Onedrive confusion after backup W10 pro then restore to W11 home

rejtx · Sep 16, 2024

Home user. I backed up my W10 Pro to one drive then restored it to a new pc using Windows 11 Home. The W10 machine would not support W11. Now none of my data is on the new computer. Just links to Onedrive for everything. Even my desktop. This seems like a fairly common problem but the solutions involve right clicking one Onedrive and changing the settings. I does not work. Onedrive settings are not an option when i right click onedrive. MS automated support told me to check my settings when i asked why i cant see the settings....?. Something lacking in that AI.

I see hints that there might be a difference between Onedrive on a W10 Pro version and W11 Home version. But I am pretty sure Onedrive was downloaded and installed. I dont know why it would install the wrong one. Some very complicated instructions talk about uninstalling Onedrive then reinstalling it. Or another one talks about regedit. But I'm scared because I don't know how my computer will work if it cannot reach the files that are only on Onedrive now.

any guidance or links to explanations or instructions would be appreciated.

Thanks REJ

cereberus · Sep 16, 2024

This is very confusing.

What do you mean you backed up w10 pro to onedrive. Are you talking about data which has nothing to do with the operating system.

Have you gone online to check data is on onedrive (easy way is to use a onedrive app on a mobile phone).

We need to be sure data is on onedrive first.

Then we can try and work out why you cannot see data on new pc.

There is absolutely no difference to onedrive on W10/11 Pro or Home.

glasskuter · Sep 16, 2024

Welcome to the forum. By default when using a MS account, one's personal folders- desktop, documents, pictures, and videos-default folder location is Onedrive.
If you want your files back onto your system drive in C:\users\yourusername, it must be done in this order.

Proper sequence of events to get rid of ONEDRIVE

1. You first have to turn off backup folder syncing. This tutorial tells you how and also how to get your files onto your local drive.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/turn-on-or-off-onedrive-folder-backup-syncing-across-windows-11-devices.4321/

NOTE: ONLY IF FOLDERS DO NOT MOVE TO DEFAULT LOCATION IN STEP 1 ABOVE DO THIS

If this happens, then you could try option three in the tutorials below to restore the default folder location and move your files manually from Onedrive into the folders..

2. Then you have to unlink account & PC from onedrive.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/unlink-account-and-pc-from-onedrive-in-windows-11.15162/
Once you do this the files you have in onedrive will remain there until you login to Onedrive on the Web and delete them.
Sign in - Microsoft OneDrive

3. You can then either uninstall Onedrive or disable it. I prefer to disable it. Open Task Manager>Startup Apps
Find Onedrive in the list and, right click on it, select disable. This prevents Onedrive from auto-starting.

4. If you want to uninstall it instead, the best way is to use Revo Uninstaller Freeware Portable. You’ll find Onedrive under the Windows Apps section. Be sure to scan for and delete any leftover files and registry entries Revo finds. Download Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Free and Full Download

5. You can also use option 1 in this tutorial to uninstall onedrive. It will leave a few registry entries behind though. Uninstall and Reinstall OneDrive in Windows 11 Tutorial

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

rejtx · Sep 16, 2024

I just disconnected the Internet. Explorer shows my files but says its in offline mode. I opened an excel file on my desktop and got the attached error. files on my desktop are online only! all my files are online only. the screenshot i took of the error was stuck in an upload queue until i turned the internet back on. My computer is now a slave to Onedrive. Useless without the Internet.

antspants · Sep 16, 2024

rejtx said:
The W10 machine would not support W11

We could of helped you with that.

I have two PC's that are unsupported, built back in 2014. Here I am on one of them using Windows 11.
A rather simple process.

FirasKing Air · Sep 17, 2024

glasskuter said:
Welcome to the forum. By default when using a MS account, one's personal folders- desktop, documents, pictures, and videos-default folder location is Onedrive.
If you want your files back onto your system drive in C:\users\yourusername, it must be done in this order.

Proper sequence of events to get rid of ONEDRIVE

1. You first have to turn off backup folder syncing. This tutorial tells you how and also how to get your files onto your local drive.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/turn-on-or-off-onedrive-folder-backup-syncing-across-windows-11-devices.4321/

NOTE: ONLY IF FOLDERS DO NOT MOVE TO DEFAULT LOCATION IN STEP 1 ABOVE DO THIS

If this happens, then you could try option three in the tutorials below to restore the default folder location and move your files manually from Onedrive into the folders..

Move or Restore Default Location of Desktop Folder in Windows 11

Move or Restore Default Location of Documents Folder in Windows 11 Tutorial

Move or Restore Default Location of Pictures Folder in Windows 11

Move or Restore Default Location of Videos Folder in Windows 11

2. Then you have to unlink account & PC from onedrive.
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/unlink-account-and-pc-from-onedrive-in-windows-11.15162/
Once you do this the files you have in onedrive will remain there until you login to Onedrive on the Web and delete them.
Sign in - Microsoft OneDrive

3. You can then either uninstall Onedrive or disable it. I prefer to disable it. Open Task Manager>Startup Apps
Find Onedrive in the list and, right click on it, select disable. This prevents Onedrive from auto-starting.

4. If you want to uninstall it instead, the best way is to use Revo Uninstaller Freeware Portable. You’ll find Onedrive under the Windows Apps section. Be sure to scan for and delete any leftover files and registry entries Revo finds. Download Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Free and Full Download

5. You can also use option 1 in this tutorial to uninstall onedrive. It will leave a few registry entries behind though. Uninstall and Reinstall OneDrive in Windows 11 Tutorial

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Very nice instructions
Bookmarkt
Thank you

rejtx · Sep 17, 2024

sorry, I cannot figure out how to reply to a particular answer on this forum. Thanks for the answers. GlassKuter I have your post in a word document now and will need some time to go through the links in it.

One new question. I think I may have shot myself in the foot in some way because my old computer is still on the internet and logged into OneDrive. I need it until I am comfortable with the new computer. Maybe Onedrive thinks it is the master so it would not copy the data to the new computer?

TraderGary · Sep 17, 2024

rejtx said:
sorry, I cannot figure out how to reply to a particular answer on this forum. Thanks for the answers. GlassKuter I have your post in a word document now and will need some time to go through the links in it.

Just click on "Quote" in the lower right corner. The reply is quoted and ready for your reply.

rejtx said:
One new question. I think I may have shot myself in the foot in some way because my old computer is still on the internet and logged into OneDrive. I need it until I am comfortable with the new computer. Maybe Onedrive thinks it is the master so it would not copy the data to the new computer?

The problem is a misunderstanding of how OneDrive works. OneDrive is NOT a backup. OneDrive does only one thing. OneDrive simply keeps everything in all your OneDrive folders in all your devices and cloud OneDrive totally in sync in real-time. There is no "master".

TraderGary · Sep 18, 2024

@rejtx, you are also not understanding the OneDrive "Files On Demand" feature. Some of your devices, such as OneDrive on your phone, will not have enough storage space to keep all of your files locally. So the default is to have "Files On Demand" turned ON. That way a file is only used locally when you ask to use it by clicking on it and causing it to download from cloud OneDrive.

If you do have enough space, you can turn "Files On Demand" OFF for that device and cause all OneDrive files to also be stored locally. This is the option I choose for all my devices that have enough storage space, such as the computer I'm using as we speak that has a 1TB SSD. In the 15 years I've used OneDrive, I turn "Files On Demand" OFF when it makes sense to do so. That way, when I make a Macrium Reflect backup Image of my entire drive, all my data files and photos are backed up in the image!

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