I need to get all of my files back and put OneDrive in the darkest hole I can find.

Is there a quick and fool-proof way to restore everything? I'm afraid I'll miss something and lose it when I shut One Drive down for good.


EDIT: and I can't find any of my financial or legal files on either my PC or on the OneDrive. This is devastating.

Oh, dear! I thought you had disabled OneDrive way back when we first were talking about this! You can't lose anything because OneDrive is the Cloud drive. I think we went through all this a while back, but I don't remember for sure. You don't use your OneDrive app on the computer to retrieve your files... you go to your OneDrive account on the internet and download them from there to whatever safe place you choose. Then you can disable OneDrive so it never saves anything in the Cloud again. In case I hadn't posted this before...

But first, go here and log in to your One Drive...

https://onedrive.live.com/login/en-us/

Then disable or get rid of the OneDrive app.

https://askleo.com/how-do-i-get-rid-of-onedrive/

Things to keep in mind...

I had disabled, it, or so I thought.

Now it's taken all my games off my computer. The problem is that I have no idea what is where any more so I can't figure out what to move. I feel like I'm chasing a moving target.

Actually, most of the icons have vanished from my desktop.

OK, so that sounds like a completely different problem. It's not impossible that an update reenabled the stupid thing. However, it won't UNINSTALL anything. It's only function is to transfer and store documents and files in the One Drive cloud.

I assume you're tried rebooting?

Right now, I'm not sure what we need to address first. But I'd definitely suggest logging in to your OneDrive account on the internet and retrieve any documents etc. that you want. Then we'll go from there.

The problem is that OneDrive IS removing documents from my computer. It is NOT syncing -- it is taking things off my hard drive so that the folders on my PC are empty.

Yes, I've rebooteed.

Here's another disturbing thing -- I found my documents folder. It was in the OneDrive trash bin. So were my pictures. I have copied those folders back onto my hard drive and onto my back up drive, and disconnected my back up drive from my computer, so my documents are safe.


EDIT: There's not much actually on my OneDrive. I mean, there are folders and icons.

Really, the contents of my OneDrive look like the most incompetent intern on Earth just opened a filing cabinet and threw stuff in there willy-nilly.

For instance, there is currently a folder called "Documents" on OneDrive that contains several folders containing games and a folder full of Excel files. This is not the same Documents folder I copied to my Hard drive an hour ago and contains things that are not on my computer. It's like a second Documents folder with different things in it than my main documents folder on my PC , like random files in a folder.

I'm just going to copy that folder onto to my PC and get rid of OneDrive. I'm pretty good about backing up to my portable hard drive and I really don't need this hassle. Any pictures I lose will just be from my phone.

OneDrive is just about the most useless thing ever. Were you able to retrieve what you needed? That link I posted does have direction on how to completely remove the nasty thing. II guess if you have an update, you may have to go back and check that it hasn't respawned.

Forgive me for posting about something I know absolutely nothing about but a thought occurred to me while reading this thread. Is it possible that there is some "File Clean Up" program on your computer that thinks it is cleaning "junk" to make more room on your computer or to "improve it's performance"? Again, I don't know anything about this or how it works. I just know that my Norton would like me to use their File Clean Up program (which I don't) but that's what it claims to do.

Good thought, oldbroad. But this is the accursed OneDrive which is enabled by default on all Windows 11 computers. Hagatha is not the only one who had been caught up in the utter nonsense. OneDrive is a perfectly fine Cloud option, but Microsoft has seen fit to not give people an option to use it or not on Windows 11. The fact that desktop icons are disappearing makes me think there is something else going on, but it's hard to know since I can't access the computer.

Thanks Draclvr, for those links. I disabled onedrive on my new laptop. I should do it on my Win10 too.

TLC, you don't need to disable it on Windows 10. You can choose to use it or not on Windows 10. I actually DO use it to store some thing to share with others. However, on Windows 11, it automatically uploads all your photos, documents, files etc. to the OneDrive cloud. Then you wonder where it all went because what you thought you saved on your computer is not there!

Thanks again, Draclvr.

What i did, once I rescued as many files as I could find that were important, I unlinked my computer from OneDrive. I can still see the OneDrive Icon on my desktop but it has an enormously satisfying cross through it, like a no-entry sign.

I'll have to check whether that is enough, but if there's any chance that an update can switch it back on, I'm giving it the heave-ho.

Excellent, hagatha. That big "X" must indeed be enormously satisfying.