Trying to remove all traces of the OneDrive folder and lost everything.

Question

Trying to remove all traces of the OneDrive folder and lost everything.

Brad Kitten 20

I am trying to remove all traces of OneDrive. I have stopped the sync. I saved all the data in the OneDrive folder to a thumb drive. I removed the OneDrive folder and created the Desktop, Pictures and other files folders under my user account. When I rebooted everything was gone. I had to recover everything back the way it was. How do I remove all traces of OneDrive and not lose my desktop, etc.?

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Answer accepted by question author

EmilyS726 264.9K Independent Advisor

Hello.

Assuming you still have all of the data safely backed up, right?

The mistake here is that you should have turned off folders back up in Onedrive settings first, that would return all of the folders back to its path, and you shoudln't have to create your own desktop, documents folder, etc.

I assume Onedrive is uninstalled now? If so, Please type regedit in the search on the taskbar to launch registry editor, and go to this path, then take a screenshot and share in your reply.

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

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4 additional answers

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Answer 1

Brad Kitten 20

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EmilyS726 264.9K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-12-18T21:40:55.8266667+00:00

Great, this is helpful. You want to first delete those folders you manually created via File Explorer.

Right click and delete those in blue.

For the yellow ones, do this for each. Right click and use modify, change the value data accordingly:

For Desktop, change it to:
%USERPROFILE%\Desktop

For My Pictures, change it to:

%USERPROFILE%\Pictures

For Personal, change it to:

%USERPROFILE%\Documents

Restart and this should recover these shell folders - they are system folders for user profile, that's why manually creating them will not work. It has to be done systematicaly. If you have data backed up, you can then move the data back into these folders.
Brad Kitten 20 Reputation points

2025-12-18T21:43:32.5733333+00:00

You are a God send. Thank you. I will take these steps tomorrow. Have a great day!
EmilyS726 264.9K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-12-18T22:12:51.5566667+00:00

You are welcome :)

Yeah, keep me posted.

Answer 2

EmilyS726 264.9K Independent Advisor

Do you mind sharing it as an actual screenshot instead, exactly how it shows in registry.

I think I do see a few folders we need to make edits, but with registry edits, I need to be 100% sure.

Once I get the screenshot from you, I will highlight them and tell you which ones to edit.

To take screenshot, hold down Win+Shift +S keys, and select the area you want to take screenshot, then use ctrl+V to post here.

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Answer 3

Brad Kitten 20

here you go regedit.pdf

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Answer 4

To remove all traces of OneDrive without losing your desktop and other important files, follow these steps:

Stop OneDrive Sync: Ensure that you have stopped syncing in OneDrive. You can do this by right-clicking the OneDrive icon in the taskbar and selecting "Settings" > "Account" > "Unlink this PC".
Backup Important Files: Before proceeding, make sure you have backed up all important files from your OneDrive folder to an external drive or another safe location.
Remove OneDrive Folder: If you haven't already, you can delete the OneDrive folder from your user profile. Ensure you are not deleting files that are needed for your desktop or other folders.
Clear Cached Credentials: To ensure that all traces of OneDrive are removed, you can clear cached credentials for OneDrive for Business if applicable. This can be done by:
- Signing out of OneDrive.
- Removing the folders %localappdata%/Microsoft/OneAuth and %localappdata%/Microsoft/IdentityCache.
Uninstall OneDrive: If you want to completely remove OneDrive from your system, you can uninstall it:
- Go to "Settings" > "Apps" > "Apps & features".
- Find OneDrive in the list, click on it, and select "Uninstall".
Check for Remaining Files: After uninstalling, check your user profile and other locations for any remaining OneDrive folders or files and delete them if necessary.
Reboot Your Computer: Restart your computer to ensure all changes take effect.

By following these steps, you should be able to remove OneDrive without losing your desktop and other important files. Make sure to double-check that all your important data is backed up before you start the removal process.

References: