fear of installing back and running onedrive just to be able to configure it is that it will start syncing files to the cloud no matter what, then new problems will occur later from cloud to original document folder. Like files missing, etc...

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As I was writing my last reply I saw your post now.

Yes, the entry was exactly as you've described. So I changed registry value of Document folder to %USERPROFILE%\Documents.
Then I manually copied all files from onedrive\Documents folder to the original location and wiped the onedrive\Documents folder.

Did I do it correctly manually restoring the documents folder?
If not, I can restore to a previous c: image and re-do it differently.

 

Change Documents Shortcut

It is possible because I just did it a week ago.

I don't remember the exact steps and can't verify this since I stopped all syncs with OneDrive and uninstalled it when done.

I got the same error when I tried to move the Documents folder from OneDrive
I went into the OneDrive Settings, then Backup > Manage backup.
I unchecked the selection for the Documents folder.
Once I did that I was able to move the Documents folder from OneDrive

This is the only way I know to do it. I suggest you only keep things in the Documents folder you don't want synced with OneDrive. For files currently in OneDrive\Documents that you still want to sync with OneDrive, create a new folder and move them there. Then just add this folder to the ones synced by OneDrive