Removing OneDrive traces remaining after uninstall

Question

I can't unpin the Desktop shortcut from Quick Access in File Explorer.
It doesn't point to
C:\Users\myusername\Desktop
but instead to
C:\Users\myusername\OneDrive\Desktop
even though I uninstalled OneDrive after a day or two of trying it.

Any folders or shortcuts I put in the first folder above are ignored.
But folders/shortcuts deleted from the OneDrive subfolder vanish from the desktop.

I would like to restore the first folder to be the functioning desktop directory.
And also to delete the OneDrive folder and other traces of OneDrive that uninstall missed.

Answer 1

@Ron Sipherd ,

This is because your OneDrive is connected to your Microsoft account as a service in Office 2019.

Please close and save all Office files firstly, then try to add the following registry and type the corresponding value to have a check.

1. Type Run in search bar, Enter. Then type regedit in Run box to open Registry Edit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Internet.
3. Right-click on empty space to create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value. Rename it to OnlineStorage and change the value to 3.

Then use the same steps to add the following in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\General.

• SkipOpenAndSaveAsPlace (Value 1)
• PreferCloudSaveLocations (Value 0)
• SkyDriveSignInOption (Value 0)

Hope the information could be helpful to you.

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Answer 2

@Ron Sipherd ,

Welocme to Q&A forum!
I understand your confusion about this issue. Please try the following steps to check this issue.

• Type C:\Users\<UserName>\OneDrive\Desktop on search bar, press Enter.
• Then go to the path of OneDrive, right-click on Desktop folder and click Properties, click Restore Default on the Location tab.
• Click Apply and OK.
  

For more information about completely deleting OneDrive, please refer to this article Turn off, disable, or uninstall OneDrive.

Hope the information could be helpful to you. Any updates, please let me know.

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Answer 3

I was able to go into the registry and search for onedrive, and found most of the paths for my document, photos, music etc still had the onedrive path. Changing that to %USERPROFILE%\xxx worked well enough. With that done it was a matter of deleting relevant OneDrive entries and then deleting the folders.

One thing that I have noticed about Windows 11 is it is very sloppy about uninstalling apps. It doesn't matter which software or who made it, the registry is littered with leftovers that didn't get fully uninstalled. It really feels like this OS was rushed to market with very little testing. At the very least it seems it will be the next Vista, and at the very worse could be Windows ME.

Answer 4

Yes, that seems to have done it; thanks!
And (I think this is a related query to add here, feel free to point me to the right forum if not) I would also like to eliminate OneDrive from the Save As list in MS Office Professional 2019. I see this "OneDrive Personal" top-level option in Excel, Word, and probably the other components. Haven't found a way to eliminate it.

Answer 5

Thanks again! A little bit more complicated, but it is working.