Windows 10: OneDrive has removed my Desktop folder

I have everything backed up on an external hard drive, I do "not" need help recovering files.I finally managed to erase OneDrive from my C drive. What a flippin hassle that was. It is no longer syncing, no longer doing anything. However, I have now lost my desktop folder, and I cannot download anything to it. I tried to Mickey Mouse it by simply creating a new folder, when I attempt to rename it from "New Folder" to "Desktop," it tells me that doesn't exist. No kidding, that's why I'm trying to create it.Could someone please give me a link to instructions how to restore my Desktop? Thanks

:)

 

OneDrive moved my Desktop into a OneDrive folder and removed Google Drive

To revert the shell folder locations to default, open OneDrive and do the following:

Important: Before proceeding, copy the files in those special folders to another folder or external drive. Please don’t copy them anywhere under Desktop/Documents/Pictures. This is because disabling OneDrive backup for a folder would erase the local copies of the files. Copying them to a different location beforehand will ensure that you don’t need to download them again from the OneDrive cloud.

1. Right-click the OneDrive icon in the Notification area and click Settings.
   
2. Select the Backup tab, and click Manage Backup
   
3. In the Manage folder backup dialog, click on the Stop backup link under the special folder (Desktop, Documents, or Pictures)
   
4. Click Stop backup in the confirmation dialog that appears.
   
5. Repeat the step for each shell folder you want to revert to the original location.
   

See also:

• Error “The folder can’t be moved here” Moving Documents/Pictures, Caused by OneDrive
  
• Libraries are placed in onedrive folder instead of local folder - Microsoft Community
  

 

Finding my desktop and removing OneDrive

You don't want to get OneDrive off your computer ... your OneDrive is on the internet ... you probably want to get the OneDrive app off your computer. That's actually quite easy.

These instructions presume that no one has made unsupported changes to your computer - no registry edits, no deleted files, no YouTube video advice, etc.

1- Open the OneDrive app's settings and turn off file syncing.

2- Still in the OneDrive app's settings: turn off backing up.

After these two steps, your OneDrive app is doing nothing at all. It's still on your computer, it just isn't doing anything. You could go ahead and uninstall the OneDrive app now, but I would like to suggest an extra step, to make things a little easier.

3- Go back into the OneDrive app's settings, and remove all folders and files from the list of items that the OneDrive app was setup to sync. After you do this, even if you were to re-enable syncing, the app would have nothing to sync. Performing this step records your choice in Windows.

Now you can go ahead and uninstall the OneDrive app. It uninstalls like every other app.

If you have a subscription to Microsoft 365, there are additional steps you'll want to take, even after the OneDrive app has been removed. If you have a subscription, let me know and I'll provide further steps.

You shouldn't be surprised if the OneDrive app gets reinstalled by a future update, in which case you'll have to uninstall it again. Eventually, your preference to not have the OneDrive app will be included in the telemetry your computer sends to Microsoft, so it will stop appearing. At least, that's what happened for me.

The next steps are optional, but I think they're a good idea. You may hear different views from others, and that's fine. You can choose what to do and that's perfectly good.



Once again, these instruction presume that nobody has made unsupported changes to your computer, and in particular, to the organization of the folders in your computer.



When the OneDrive app is initially installed, your personal folders, i.e., Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos, are all sub-folders of the OneDrive folder:

C:\Users\your user account\OneDrive\



In my opinion, the default location for these folders should be outside the OneDrive folder. As an example, I feel that the default location for your Documents should be here:



C:\Users\your user account\Documents\



instead of:



C:\Users\your user account\OneDrive\Documents



That way, if the OneDrive app should be reinstalled by a future update, it will have no items to sync or backup, which will make uninstalling it much easier. If you'd like to do this I will gladly show you how it's done. However, it is a little complicated, so many people like to leave things as they are.

 

Windows 10 - OneDrive

Anyone know how to remove "OneDrive - For Business" from the Explorer navigation panel? I've tried just about every registry modification, and windows policy for "Onedrive" but they only seem to work for the consumer product, not for onedrive for business.

The onedrive product alone is so damn annoying and continues to load itself upon startup, even when it's explicitly remove from startup. It continues to automatically load and unload itself from within the startup folder... while I'm actively watching it load itself into the startup folder.