Help Needed to Do Away With One Drive

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Gnits said:
It is highly likely that your Desktop folder is also inside OneDrive… as all the folders such as Pictures, Downloads, My Docs are saved by default inside OneDrive.

Adobe are complicit in this mess also as they default to using the Pictures folder for the catalog .

There are multiple approaches. I would start by backing up your catalog to an external drive. That should protect it.

Where are your images… are they also inside OneDrive.

Do you also have OneDrive 365 ( or Pro or similar)… if using Office 365. That is a separate One Drive ecosystem.
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The “My”Document does not sit inside the OneDrive. The My Document is special link (shortcut) to C:\Users\Account\Document. The My was dropped from Vista version. This was introduced to assist computer illiterates to write files to easy to find location and to keep all data together (instead of searching where did I store my last file?). The Picture and Music folders were also introduced at a later time.
You can navigate to the Users folders and see all the files in your Document folder.
It’s easy to separate OneDrive and use the original Document, Picture as it was intended when they were introduced prior to OneDrive.
I managed to it on my SurfacePro few years ago. I have forgotten how I managed to do it then. Then I found this and brought my memory back.

You will find OneDrive in the system tray if it's not visible on the taskbar. In Settings, go to Personalization > Taskbar and open the "Other system tray icons" section. You'll find an option to make OneDrive visible. Then you do need to run OneDrive in order to turn it fully off.



In the OneDrive settings, under Account, choose "Unlink this PC."

Quit OneDrive if you didn't already.

Disable OneDrive in the startup apps in Task Manager if not already done.

Uninstall OneDrive.
 
Before uninstalling OneDrive… or making any significant changes to existing file structures I would make sure that you can launch LrC from a catalog on an external drive and that you are happy with the results of running Find Missing Images.

A useful trick…. log into OneDrive using a browser. The Web interface will show you the files and folders actually stored on OneDrive in the Microsoft cloud.

Here are the simple instructions I found using Google search…

“You can access OneDrive online at www.office.com/signin. Once you are logged in, click OneDrive to access your online files and storage.”

This is also a method to be able to find the folder containing the catalog and downloading it to say a folder on an external drive… without having to unzip a backup.
 
pkirkla said:
Central
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Gnits said:
My strategy for dealing with OneDrive is very simple. I simply never use it…. and I monitor it from time to time to make sure that nothing creeps in there.

I also do not use the Windows system folders such as MyDocs,MyPics,MyDownloads, etc. I just leave them in situ. The reason is I have no control over how Microsoft uses these folders, nor do I know all the rules which govern the behaviour associated with these folders, nor do I know when / if Microsoft might decide to change such behaviour.

Do you have everything on your C drive. Do you have enough space to temporarily keep copies of your catalog folder and all related files and previews, plus all your pictures, currently in a LRC on your C drive.

If not then best to use an External Drive, at least temporarily, until everything gets sorted. Easier to explain using an external drive as you avoid tripping up over security and systems folders on the C drive. Revert if you need to use the C drive and you have space on your C drive.

In principal, copy your LrC catalog folder to the external drive. Launch LrC… by double clicking on the lrcat folder. This should launch LrC, using the catalog on the external drive. You can now use LrC to move your images also to the external drive.

This should give you a working version of Lightroom and your Catalog and Images are safe on an external drive. Performance will be dictated by the speed of the external port, the cable used and the speed of the external drive. Make sure it is at least USB 3… but aim for higher… Thunderbolt is best.

Before doing anything run a missing image report in the current installed version of LrC and resolve all missing images before attempting to reconfigure LrC. When you have LrC running from an external drive… then run the missing image report again .. you can trouble shoot any issues arising with missing files, if any, at this stage, resulting from your file copies / moves.
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Thank you for your most recent post. I’m out of town for the weekend and so I’m not at the desktop. But am I correct in assuming that should I, for instance, create files like Homedesk to replace Desktop, Important Papers to replace Documents, and Images to replace Pictures then One Drive would not automatically seek these files out like it currently does the system files? Can I do this without creating some issue unbeknown to me?

Replytoken provided a link from Microsoft concerning this matter that essentially said that One Drive, as long as it’s open and running, cannot be stopped from accessing these system files. See the link he provided. What say you good sir?
 
