You don’t have to delete OneDrive, you can temporarily disable… . As never before, the process of disable OneDrive in Windows 11. You don’t have to uninstall it completely, you can just disable it. I occasionally transfer files from my phone using the cloud. I didn’t have time to send the photo yet, so it already appeared on the computer.
This article will show you how to disable OneDrive in Windows 11. You can get away with turning off startup or app sync. Of course, if necessary, you can remove it. And even reinstall and return everything to its place. But shutting down is enough…
How to turn off OneDrive auto-download
In Settings > Apps > Startup, look for Microsoft OneDrive . Opposite it, drag the slider from Enabled to Disabled . This is a high-impact application: requires more than 1 second of CPU time and more. See, fine-tuning Windows 11 startup .
How to turn off OneDrive sync
On the taskbar, expand OneDrive and select Help & Settings > Pause sync for 2 hours , 8 hours , or 24 hours . Instead of Suspend, the Resume button will appear… Of course, you can select Settings > Account > Unlink this computer .
Actually, or run the regedit command in the Win + R window . Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Policies\ Microsoft\ Windows\ OneDrive . Set the value of the DisableFileSyncNGSC parameter to 1 . I had to create a partition and a DWORD (32-bit) value.
Execute gpedit.msc in a Win+R window . Select Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > OneDrive . Change the Prevent use of OneDrive for file storage policy to Enabled . This applies to Windows 11 apps and features.
Directly the registry editor and the group policy editor do the same thing. If this policy setting is enabled, then: you will not be able to access the cloud, it will not appear in File Explorer navigation, and files will not be able to sync to OneDrive.
How to Completely disable OneDrive in Windows 11
Go to Settings > Apps > Apps & features . Locate Microsoft OneDrive – Classic or just OneDrive – Universal, next to each Ellipsis and Delete . The removal process takes just a few seconds. The main one is the first classic.
There are many ways to uninstall programs . From the Start context menu, select Windows Terminal . All commands below are useful. Specifically, numbers 2 and 5 remove the classic Microsoft OneDrive. Depending on the application, the uninstaller may not run at all.
Important! This method completely removes OneDrive from your computer. Download it from the Microsoft Store and return everything as it was not possible. There is only a trusted and little-functional application. You will have to download the classic installer from the official Microsoft website.
Conclusion
The OneDrive cloud is your free online storage. Set up OneDrive for yourself so you can access files from your phone, computer, or tablet. Of course, it loads the system a little. This may be why users immediately try to disable OneDrive in Windows 11. You can also check How to transfer windows 11 to SSD drive