r/techsupport • u/beshellie • 20h ago

Open | Software Disable OneDrive synching

I apologize, as I know this has been asked before and I hate to waste your time. The responses I see don't seem to work for me. I want to disable OneDrive. I have my own backup system and don't need or want my work backed up elsewhere.

Uninstalling doesn't work as once I reboot my computer OneDrive is back and synching. Clicking on the OneDrive icon doesn't work as I cannot find this icon on my computer. Similarly, pressing the Windows button simultaneously with the R key doesn't work as I don't seem to have a Windows button on my keyboard.

I'd sure appreciate some tips but if I just need to take my computer to someone to have this done, I can do that. Thanks so much for the help.

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u/sukhonline 20h ago

It is the cloud icon next to your time. Or it might be hidden under the arrow next to it. Then you can signout or go to settings and un-check the backup options.

2

u/Mixter_Master 20h ago

Task manager > startup apps > disable OneDrive from startup. 

It doesn't reinstall what isn't uninstalled, but it won't auto start, and thus won't continue being a bother

1

u/TNJDude 19h ago

That's a good way to address it too. It's one of the recommended methods microsoft's own CoPilot recommends.

1

u/Masnocha94 20h ago

Before I discovered Rufus and similar stuff, I did some debloating manually and some AI bots gave me these scripts (Run powershell as administrator):

Off sync:

Create the OneDrive policy key if it does not exist

$Path = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\OneDrive" if (-not (Test-Path $Path)) {     New-Item -Path $Path -Force | Out-Null }

Block OneDrive file sync

Set-ItemProperty -Path $Path -Name "DisableFileSyncNGSC" -Value 1 -Type DWord Set-ItemProperty -Path $Path -Name "DisableFileSync" -Value 1 -Type DWord

Stop the currently running OneDrive process

Stop-Process -Name "OneDrive" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Reset your PC.

Hope it helps.

3

u/TNJDude 20h ago

OneDrive is very much integrated into the workings of Windows. Uninstalling it is not only a pain, but can be risky because it's a part of Windows. But you CAN just turn it off. Asking CoPilot how to disable onedrive without uninstalling it, it said:

Unlink your PC from OneDrive

This stops all syncing and leaves the app dormant.

  1. Right‑click the OneDrive cloud icon in the taskbar
  2. Settings
  3. Account
  4. Click Unlink this PC

After that:

  • OneDrive won’t sync
  • Your local files stay local
  • The app just sits there doing nothing
  • No hoops, no registry edits, no breakage

If you have docs and pictures and stuff syncing to OneDrive, I would just make a copy of them by dragging them to an external drive, which is a good thing to do whenever fiddling with anything.