Author Topic: A fix for a OneDrive that's gone rogue?  (Read 5390 times)

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Offline michaellinder

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A fix for a OneDrive that's gone rogue?
« on: March 22, 2018, 08:45:31 am »
I really dislike and do not need OneDrive, but it's baked in to Windows 10. The best we can do is hide or disable it, but it's not that easy. Though I uninstalled OneDrive in Control Panel, and turned off every activation instance I could find, the program still persists in stashing my stuff in impossible, secret places — not on the Microsoft Cloud, but in OneDrive folders it creates on its own initiative. I've just discovered that all my desktop content is squirreled away in a OneDrive folder, not in Windows/Users/me/desktop. It's infected Outlook, adding unnecessary "(this computer only)" status to all my folders. Several third-party programs default file-save only to new OneDrive locations. 

A long email exchange with Microsoft support led to this "fix": Delete your Microsoft account, even though this will kill all purchased apps from the Microsoft Store, delete all Skype credits, remove me from all support threads, and possibly disable my phone — among other warnings. In an hours-long phone conversation with Microsoft — the company has NO OneDrive support team — a supervisor apologized for none of his agents having been trained in OneDrive, though he advised against such radical surgery.

We reinstalled OneDrive and its App. Still, the blue or white One Drive logo did not appear in the taskbar to enable a disable. Then, on clicking Sign Out in the app, Microsoft's streaming dots simply squirmed around for hours without accomplishing the task. I've spent hours with Microsoft on this issue and all I got was a useless case number — but no fix. If anyone can wrestle this gawd-awful program into submission, it has to be Tweaking.com which has saved my bacon in other ways.

Fingers crossed.     

Offline Boggin

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Re: A fix for a OneDrive that's gone rogue?
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2018, 10:08:26 am »
The icon could be hidden.

I'm not sure if this article gives you what you want, as you'll still want access to your files in a normal way - but see what it does for you.

https://support.office.com/en-GB/article/Turn-off-or-uninstall-OneDrive-f32a17ce-3336-40fe-9c38-6efb09f944b0

Offline michaellinder

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Re: A fix for a OneDrive that's gone rogue?
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2018, 12:14:20 pm »
Thanks for the suggestion, but as I've pointed out, reinstalling OneDrive and its app under guidance of Microsoft Phone Support, the blue or white OneDrive icon still does not appear in taskbar or in its hidden icons pop up box. Meantime, OneDrive continues to move my desktop content and saved files to mysterious OneDrive folders and subfolders. I was hoping Tweaking.com might speed a OneDrive reset in its Pro version to cure this ill in the same way it's been able to reset other Windows functions.

Offline Boggin

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Re: A fix for a OneDrive that's gone rogue?
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2018, 02:38:49 pm »
I don't know if WR will reset OneDrive or if it would be as you want it - https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/onedrive/forum/odstart-oduninstall-sdwin10/full-reset-of-onedrive-on-windows-10/12a357f8-7773-4856-bf0c-0ecd308f4184

As for the icon to change the settings, have you tried - Start - Settings cog - Personalization - Taskbar then scrolled down to Notification Area - Select which icons appear on the Taskbar to see if it is listed and if toggling it will get it to appear if it is there.

I forget what I did to get rid of OneDrive, but it isn't listed in my items.

Offline michaellinder

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Re: A fix for a OneDrive that's gone rogue?
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2018, 06:57:08 pm »
Oddly, One Drive doesn't appear in the list of Icons that appear on the Taskbar, despite it and its app being installed. It's also not among the "Turn system icons on or off" list either. I deleted OneDrive and deleted the OneDrive app via Control Panel. Right-clicking the OneNote app and selecting Uninstall switched me to Control Panel's Uninstall menu which has no listing for OneNote.

Anyway, I performed the full repair of Office 365 to see if it would clear the superfluous "This computer only" tags on all my Outlook email address folders. It did not, but it reinstalled OneDrive yet again — which I have deleted yet again.

Sure enough, on relaunching Office 365 I was required to sign in with my Microsoft account, which, if I had followed the advice of Microsoft Support's emails and deleted the account to kill OneDrive, I would have no longer had access to Office. Those guys are clueless, capable of inflicting serious damage through their sheer ignorance of Windows. Such are the rewards of patronizing the platform continuously since Windows 3.1.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll reinstall OneDrive and run %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset to see what gives, but having uninstalled and reinstalled the program so many times without the ability to shut it down I'm not too hopeful, only burned out.   :sarcastic:

Offline Boggin

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Re: A fix for a OneDrive that's gone rogue?
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2018, 01:30:39 am »
I once spent about 4hrs with a supposedly 2nd line MS tech when 6 updates were taking out my audio.

I resolved it by hiding the updates but thought I'd report it and see what could be the cause.

I think I spent a couple of hours with the 1st line tech before he said he would have to elevate it - at least he was honest enough to say he didn't know.

It was a Win 7 machine and this 2nd line tech decided to install an audio driver for Vista - which didn't work.

Anyway, after about 4hrs he did exactly what I had done and clamed a great success and had the cheek to ask that I give him a good rep when I got the questionnaire.

I didn't get the chance to rubbish him because I didn't get that email.

I agree with you though that it's a wonder that some of them qualify for their jobs.

Offline michaellinder

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Re: A fix for a OneDrive that's gone rogue?
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2018, 06:25:49 pm »
SOLVED!
Getting rid of a rogue OneDrive is rather simple after all, a solution unknown to the geniuses at Microsoft. It only requires some Command Prompt or PowerShell cut-and-paste...
 
How to Completely Uninstall OneDrive in Windows 10
https://lifehacker.com/how-to-completely-uninstall-onedrive-in-windows-10-1725363532


As for making sure Windows stops putting stuff in OneDrive folders, even after the program is uninstalled, use this Group Policy Hack or Registry edit which should stop OneDrive in its tracks (hopefully) when it's re-installed with an Office 365 online repair. Before doing this, I cut all my desktop content from the OneDrive folder it had made as its new home for everything that once resided on my default desktop location, Windows/Users/Me/Desktop. I used File Explorer to go to that default lolcation, pasted all my desktop stuff into it. So far, so good. Normalcy. 

Disable or Uninstall OneDrive Completely in Windows 10
https://techjourney.net/disable-or-uninstall-onedrive-completely-in-windows-10/


This may also be of help. Cleanup, should the dreaded OneDrive icon continue haunt your life and File Explorer.

How to Get Rid of the OneDrive Icon in Windows 10's File Explorer
https://lifehacker.com/how-to-get-rid-of-the-onedrive-icon-in-windows-10s-file-1722592615


And if OneNote is bugging you too (it's done its best to annoy me) do this PowerShell thing...

Remove OneNote app from Windows 10
https://thomas.vanhoutte.be/miniblog/uninstall-onenote-windows-10/


I've forwarded this info along to the dorks at Microsoft. Maybe they'll learn something. Maybe not. Anyway, how about implementing this in an upcoming version of Windows Repair? It'd sure help others like me — and I'm sure they're out there.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2018, 06:36:23 pm by michaellinder »