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Confused about OneDrive and “This PC”

Anonymous
2023-08-10T04:05:17+00:00

So confused! I set up my mom with OneDrive so that she could use a laptop in the hospital and be able to access all her documents from her home desktop. I installed Microsoft 365 on both her machines (home desktop and laptop). I copied all her documents on her home computer from the This PC location to the documents folder under OneDrive. Once they were all there, I deleted the documents from This PC so she wouldn’t accidentally update something on This PC (because that’s on the local disk and it wouldn’t sync to her laptop, right?). On the laptop, all the documents appeared under OneDrive, but it looks like a duplicate set is under This PC! I expected them to be only under OneDrive. What am I missing here? My understanding is that the folders under “This PC” are on the local drive only. But now I’m noticing that there is something called “Local Disk C” under “This PC.” The file structure under Local Disk C has Users/UserName/Documents. THAT Documents folder is empty. What’s the difference between that Documents folder and the one at the level just under “This PC?” There’s a whole separate structure under OneDrive. Is there duplication? So confused.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-08-10T17:35:38+00:00

    I do understand and the left pane in File Explorer can be very confusing for most people

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-08-10T15:58:51+00:00

    Thank you, Dave! Here is a photo of the screen (I don’t have my email on my mom’s computer, so no screen shot). Also, I saw that all the documents and pictures under “This PC” have the little cloud icon indicating that the files are only in the OneDrive cloud. The same for the files listed under the OneDrive folder. So I’m assuming they’re all just duplicated under This PC. And it’s not the actual files on the drive, since they’re only in the cloud. I just don’t understand why they’re listed under This PC.

    Hi Ron,

    I am Dave, I will help you with this.

    By default when OneDrive is enabled, Windows will use the Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders that are inside the OneDrive folder and the Documents folder inside the users folder will not be used.

    I need to check the registry references for the users folders:

    Click your Start Button, type regedit and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.

    Click View and make sure 'Address Bar' is turned on.

    Paste this into the Address Bar at the top and hit Enter.

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

    Please provide a screenshot of that Registry Editor page.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2023-08-10T06:39:16+00:00

    Hi Ron,

    I am Dave, I will help you with this.

    By default when OneDrive is enabled, Windows will use the Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders that are inside the OneDrive folder and the Documents folder inside the users folder will not be used.

    I need to check the registry references for the users folders:

    Click your Start Button, type regedit and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.

    Click View and make sure 'Address Bar' is turned on.

    Paste this into the Address Bar at the top and hit Enter.

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

    Please provide a screenshot of that Registry Editor page.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2023-08-10T16:03:18+00:00

    Thank you for the image, everything looks good in there, Windows is set to use the Documents, Desktop and Pictures folders that are in the OneDrive folder, not the other Documents folder

    I think all you are seeing is the confusing layout Microsoft has in the left navigation pane in File Explorer, right click an empty spot in the left pane, on the resulting menu, you can enable/disable folder views, try each of them until only one version of the folders is shown.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2023-08-10T16:42:13+00:00

    Thank you for the image, everything looks good in there, Windows is set to use the Documents, Desktop and Pictures folders that are in the OneDrive folder, not the other Documents folder

    I think all you are seeing is the confusing layout Microsoft has in the left navigation pane in File Explorer, right click an empty spot in the left pane, on the resulting menu, you can enable/disable folder views, try each of them until only one version of the folders is shown.

    What happens if I right-click/delete “This PC”? I’m not finding any other way to not show it in that left pane. If I right-click an empty spot as you said, the only options are: Show libraries, Show all folders, and Expand to current folder.

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