Change Your Windows Folder Locations Back to Their Defaults from Microsoft OneDrive

Here is an updated version of the process,

If you use OneDrive to back up your data to the cloud or to sync with your other computers, you might have noticed that rather than using the default Windows folder locations under C:\users\username, OneDrive will create its own folder under your user folder. You might also notice that things like your Desktop folder is missing under your user profile.

If you then try and move the default folder location back to its original location, you will get an error that says Can't move the folder because there is a folder in the same location that can't be redirected. Access is denied. In order to keep your documents, pictures and desktop items in the default Windows folder, you will need to stop the backup process from the OneDrive settings.

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#onedrive

[jabatheshort]

this onedrive folders thing upset me so much, you also cant easily see its even your one drive folder from the path, when you copy the path it just says "/Documents" like wtf microsfot

[zegofrks]

You are a savior! OneDrive was actually breaking my Computer I it is so User unfriendly and tries so hard to keep your files in their cloud that I couldn't find a solution to my own. So thank you very much!

[MrWoodenSheep]

Thank you for the super easy to follow guide. Everything I found on forums was way more convoluted. This worked perfectly for me. (A bonus step, after unlinking the PC at the end, I also uninstalled one drive)

[hollowstarfire]

OMG this was sooo helpful thank you so much for making this!!! True Lifesaver! One thing I'll have to note to others doing this is that if you have a specifically organized desktop, that you should take a screenshot of it BEFORE you do this to your desktop files because moving the files *will* shuffle up where things are visually on the desktop. It's not too big of a deal, can always reorganize but it is something to note if you are very particular on how your desktop looks

[DiscoReggae]

Works perfect for me, I have been trying for weeks to stop onedrive from messing up my documents and other locations, these instructions were easy to follow and I'm now HAPPY :)

[deerblue]

Thank you so so so much! For MONTHS I've been trying to change the location on the OneDrive files and now it finally worked!

[RD-gdwc]

Exactly what I was needing. Onedrive was driving me MAD! Thanks so much for this video!

[alexthegardener]

because of you my friend finally can live a happy life because he can make folders on his desktop THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!

[HessaalHammadi]

Thank you! Was hunting for solutions and this certainly finally helped :) Appreciate it. Have a good day.

[Ayezix]

Thank you so much! I've been trying to save files on my local drive and I got all sorts of glitches and errors, then I figured it was something with onedrive, and after trying to uninstall it somewhat helped but didn't fix everything.
now after I tried your guide it helped and hopefully it fixed everything :)

[beckyjones]

Thank you! I was able to get my Desktop folder out of OneDrive just by changing the location (restore default), and somehow I got my Pictures folder out just by dragging it to my desktop and then dragging it to This PC (not sure why that worked), but the Documents folder wouldn't come out with either of these methods. Your method worked!

[WoW-efvn]

hey old comment but thank u. i had a problem with my game savefile not saving been trying for 6 month. i watched ur vid and FINALLY i found the problem. i deleted onedrive but forgot to unlick backup first. so i redownloaded and did all what you did. THANK U SO MUCH i can finally replay dmc 4 again after months!!! def a sub!!!

[stevefennell]

Like you said this can be pretty confusing to understand but after going through the motions myself prior to watching your video it thankfully confirmed everything i'd figured out that was going on when I transfered to windows 11 on a new set-up. Especially access to the local desktop folder which is not possibe whilst synced to Onedrive.

[Lustrum]

Thank you! I didn't realize I have 2 Document folders... Your video was helpful to show that there are 2 Documents folders, 1 is in the Onedrive folder and the 2nd in the User folder, I stopped Syncing my Documents folder in the Onedrive settings, then copied pasted my Document items inside the Onedrive folder, into the Users folder, and I freed up 20 gigabytes in my Onedrive cloud

[BrianWhitmerMusic]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Never would have figured this out on my own.

[Elvar]

Thank you for this video was ready to pull my hair out, extremely helpful and straight to the point!

[gonebutyea]

You are a saint. The fact that I can uninstall OneDrive but it doesn't automatically do these steps is terrible! I never use OneDrive!

[andrewethanhirsch]

Solved My Problem - Many Thanks for a Great Instructional Video!!!

[jvzn]

Fantastic, I was having this exact problem and this fixed it - thanks.

[stevenmcdonald]

Thanks for this. I am setting up a new computer with Windows 11 and an old Documents hard drive and I was really struggling with this issue.