1. I would not worry about OneDrive or Windows default folders such as my docs or pics until you have got LrC operational and outside any of the Windows Users folder / OneDrive sub systems.
2. I am worried about the status of One Drive. It is not clear if all or any of the files in the Users folders are synchronised to OneDrive on the cloud, as it is possible that some or all of these folders/files only contain placeholders for the files.
3. I would not change the name or location of any of the Windows default folders (such as documents, pictures,etc. It is possible to rename them and change their location…. but I would not recommend this unless you are an expert in this area. I did it once before and it was a painful experience.
4. When you get Lightroom Catalog and your Lightroom Catalog images in a safe place (ie external drive)… then you can work on dealing with OneDrive and how best you would like to handle data in the default Windows user folders.

I am travelling to the West of Ireland early in the morning, could be there for the next week. It is an area that has been devastated recently by hurricane strength winds and have no idea what type of mobile, broadband or tv services will be available. I will do my best to keep an eye on this thread.. hoping that connectivity is possible.
 
Gnits said:
1. I would not worry about OneDrive or Windows default folders such as my docs or pics until you have got LrC operational and outside any of the Windows Users folder / OneDrive sub systems.
2. I am worried about the status of One Drive. It is not clear if all or any of the files in the Users folders are synchronised to OneDrive on the cloud, as it is possible that some or all of these folders/files only contain placeholders for the files.
3. I would not change the name or location of any of the Windows default folders (such as documents, pictures,etc. It is possible to rename them and change their location…. but I would not recommend this unless you are an expert in this area. I did it once before and it was a painful experience.
4. When you get Lightroom Catalog and your Lightroom Catalog images in a safe place (ie external drive)… then you can work on dealing with OneDrive and how best you would like to handle data in the default Windows user folders.

I am travelling to the West of Ireland early in the morning, could be there for the next week. It is an area that has been devastated recently by hurricane strength winds and have no idea what type of mobile, broadband or tv services will be available. I will do my best to keep an eye on this thread.. hoping that connectivity is possible.
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Thank you very much. I did create the above mentioned folders( minus the Images file). I didn’t do away with the system files of course, just copied the contents to the new folders. Is there a danger in that. It would look like this. C:/users/pkirkla/ homedesk

C:/users/pkirkla/importantpapers

That can’t safely be done? I haven’t done away with anything.
 
I assume pkirkla is your user name. Anything inside that folder name and all subfolder contents are most likely regarded by Windows as O/S library folders.

The Pictures folder will be in there and thus probably your catalog and until OneDrive is no longer active, probably under the control of OneDrive.

That is why I suggested above you (at least temporarily ) set up a folder system on an external drive so that it would be OUTSIDE the influence of Windows standard library folders and outside the influence of OneDrive.
 
Gnits said:
I assume pkirkla is your user name. Anything inside that folder name and all subfolder contents are most likely regarded by Windows as O/S library folders.

The Pictures folder will be in there and thus probably your catalog and until OneDrive is no longer active, probably under the control of OneDrive.

That is why I suggested above you (at least temporarily ) set up a folder system on an external drive so that it would be OUTSIDE the influence of Windows standard library folders and outside the influence of OneDrive.
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Thank you very much for that. I’m going to clean it all up and learn from it. Have a safe trip.
 
pkirkla said:
Thank you very much for that. I’m going to clean it all up and learn from it. Have a safe trip
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The information that all of you provided has made me to feel much more confident in handling this situation with One Drive and for that I am grateful. Thank you for your time and patience.
 
As said by Swingman, "My Documents", "Pictures", "Videos", "Music" and "Download" are not folders but shorcuts. By default they points to folders of the same name in the user environment (the C:\Users\<username> folder).
These shotcuts can be easily redirected elsewhere by right-clicking on it, selecting "Properties" then the tab "Location". There you can change the location pointed by the shortcut (it even proposes to move the files if you wish).
I always do that when configuring a PC, redirecting all these shortcuts to locations on an other partition than the C:

(I do the same for the Temp folder defined by the 2 environment variables "Temp" and "Tmp")
 
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Philippe Coudé du Foresto said:
As said by Swingman, "My Documents", "Pictures", "Videos", "Music" and "Download" are not folders but shorcuts. By default they points to folders of the same name in the user environment (the C:\Users\<username> folder).
These shotcuts can be easily redirected elsewhere by right-clicking on it, selecting "Properties" then the tab "Location". There you can change the location pointed by the shortcut (it even proposes to move the files if you wish).
I always do that when configuring a PC, redirecting all these shortcuts to locations on an other partition than the C:

