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Stop OneDrive From Hijacking Your Desktop and Documents

Leila Gharani

64,522 views

Did your Desktop icons suddenly get green ticks, or is OneDrive constantly warning you that your storage is full? Windows 11 quietly moves your local folders into the cloud by default.

You can easily take control back and move your files to your local PC. However, the settings screen is a trap - clicking the wrong button can wipe your local folders entirely. In this video, I’ll show you the exact, safe method to stop OneDrive backup without losing any data. Already clicked the wrong option? I’ve got you covered on how to recover your missing files.

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Timestamps
0:00 Why Windows 11 Hijacked Your Files
1:30 The OneDrive Settings Trap (Warning!)
4:26 What the OneDrive Status Icons Mean
5:39 4 Critical Checks Before Stopping Sync
7:24 How to Safely Disconnect OneDrive
8:22 Fix Storage Full & Multi-PC Sync Issues
9:02 "Files Gone?" How to Recover Your Data
10:21 The 5GB Trap: Why Microsoft Does This

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20 Comments

@LeilaGharani Creator 1 day ago (edited) Pinned

If you found this helpful, also check out my free course: Windows 11 Essentials for Work 👉https://www.xelplus.com/course/windows-essentials-for-work/ - includes lots of tips and tricks to make working with Windows easier

@davidmanning7912 1 day ago

Thanks for this. My thoughts about Microsoft forcing my files into the cloud against my wishes are not as polite as yours

@allenbuyck7957 1 day ago

I ran into this problem when I set up a new PC and I missed the setting to not backup everything to one drive. This is the best video I have found on how to fix this. Thank you.

@jjspr 1 day ago

In times where AI is harvesting everything to train, and be it only capabilities, I’m not trusting the promises of privacy at all. Well presented Leila, many thanks.

@ohitsustu1835 1 day ago

Uninvited data harvesting 😡

@geerliglecluse5297 1 day ago

This is just criminal. Fortunately, it's fairly easy to kick One Drive off you Windows PC altogether. Has never caused any problems for me and did not come back when installing Windows updates. Zero regrets so far. I HIGHLY recommend everyone to do that!

@WendellF-qd4rd 1 day ago

I wish I knew about this sooner. I think this is just a Microsoft ploy to sell us cloud-space. Thank you for this piece of information.

@SP-bw3zp 1 day ago

Very important information. Thank you.

@Casper_Johannesburg 19 hours ago

Thank you. Great video. OneDrive continuously gets more and more complicated as Microsoft developers and engineers enhances it.

@robertbarkovicz800 1 day ago

The software giants are fighting each other to get their customer's data in their cloud, bind customers, strategical move to cloud, disabling freedom of choice in the future and having massive amounts of data to train for models.

@Bondoz007 12 hours ago

You nailed it. This is so outrageous. I don't store anything on the cloud. No thanks

@photon434 18 hours ago

This is the best video I have seen on this, and it came at a good time because my wife's files were being hijacked. She doesn't know a lot about computers, but she is smart enough to know that an OS is not supposed to move files without being directed to do so. This entire OneDrive mess would have been a whole lot smoother and more respectable if Microsoft had given users the capability and a button to turn individual folders on. And hey, starting with heavily used folders like Documents was pure sabotage. Then, after OneDrive fills the paltry 5 GB of free storage with files it took from your computer, Microsoft freezes the account and may eventually delete everything unless you pay up or clean up the mess it created.

@AsleepInYorkshire 13 hours ago

I've been battling with this for years now. I still get the brown horizontal bar at the top of my MS files. Thank you Leila 🙂

@CraftBeerTastic 1 day ago

Microsoft and their dark patterns need to be held accountable. It happened with Epic Games. Thanks for the tutorial, Leila!

@fernandoparamo6120 20 hours ago

You read my mind, that is exactly what I wanted to do urgently. Thank you for this wonderful video

@chh8860 1 day ago

Prof Leila,

Once again, you are SO helpful ... I've seen on my PC what you described but didn't understand the 'why' behind what I was seeing. The mid-afternoon blahs are setting in ... but I will rewatch with black coffee in hand ... thank you ... thank you ... thank you .... 😍😍😍😍... you are such a gem!

At the 11:42 mark " ... I hope you found this video helpful and I will see you in the next video ...".
OF COURSE ... OF COURSE!!!

Chris

@cynthiahawkins2142 1 day ago

Thank you!

@markbrad123 1 day ago (edited)

There is a right click 'always keep on this device' in file explorer which means you got the best of both worlds and your files and folders do not disappear if you disconnect One Drive.

@Franceskineos 1 day ago

Leila SANTA SUBITO!!!!!! ❤

@jblink1150 1 day ago

Great video and something I will look at. However from the earliest days I have never trusted the windows documents / pictures etc folders for most files. I have always created separate folders on a different drive, logical or physical on the PC or, as now, on a NAS. I knew at the time this was less convenient but it was “my thing”.