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If you don’t use OneDrive on Windows 10, you can disable the software’s startup. In this practical tip, we’ll show you how to do it quickly and easily.
Windows 10: Disable OneDrive startup
OneDrive startup always consumes resources that you can safely save if you don’t use OneDrive cloud storage at all.
- Click the OneDrive icon in the bottom-right corner of the Windows taskbar and select “Settings” under “Help & Settings.”
- Switch to the ‘Settings’ tab at the top and disable the option “Automatically start OneDrive when I sign in to Windows.”
- Click the “OK” button to save your settings. However, this only works if you have an active internet connection and have already set up OneDrive.
- Alternatively, you can open Task Manager, go to the “Startup” tab, and right-click to disable the automatic startup of OneDrive.
- As a third option, you can simply rename the “OneDrive.exe” file to “Drive.exe.” You can find this file in the path “C:\Users\Your Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive”.
- Once you restart your computer, OneDrive will no longer open.
Windows 10: Completely uninstall OneDrive instead of disabling it
As an alternative to disabling it, you can also uninstall OneDrive.
- Open the Start menu in the bottom-left corner and search for “Command Prompt”.
- Right-click the search result and select the “Run as administrator” option.
- Enter the command “taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe” without the quotation marks and press Enter. OneDrive will now close.
- The second command will then permanently uninstall OneDrive. The commands differ depending on whether you have a 32-bit or 64-bit system.
- 32-bit: %SystemRoot%\System32\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall
- 64-bit: %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall
- If you confirm this command with the Enter key, OneDrive will be removed from your computer.
Disable or uninstall OneDrive on Windows 11
There are several practical ways to disable OneDrive on Windows 11—from turning off autostart to completely removing it from the system. Here are the best practices:
- Disable OneDrive startup: Open Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc. Go to the “Startup” tab. Look for “OneDrive” in the list of programs. Right-click on ‘OneDrive’ and select “Disable.” This will prevent OneDrive from starting automatically at boot.
- Unlink OneDrive from your PC (disconnect): Click the OneDrive icon (cloud) in the bottom-right corner of the taskbar. Open Settings (gear icon). Go to the “Account” tab and click “Unlink this PC.” From now on, OneDrive will no longer sync data.
- Completely uninstall OneDrive: Press [Windows] + [I] to open Settings. Navigate to “Apps” > “Apps & Features”. Look for “OneDrive” in the list. Select “Uninstall.” This will completely remove OneDrive, including its integration with File Explorer.
- Remove OneDrive from File Explorer (Registry Method): Press [Windows] + [R], type “regedit,” and press Enter. Navigate to “HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}”. Double-click “System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree” and change the value to 0. Restart your PC so that OneDrive disappears from File Explorer.
- Group Policy (Windows 11 Pro/Enterprise): Press [Windows] + [R], type “gpedit.msc”. Navigate to “Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > OneDrive”. Double-click “Prevent OneDrive from being used for data storage” and enable the policy.
- All of these methods work reliably depending on your desired outcome—whether you want to block OneDrive at startup, remove it from File Explorer, or uninstall it completely.