(I do the same for the Temp folder defined by the 2 environment variables "Temp" and "Tmp")
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Thanks. So by using a secondary hard drive on the computer, in this case (D:), to store the LrC, will One Drive recognize the drive and tend to harass it or will it be ignored entirely.?
 
pkirkla said:
Thanks. So by using a secondary hard drive on the computer, in this case (D:), to store the LrC, will One Drive recognize the drive and tend to harass it or will it be ignored entirely.?
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If you follow my earlier text, you just unlink and delete OneDrive apps from your PC. You don’t need another HD or need to point to elsewhere. Once you have broken the OneDrive link and deleted the app( for sanity) you can use My documents as normal. I don’t redirect to another HD.

You also can access your OneDrive storage by directly logging into web.

Before moving Lr (mobile only, on ipad) I used DXO. I only have 128MB in my SurfacePro not enough store any large number of photos. So used wdcloud as wireless external drive to store all photos and directly accessing them to process and save there. I also ran Office 365 ( free additional licence while working but no free personal storage; now retired and no more 365) from wdcloud. No personal OneDrive subscription.
Now using iPad to run Lr with Adobe Cloud storage, again here no iCloud subscription.
 
Swingman said:
The “My”Document does not sit inside the OneDrive. The My Document is special link (shortcut) to C:\Users\Account\Document. The My was dropped from Vista version. This was introduced to assist computer illiterates to write files to easy to find location and to keep all data together (instead of searching where did I store my last file?). The Picture and Music folders were also introduced at a later time.
You can navigate to the Users folders and see all the files in your Document folder.
It’s easy to separate OneDrive and use the original Document, Picture as it was intended when they were introduced prior to OneDrive.
I managed to it on my SurfacePro few years ago. I have forgotten how I managed to do it then. Then I found this and brought my memory back.

You will find OneDrive in the system tray if it's not visible on the taskbar. In Settings, go to Personalization > Taskbar and open the "Other system tray icons" section. You'll find an option to make OneDrive visible. Then you do need to run OneDrive in order to turn it fully off.



In the OneDrive settings, under Account, choose "Unlink this PC."

Quit OneDrive if you didn't already.

Disable OneDrive in the startup apps in Task Manager if not already done.

Uninstall OneDrive.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this information.
 
Swingman said:
If you follow my earlier text, you just unlink and delete OneDrive apps from your PC. You don’t need another HD or need to point to elsewhere. Once you have broken the OneDrive link and deleted the app( for sanity) you can use My documents as normal. I don’t redirect to another HD.

You also can access your OneDrive storage by directly logging into web.

Before moving Lr (mobile only, on ipad) I used DXO. I only have 128MB in my SurfacePro not enough store any large number of photos. So used wdcloud as wireless external drive to store all photos and directly accessing them to process and save there. I also ran Office 365 ( free additional licence while working but no free personal storage; now retired and no more 365) from wdcloud. No personal OneDrive subscription.
Now using iPad to run Lr with Adobe Cloud storage, again here no iCloud subscription.
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I have a new Pudget System PC and want to configure it for the best possible experience using LrC. It has a secondary drive and so I’m curious if One Drive will harass the files there. Pudget put out this publication recommending moving the catalog to its own internal drive.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/support/guides/lightroom-transfer/
 
pkirkla said:
I have a new Pudget System PC and want to configure it for the best possible experience using LrC. It has a secondary drive and so I’m curious if One Drive will harass the files there. Pudget put out this publication recommending moving the catalog to its own internal drive.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/support/guides/lightroom-transfer/
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I have no experience with Puget System PC so can’t possibly comment on how OneDrive would interact with OneDrive. May be best to seek advice from them as they specifically mentioned LrC.
 
Swingman said:
I have no experience with Puget System PC so can’t possibly comment on how OneDrive would interact with OneDrive. May be best to seek advice from them as they specifically mentioned LrC.
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Thank you
 
Swingman said:
I have no experience with Puget System PC so can’t possibly comment on how OneDrive would interact with OneDrive. May be best to seek advice from them as they specifically mentioned LrC.
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@pkirkla Puget Systems generally has good technical support, so I would not be shy about calling them. Part of what you pay for with them is support and service. And once you get OneDrive to stop syncing, things should be much better.. Like Drobox and Box.com, OneDrive can have a place on a computer, but Microsoft seems to think it needs to be front and center without really asking.

