Windows 10: OneDrive removed my Documents, Pictures, and Desktop folders off my PC and I can't get them...

How do I get these back or remake them?I have stopped the OneDrive sync completely. Sidenote: why would you make something that removes the local folders!! Stupid idea Microsoft.I moved the folders to a different drive when I mapped my new PC. These now exist back in my C;/ Users folder but I can't change the location. All my links and everything have broken. The folders had merged on OneDrive so it's not as simple as just cutting them back to my PC.

:)

 

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
  

 

Quick Access not searching Pictures folder

Summary, that last suggestion didn't work.

• I moved the pictures to another folder temporarily.

• Then I tried to remove the Pictures folder with option one at Add or Remove Folders from This PC in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials. Even after rebooting, the Pictures folder remained.
• So I tried using option two. Same thing: reboot >> Pictures folder still there.

• Since there were no troubleshooting steps for this scenario, just for the heck of it, I ran through the restore steps. Copied some pictures into the Pictures folder, ran a Quick Access search and initial problem remains: Searching all of QA doesn't find any files in Pictures folder, running search on just the Pictures folder does. I want to run a global search and find matching files in any/all of the Documents, Music, Videos, and Pictures folders.

That article dates from 2015 and I'm guessing is out of date. I hope it didn't create potential future problems in my registry.

Bottom line: I'm still looking for a fix.

 

Documents/Pictures folders under 'This PC' refer to onedrive - not the local folders

Since the only folder that has incorrect file path is the Documents folder under This PC, we would suggest you do the same steps provided above. However, do it in your Documents folder under This PC. To do so, kindly follow the steps below:

• Open File Explorer
• Click This PC
• Right-click on Documents
• Click Properties
• Click Location
• Click Restore Default
• Click Apply
• Click OK

Also, we would like to inform you that "winhelponline.com" is not associated with Microsoft.

Let us know how it goes.