Question OneDrive problems with Documents and Pictures ?

[50bmg]

I had to reinstall windows 10 for the first time in a while. I usually keep my libraries mapped to my Data drive. With this new install, it installed onedrive automatically and mapped the libraries to the onedrive folder, .C:\users\"myusername"\onedrive. I was able to remap all the libraries except Documents and Pictures.

I have uninstalled onedrive. If i delete the two libraries out of onedrive , it gives an error when remapping the libraries.

How can i remap the libraries or get rid of onedrive to do what i want?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Did you choose to enable syncing during the installation?

 

[50bmg]

No. Other than seeing the free trial of MS Office, i did not see any reference to Onedrive. I declined the free trial.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, when you say "reinstall", do you mean a refresh, reset or restore, from a factory image or by using the process for one of those procedures, or do you mean you did a FULL, CLEAN install, as outlined here:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Which includes creating new installation media using the media creation tool, disconnecting ALL drives except the drive you are installing from and the drive you are installing to, choosing the "Custom" option during the installation, deleting ALL existing partitions on that drive and then installing to the unformatted, unpartitioned space. Windows will create the required partitions and perform any necessary formatting, automatically.

Because if you did that, you should not be seeing any such problem. I've done literally, I don't know, at least over probably 150 or more installations of Windows 10 on a variety of machines and platforms, and probably 10 or 15 installations of Windows 11, not counting the installations of Windows 10 and 11 that I've done for the guides on installing it, and I've never seen that problem you are describing occur.

I think I'd simply start over, with fresh installation media, and do a clean install from scratch as outlined in my guide. Once you get past the deleting partions and click next the latest build versions will have a few screens that are different than in my guide because I need to update it which I've already created new screenshots for, but mostly it should be 95% the same.

Also, on the screens where it asks what options you want to go with and there are Yes/No sliders to the left of Location, Diagnostic data, Tailored experiences, Find my device, etc., I generally recommend disabling ALL of those features unless there is one or two that you specifically KNOW you want to leave enabled especially on some types of mobile devices. For desktops I really recommend disabling them all and one of those might have something to do with your issue. Also, I recommend skipping the "Lets customize your experience" options.

Looking at the latest screenshots of the latest Windows 10 installation screens, there IS a screen that says "Your Microsoft account and OneDrive" (Use your device with peace of mind. Your Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders on this device will be BACKED UP in your OneDrive, so they're protected and available on any device) which means that by default OneDrive is linked to those libraries, BUT those libraries should not automatically be MAPPED to OneDrive. They should just be backed up so that they exist in their normal locations AND on the OneDrive cloud location.

You should be able to do a clean install and then immediately following installation UNLINK the OneDrive so that it is just not in use on that system.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...onedrive-f32a17ce-3336-40fe-9c38-6efb09f944b0

 

[50bmg]

complete fresh reinstall after a formatted HD.

I have already installed windows. I need to know how to fix it after install. Thanks for the post, but that doesnt help me now.

I unlinkned onedrive to my PC. That does not remove the folder structure created by onedrive.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, something done during or immediately following the install had to have caused it, because it is NOT normal behavior. In more than 150 installations on versions of Windows 10 since it's release to now, I've never seen that happen. Not once. Nor has anybody else around here during that time because if the had I'd have heard about it. I would try installing without entering your Microsoft account information, as in doing a "local install", because that will for sure keep that from happening and the best way to do that is to simply pull the plug and decline internet access during the installation. Once you get things setup you can move the folders and mapping where you want and then reconnect to the internet.

Other than that, I can't see how you'd possibly fix this when clearly you have a registry problem due to whatever went wrong during remapping. I've seen mapping problems with the libraries before when moving them and it always seems to require starting over to get it right.

 

[50bmg]

I used the windows install media creation tool via a USB stick. So, whatever the latest win 10 download from MS is what i got.

I installed windows twice saturday on the same machine. The second time i was especially careful to not select any onedrive. It still installed onedrive and the folders. I am at the point of no return with this install. Both installs were non-eventful.

Both times, i immediately unlinked onedrive then uninstalled onedrive. Both easy steps.

Remapping is easy. Select library > properties > location > move. That is all i did. I dont believe i did anything any different than i have the dozen installs i done before.

I dont see how that would cause a registry issue. Both installs had the exact same issue.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Was your internet connected or did you allow it to connect wirelessly during the install? If so, it wasn't a local installation. I'm just saying, doing a local installation won't allow Onedrive to run, at all, because it can't get to the internet, but you can STILL complete the installation (There are ways, and I can show you if you need me to) without having to be connected so that you end up with a local installation instead of an MS account linked installation. Your motherboard ID string will still activate once you DO connect to the internet later since it will already be registered and attached to a digital entitlement.

Then you can remap your libraries without Onedrive having done anything with them yet, and make sure Onedrive is unlinked, and THEN connect to the internet and continue on with setting things up. That is the only alternative recommendation I can see that might make any difference at all and is exactly the way I do pretty much every Windows 10 installation which is likely why I never have had this problem. I have however had a problem for some reason once or twice that was exactly like you say with it giving me errors but I know those were not Onedrive related I just can't remember exactly what it was that caused it but it didn't do it when I reinstalled and moved them again.

Other than that, I guess maybe somebody else can chime in and perhaps they've seen something like this and have a better answer.

@Colif , @USAFRet , maybe one of you have seen this issue?

 

[50bmg]

I see. Formerly, i would download an ISO image and installed from that. I guess i should have done it that way this time. Oh well. Lesson learned. I was thinking i was crazy. I know i did not select any one drive.

I really dont want to reinstall again.. Next time i reinstall, i will use a local install. I have a work around for now.

Thanks for the input.

 

[50bmg]

Wow, i feel dumb. The fix was so easy, i just over thought it.

All i had to do was move the OneDrive folder from C:\users\[myname] to D:\

The OneDrive folder is the Library no matter where it is. Moving the OneDrive folder move the libraries. Even though i had unlinked the PC and uninstalled OneDrive, Windows still sees the OneDrive folder as the library and will follow where ever you put it.

Thanks, Darkbreeze, for talking with me about it.

 

[Darkbreeze]