Windows 10: Turn On or Off Sync Settings for Microsoft Account in Windows 10

How to: Turn On or Off Sync Settings for Microsoft Account in Windows 10

How to Turn On or Off Sync Your Settings in Windows 10


When Microsoft account.

Notes

• Sync settings also works if you sign in with a work or school account linked to your Microsoft account.
• If Sync settings isn't available on your device, your organization might not allow it.

The settings you choose to sync are also saved in OneDrive (cloud).

You can choose to sync your theme, passwords, language preferences, Ease of Access, and Other Windows settings settings. If you turn on Other Windows settings, Windows syncs some device settings (for things like printers and mouse options), File Explorer settings, and notification preferences. For a complete list of settings that Windows can sync, see Windows 10 roaming settings reference.

• Theme - desktop background, user tile, taskbar position, etc.
• Passwords - Windows credential manager, including Wi-Fi profiles
• Language Preferences - spelling dictionary, system language settings
• Ease of Access - Narrator, On-screen keyboard, Magnifier
• Other Windows Settings - see Windows Settings details

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off sync settings across all your Windows 10 devices for your Microsoft account in Windows 10.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Turn On or Off All Your Sync Settings in Settings app
• Option Two: To Turn On or Off Your Individual Sync Settings in Settings app
• Option Three: To Turn On or Off Your Individual Sync Settings in Registry Editor

OPTION ONE [/i] To Turn On or Off All Your Sync Settings in Settings app
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Accounts icon.

2. Click/tap on Sync your settings on the left side, and do step 3 or step 4 below for what you would like to do.


3. To Turn Off All Your Sync Settings
A) Under Sync your settings on the right side, move the slider to the left to turn off Sync settings, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)




4. To Turn On Your Sync Settings
*note This is the default setting.
A) Under Sync your settings on the right side, move the slider to the right to turn on Sync settings. (see screenshot below)



B) If you like, you can now also turn on or off your individual sync settings in Option Two or Option Three below.
5. When finished, close Settings to apply.





OPTION TWO [/i] To Turn On or Off Your Individual Sync Settings in Settings app
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Accounts icon.

2. Click/tap on Sync your settings on the left side. (see screenshot below step 4)

3. If you have not already, you will need to turn on sync settings in step 4 of Option One above first.

4. On the right side under Individual sync settings, you can turn on or off each sync setting you like. (see screenshot below)

*note By default, all individual sync settings are turned on.

5. When finished, you can close Settings if you like.









OPTION THREE [/i] To Turn On or Off Your Individual Sync Settings in Registry Editor
1. If you have not already, you will need to turn on sync settings in step 4 of Option One above first.

2. Open the Start menu, type regedit in the search box, and press Enter to open Registry Editor.

3. If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.

4. In Registry Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SettingSync\Groups




5. Expand open the Groups key in the left pane, and click/tap on the subkey in the table below for the individual sync setting that you want to turn on or off. (see screenshot above)
[table][tr][td]Individual Sync Setting [/td] [td]Registry Subkey[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Theme[/td] [td]Personalization[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer settings[/td] [td]BrowserSettings[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Passwords[/td] [td]Credentials[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Language preferences[/td] [td]Language[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Ease of Access[/td] [td]Accessibility[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Other Windows settings[/td] [td]Windows[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Start Menu layout[/td] [td]StartLayout[/td] [/tr] [/table]

6. In the right pane of the subkey (ex: Accessibility), double/click tap on the Enabled DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot below step 4)

7. Do step 8 or step 9 below for what you would like to do.


8. To Turn Off Individual Sync Setting
A) Type 0 (number zero), click/tap on OK, and go to step 10 below. (see screenshot below)



9. To Turn On Individual Sync Setting
*note This is the default setting.
A) Type 1, click/tap on OK, and go to step 10 below. (see screenshot below)



10. Repeat step 6 if you would like to turn on or off any other of your individual sync settings.

11. When finished, you can close Registry Editor.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

• How to Delete Sync Settings for Windows 10 Devices from your Microsoft Account
• How to Allow or Block Microsoft Accounts in Windows 10
• How to Create a 'Sync your settings' Shortcut in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Sync Your Settings in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Sync Your Settings on Metered Connections in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Syncing Passwords in Sync Your Settings on a Windows 10 PC
• How to Enable or Disable Syncing Theme in Sync Your Settings on a Windows 10 PC
• How to Enable or Disable Syncing Other Windows Settings in Sync Your Settings on a Windows 10 PC
• How to Add or Remove Windows 10 PCs from OneDrive Fetch Files
• How to Turn On or Off Sync Microsoft Edge Settings across Windows 10 Devices
• How to Enable or Disable Sync Microsoft Edge Settings in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Share Apps Across Devices in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Sync Apps Between Windows 10 Devices using Bluetooth
• How to Turn On or Off Get Phone Notifications from Cortana in Windows 10

:)

 

Windows 10, Icons on desktop re-appearing after I delete them.

