Duplicate entries in File Explorer

Question

Hi. I am seeing something weird in File Explorer. There are duplicate entries pointing to: in my case :
C:\users\BEHAR\OneDrive. ( displaying as B.E. - Personal) . Trust me... I have no idea how this happened... I'd like to remove just one
entry but I'm not sure what this will cause... i.e. deleting the OneDrive folder ??? That I do not want !!

I have opened a post on the Windows 11 forum but so far no responses.. I thought I'd try here...

Does anyone have any advice as to how I remove just one of these entries and leave the OneDrive
folder intact? I have a screenprint showing the duplicate entries on the left side of the screen..but don't see

a way to attach it to this post

Answer 1

Hello, this is Emily.

When you right click on both entries for OneDrive, they are the same folder path, right?

Can you please type regedit in the search on the taskbar to launch Registry Editor, and go to this location:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace

Please lookl through all of the sub folders, to see if you have two OneDrive listings (the onedrive value would be shown to you on the right pane)? You want to check all of the sub folders under "Namespace".

If you find two of them, you can right click and delete one of the sub folders.

Answer 2

Emily, I moved ahead with some testing for this issue..

• I had duplicate OneDrive entries shown under the gallery section in File Explorer.
• in the registry I deleted both entries shown in the Namespace folder, File Explorer then displayed nothing in the gallery section --- Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace
• I recycled the pc
• File Explorer displayed 1 OneDrive entry, not sure how its naming algorithm works however the entry I see appears to be using the account associated with the pc and is suffixed with '- Personal'. This is shown in the registry as well.
• I recycled the pc 2 more times and there was just the single entry. So File Explorer appears to know its default entry has been generated and leaves it at that.
• I poked around a bit to see if I could adjust what is shown in the OneDrive entry in File Explorer.. yes it is possible.

1. right click on the entry in File Explorer and choose 'show more options'
2. select 'settings', should see a popup window with 'ACCOUNT' at the top
3. in the OneDrive section (middle of the window), select Choose folders
4. select / deselect the folders you wish to see under the OneDrive folder in the gallery section.

Answer 3

I am glad to hear the issue has been resolved.

Feel free to mark the answer for this thread to end this communication. Thanks!

Answer 4

Thank you for the screenshots.

Just want to make sure, the two OneDrive folders do have the same folder paths in File Explorer, right? I do want to make sure they are true duplicate displays.

If that's the case, you can delete either one. I would probably go with the second one that doesn't say "personal".

And yes, you delete the sub folder on the left pane, the folder that has the long string of numbers and letters.

Answer 5

HI Emily...

I have found 2 entries in the regedit directory:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace .

I have included 2 screenprints which shows Namespace with 2 entries..

One shows only OneDrive and the second shows OneDrive - Personal.

So Q. which B.E. - Personal folder should I delete ? And, should I delete at the parent folder level?

thanks