Windows 10: Why is there a difference between the folders in OneDrive - Personal and This PC?

I have a new Windows 11 laptop, and I'm having trouble getting used to how it interacts with OneDrive. It is set up to sync Desktop, Documents & Pictures to/from OneDrive--always keeping copies of my files both in OneDrive and on my machine, as is indicated by the white check marks circled in green to the right of the blue curly bracket in the image below.The same files and folders are present in OneDrive - Personal > Desktop, Documents & Pictures as are present in This PC > Desktop, Documents & Pictures. But what is going on with the three additional folders, also with white

:)

 

How to update the automatically created 'OneDrive - Personal' link to point to the correct folder

Summary:

I ran into this issue after setting up my personal OneDrive on my work machine.

My personal OneDrive is working fine BUT the automatically created "link" that appears between 'Quick access' and 'This PC' in Explorer points to the wrong location.

I can't find a well documented way of changing it.

Starting point:

• Business OneDrive is set up and pointing to 'C:\Users\<username>\OneDrive - <companyname>'.
• There is a "link" called 'OneDrive - <companyname>' in Explorer between 'Quick access' and 'This PC', that points to 'C:\Users\<username>\OneDrive - <companyname>'.

(I don't think that's relevant to the issue but I mention it just in case.)

What I did:

1. I set up my personal OneDrive on my work machine by following the instructions I found online. I used the default OneDrive folder location, 'C:\Users\<username>'. Windows created a 'OneDrive' folder in 'C:\Users\<username>' and automatically added a "link"
   called 'OneDrive - Personal' in Explorer between 'Quick access' and 'This PC' that pointed to 'C:\Users\<username>\OneDrive'.
   
   Everything was working fine but I didn't like the fact that the folder was called 'OneDrive' and not 'OneDrive - Personal'. I looked for a way of changing the folder name and didn't find one, so I decided to move the folder into a different location that included
   'Personal' instead.
2. I "unlinked" my personal OneDrive.
3. I reinstalled my personal OneDrive, this time selecting 'C:\Users\<username>\Desktop\Private' as OneDrive folder location. Windows created a 'OneDrive' folder in 'C:\Users\<username>\Desktop\Private' and automatically added a "link" called 'OneDrive - Personal'
   in Explorer between 'Quick access' and 'This PC' that pointed to 'C:\Users\<username>\OneDrive'.
   
   Apart from the "link" pointing to the wrong location, my personal OneDrive works as expected.

Notes:

• I didn't restart the machine between any of the steps 1-3 above.
• I tried to restart, uninstall, restart, reinstall, restart, but the link still points to the wrong location.

Anyone knows a way of fixing this that doesn't involve regedit?

 

This PC leads to the OneDrive folder.

Hi Lance,

There are different factors as to why the default location of the documents and pictures folder on your computer is defaulting to OneDrive. One possible reason is that you setup OneDrive as the default save location of your files. For us to resolve your
concern, kindly follow the steps below:

• Open File Explorer and from the left-hand panel select the
  Documents folder from the list.
• After selecting the Documents folder, right click on it and select
  properties from the list.
• Select the Location tab, and click on the Restore Default button. (see screenshot below)
  
  
  
  
• Select OK and if prompted to create a folder at the default location, click on
  Yes.
• If you get a prompt to move all files from the old location to the new default location, click on
  Yes.

Once complete the folder properties windows will close by itself and folder should not be using the default location. Take note that these steps apply to the different folder in your computer.

We look forward to your response once you complete the steps.

 

Move the OneDrive Folder

Move the OneDrive Folder in Windows 10

When you set up OneDrive to sync with your computer, a folder C:\Users\XXXX\OneDrive will be created to store the contents. XXXX denotes your username. To move this folder to another location follow these simple steps:

1. Unlink OneDrive from your PC:

• Go to the taskbar notification area
• Right-click on the OneDrive icon
• Select settings
• Click: Unlink this PC

2. Delete the C:\Users\XXXX\OneDrive folder

3. Create a new folder (target folder) for OneDrive contents, e.g. D:\OneDrive

4. Create Directory Junction for the new folder

• In the search area of the taskbar type CMD and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter
• In the command window type

mklink /J C:\Users\XXXX\OneDrive D:\OneDrive

adjusting it to your specific username and selection of the target folder

5. Link again OneDrive to your PC using the OneDrive icon in the taskbar notification area