This could be your Microsoft Account is set to sync and you will see these settings come back.

Turn off syncing below.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4077-turn-o...

 

desktop backgrounds

Hello rc918,

If you sign in to both computers with the same Microsoft account, then this could be from the "Theme" sync setting being turned on.

Turned this setting off on both computers should stop this from happening.

Turn On or Off Sync Settings for Microsoft Account in Windows 10

 

Hello Balubeto,

Yep. You can do what's in the green information box at the top of the tutorial to delete your PC if listed to remove the synced items. Be sure to turn off sync first to prevent your sync settings from just getting backed up again. *Smile

 

The strange thing is that, following the https://www.tenforums.com/redirect-to...FDeviceBackups link, there is no backup device in my Microsoft account.

When, however, I install a new Windows 10 Preview, I create a local account, I configure it and I turned it into a Microsoft account, my settings will return to the saved settings (where?) two weeks ago.

So how do I delete these old settings?

Thanks

Bye

 

In that case, double check inside your OneDrive "Files" folder to see if you have a folder named with your MS account's name. If so, open it, and delete all folders named after your PCs inside it. This is where the synced folders are kept.

 

By accessing, via web, to my OneDrive account and clicking on File, no folder or file is displayed. Right?

Thanks

Bye

 

You can do so from online or on the PC for OneDrive. I'd check online though to make sure in case it's not being synced to your.

Here's what it'll look like online if you have the folders.

 

Looking at the picture 4 of the step 4 of this link http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadF...in-windows-10/ , I noticed that the window for data synchronization, which lets choose which data to sync, is never displayed when I step from a local to Microsoft account.

Why this window does not appear?

Thanks

Bye

 

That article looks like it hasn't been updated, but you can turn on and off sync settings at any time using an option in the tutorial on the first page of this thread.

Did you have any of the folders that I mentioned in my previous post?

 

I believe I have solved: Before pass to the Microsoft account, I have turned off the sync from the OneDrive app and I removed it from starting automatically.

Thanks

Bye

 

Hi Shawn,

After the upgrade I did a fresh install of Windows 10. Since I wanted to get rid of any old saved settings I first deactivated the Sync Settings option. Then I deleted the Sync profiles via the Onedrive site. I did this with the assumption that after I enabled the Sync Settings again (on the newly installed pc) it would start syncing again and create another profile on the Onedrive.

It had been almost two days now and I still only see the profile of my Windows Phone (which I did not delete *Smile).

Is there a lagging in the syncing of your settings to Onedrive? Or is there any way I can do a FORCE sync?

Hope to hear from you.

Greetz,

Rover

 

Hello Rover,

If you haven't already, check with the tutorial below to see if that can get your PC added back to OneDrive. *Smile

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5...ws-10-pcs.html

 

Hi Shawn,

Adding the PC back to OneDrive did work. I can get access to my pc through OneDrive.

Last friday I also deleted all my synched files from OneDrive. Just to be sure and make a clean start. I used this link (Microsoft OneDrive - Access files anywhere. Create docs with free Office Online.). Before I did that I disabled all sync settings through the registry as you wrote in the tutorial. I did this on all my devices. I also disabled the connection with OneDrive for that period of time.

I waited until now before enabling the connection with OneDrive and the sync settings in the registry. I noticed that a process "SettingSynchHost.exe" used some upload and download time after that. Almost 750 KB up and 750 KB down. That's all.

But.....when looking in OneDrive at the part where you should be able to see the backupped devices......I only see my Windows Phone and not my pc.*cry

What am I doing wrong here? Is my patience to low? Can it take some time before OneDrive is showing the device?

Help.....


Rover

 

Hello Rover,

If you haven't already, make sure that you PC is added as a trusted device.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5...d-devices.html

It can take a while before your PC shows back up listed as a device on OneDrive. Give it a few days to see if it returns by *Smile