The OneDrive Conundrum Solved — Coda:
Update:
Meet the New Boss.
Same as the Old Boss
At Least in Windows 11 Home or Pro OneDrive Can Be
Uninstalled... So far so good
Confusions Agree
With John Florio
Measure Twice, Cut
Once
My experience in mucking around with Windows itself dictates to me that
ONLY DO THAT WHEN ALL OTHER POSSIBILITIES
HAVE TRIED AND FAILED.
Needless to say:
I have used the Group Policy Editor to remove
OneDrive as directed — Steerii--ike 1.
I have used the Registry
Editor to remove OneDrive as directed — Steerii--ike 2.
So I swung at
what I figured would be a bad pitch, and surprisingly made contact.
I simply Uninstalled OneDrive using Windows 11 app settings.
And even more surprising so far so good.
This is the first time I attempted to uninstall OneDrive in Windows 11.
I have successfully removed old OneDrive applications left
over from Windows 8.1 in Windows 10. That required many different
steps — which I would not recommend to anyone not familiar with Windows
subsystems — before successful and complete removal. My usual
solution in Windows was simply to disable OneDrive. In Windows 11, OneDrive seemed much more persistent about its use.
I will never
instruct a user with little to no experience working with Windows
subsytems to make global system changes. When it all goes Kaput,
as it frequently will, the tech gets blamed.
All of the
information about this fiasco that is on the web is of no value to most
users. The single most important advice that MUST BE GIVEN
TO USERS FIRST IS LOCATE AND VERIFY WHERE ARE THE FILES. The
difference between me and all the others is I that am out in the field
where theory is so often freakin useless. And that is why I
believed my readers and my clients needed to have a full understanding
of the problem before applying the solution.
What really set me
off on to this journey was when I first deleted the Documents in
OneDrive that were mirrored in Documents, both sets of Documents were
deleted. Like I said, I have backups of backups. So I was
shocked, but nevertheless prepared for a bad outcome because I had first
verified all my files were on a separate drive.
So, Dear Reader,
if you are confident that all of your files are properly saved to a
backup drive, and not only backed up to OneDrive, and if you have the
heart and the stomach for such things, then go ahead.
1. Navigate to Settings → Apps → Installed Apps
2. Scroll
down to OneDrive
3. On OneDrive → Click the 3 dot Control → Uninstall
4. I strongly suggest that you reboot the computer
Now, if you have never done this,
then please don't do it.
If you have a tech you regularly use, then
ask your Space Alien to help you.
And, if you ignore the advice above, and
just jump in because either your serotonin or testosterone is out of
balance, you will have no one to blame but yourself when the feces hits
the circular oscillator.
So far the fix has stuck. I do believe, however, after some update
somewhere sometime, OneDrive will pop up its pointy little head one more
time. On the other hand, truth is, once Microsoft realizes that
the Gnomes of Redmond have really pulled a boner, they then fix it.
How about a switch at first
setup that asks do you want to use OneDrive for your file storage or use the
traditional Windows schema?
I guess what I will
do now that I have a pretty good understanding of the whole picture, I
will ask my customer how they want their files stored; explain the
situation; and if the user wants the traditional schema, I will then
uninstall OneDrive before I restore any files from backup.
Update: Meet the New Boss.
Same as the Old Boss
First question that should come
from all
this is, "Well, if you
uninstalled OneDrive, and the Desktop folder is only located only in
OneDrive, how come the Desktop still exists, smarty pants?"
And, indeed, that's a good question. The answer brings us to
the first
point of this series. OneDrive is a part of Windows. You can't get rid
of OneDrive; you can only tame OneDrive so it doesn't interfere with how
any one user uses their own Windows machine. To wit, when you
uninstall OneDrive, and then reboot your PC, what you have done is
hidden OneDrive. And unlike Pooh Bear, the OneDrive folder is
where it has always been. Nonetheless, I recommend going through
the steps here:
1. Verify the location of your precious files
2. Back those files up
3. Verify the contents of the backup matches
the contents of the source folder that you had backed up.
The point is to know exactly that you performed an adequate backup
before you hide your OneDrive folder. Refuse occurs.
This
all has not been making a mountain out of a molehill. This is a
real mountain.
What all the Digerati do not understand is messing
around with a user's files is like messing around with a parent's child.
And parents really resent anyone messing around with their child.
So whoever is doing the messing around, better have a damn good reason
for doing so, and can explain those reasons in an understandable manner.
Now, let's all take a deep breath, and repeat after me.
Aw
Jeez
¯\_(ツ)_/¯