Learn How to Disable or Uninstall OneDrive, Microsoft’s versatile cloud backup tool. Although it offers secure file storage, sharing, and accessibility, you might want to deactivate or remove it. OneDrive comes preloaded on Windows 10 and 11, making syncing and securing data easy when enabled. Although OneDrive is an extremely valuable service, there may be times when you wish to disable or remove it from your computer. For a beginner’s guide on OneDrive, see: Files On-Demand with OneDrive: Microsoft OneDrive Setup On Windows 10 and 11 and Key Features Explained.
Here are other interesting guides: How to Share Files, Stop Sharing and Restore Previous Versions of Files on Microsoft OneDrive, How to add Registry keys via DISM in Windows, and Remove Windows 10 Apps with DISM: How to remove pre-provisioned apps from Windows Image.
In this guide, we will show you how to disable or uninstall OneDrive in Windows 10 & 11 in three different ways.
Methods to disable OneDrive in Windows 10 or 11
Method 1: Disable OneDrive Through Settings
To access How to Disable or Uninstall OneDrive, start by clicking the OneDrive (cloud) icon in the notification area at the bottom right corner of your screen. Then, choose Settings from the Help & Settings Menu.
In the popup window, select the Settings tab then uncheck the option “Start OneDrive automatically when I sign into Windows.”
Next, select the Account tab and click Unlink this PC. Click “Unlink account” in the popup window to continue.
After the completion of the process, you will be completely logged out of OneDrive from your computer. You can always sign-in again to activate the service.
Method 2: Disable OneDrive Through Group Policy
You can stop OneDrive sync in Windows 10 & 11 through the Group Policy Editor by following the steps below:
Open Group Policy Editor: Press Windows key to open the Start menu and search for Group Policy Editor, then run as administrator.
Alternatively, you can open the Group Policy Editor by holding the Windows key and R key together to open Run dialog. Type gpedit.msc and press the OK button while holding ctrl + shift together to run as administrator.
In the Local Group Policy Editor window, navigate to the OneDrive folder according to the path:
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > OneDrive
Under the OneDrive folder, select the “Prevent the usage of OneDrive for file storage” and double-click it.
In the popup window, choose Enabled and click Apply and OK to confirm the changes.
Restart your computer for the changes to take effect. After that, you’ll notice that OneDrive is still listed in the File Explorer, but it’s no longer accessible. If you wish to re-enable OneDrive, update the “Prevent the use of OneDrive for file storage” status to “Not Configured”.
Method 3: Disable OneDrive Through Registry Editor
The registry editor is an extremely powerful tool, and editing it needs caution since changing the wrong keys and values might have unwanted consequences. You can proceed to disable OneDrive from the registry by following the steps below.
Open Registry Editor: Press Windows key and R key together to open Run dialog and enter regedit in the box then click OK to continue.
In the Registry Editor window, navigate to the following keys:
COMPUTER\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
Right-click Windows key and choose New > Key to continue.
Name the new key as OneDrive. Right-click the OneDrive key and choose New > DWORD(32-bit) Value to continue.
Name the DWORD(32-bit) Value as DisableFileSyncNGSC. Then double-click the new Value and change the Value Data to 1.
When you are done, exit the Registry Editor window and restart your computer. After that, your computer’s OneDrive will be deactivated. If you need to connect OneDrive again or wish to sync files to OneDrive, just reset the Value data in the registry to 0 and restart your system.
However, if you no longer wish to use OneDrive, you may uninstall it completely. The methods below will show you how to completely uninstall OneDrive in Windows 10 or 11.
Removing Cloud Storage: A Guide for Deletion
To uninstall or remove OneDrive on Windows 10 or 11, see the following process below.
Open Control Panel: Type Control Panel in the Start menu search box and choose the best-match to continue.
In the popup window, click Uninstall a program under the Programs section to continue.
You’ll see a list of all the programs on your computer. Select Microsoft OneDrive and click Uninstall to remove it.
Another way to uninstall OneDrive is through the Command Prompt. Press the Windows button to launch the Start Menu, then search for Command Prompt and run as administrator. Then type the following commands and hit Enter after each command to uninstall OneDrive:
taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe
For 32-bit Windows account
%SystemRoot%\System32\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall
For 64-bit Windows account.
%SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall
When you have finished the above steps, you have successfully uninstalled or removed OneDrive from your computer.
I hope you found this blog post helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment session.