Good luck,

--Ken
 
It should ignore it.

Create a test folder on the extra internal drive. Add a test photo and a test spreadsheet into the new test folder.

Now using a browser… log into your OneDrive account (and your OneDrive Pro / 365 account if you have one).

If these test folder / files are not found via Browser to OneDrive then there is a good chance they are not included in OneDrive.

It is worth becoming familiar with the Browser Interface to OneDrive… because if you remove OneDrive then it will a means to access / check / find what files folders might be in OneDrive.

As per previous comments…. it is possible to rename, relocate and add diverse folders into the OneDrive ecosystem… So, I am nervous of making general comments specific to your config.

And as I have said several times already… before making large scale changes, copies or moves of files and folders… make sure you can use LrC to open your catalog and understand any missing images reported there.
 
Well , I’m over the panic stage thanks to the advice you fellows provided. I moved the LrC to an external drive. My photos within Lightroom were already on an external drive(they’re on different hard drives). While I have unlinked my pc from OneDrive and disabled it in the startup menu, the app is still on the computer. I’m hesitant to uninstall it completely. My images and LrC is safe but this is the path to Documents and the Pictures file also which is a bit confusing to me:
ThisPC>Windows(C)>users>
username>OneDrive>Pictures>

On the (C:) drive when you click on Documents it doesn’t open Documents but instead takes me to: Shortcut to Documents (OneDrive-Personal)
 
pkirkla said:
Well , I’m over the panic stage thanks to the advice you fellows provided. I moved the LrC to an external drive. My photos within Lightroom were already on an external drive(they’re on different hard drives). While I have unlinked my pc from OneDrive and disabled it in the startup menu, the app is still on the computer. I’m hesitant to uninstall it completely. My images and LrC is safe but this is the path to Documents and the Pictures file also which is a bit confusing to me:
ThisPC>Windows(C)>users>
username>OneDrive>Pictures>

On the (C:) drive when you click on Documents it doesn’t open Documents but instead takes me to: Shortcut to Documents (OneDrive-Personal)
Click to expand...
It does the same with the Pictures file under my username?
 
pkirkla said:
Well , I’m over the panic stage thanks to the advice you fellows provided. I moved the LrC to an external drive. My photos within Lightroom were already on an external drive(they’re on different hard drives). While I have unlinked my pc from OneDrive and disabled it in the startup menu, the app is still on the computer. I’m hesitant to uninstall it completely. My images and LrC is safe but this is the path to Documents and the Pictures file also which is a bit confusing to me:
ThisPC>Windows(C)>users>
username>OneDrive>Pictures>

On the (C:) drive when you click on Documents it doesn’t open Documents but instead takes me to: Shortcut to Documents (OneDrive-Personal)
Click to expand...
I think you didn’t follow all the instructions.
For it to work you need to uninstall OneDrive software from your PC. The Document folder on your desktop is a special folder (Microsoft speak - system folder) which points to the content in the …/users/…./Document. The folder in ../users/…/Document is not a system folder.
OneDrive software is a TSR (terminate and system resident) will stay in memory and interrupt in key press and take over. This program needs to be muted for you to access the system folder in your PC. Hope this make sence.
Did you contact your PC supplier/manufacturer?
 
While I am not a Windows expert, and I understand more than most, I am extremely reluctant to make any config changes to any Windows "Special Folders". That includes the Documents, Pictures, Downloads folders and anything to do with the Windows One Drive system.

The reason ... I have very badly burnt fingers by trying to make even the most modest of changes. My view... leaving those folders and the OneDrive system in situ will do no harm. Just make sure they are empty.

Just move anything in these folders onto folders on your second internal drive. Create a root folder such as MyData and put whatever subfolders here... with recognisable different names (eg use your initials and an underscore) such as MoB_Docs, MoB_Pics, MoB_Music. Then move the contents of the respective "Special folders" to folders which you have created and which you (and not Microsoft) have access to and control off.

If I was building a new PC from scratch .. I would make serious efforts to insure OneDrive or its relatives are not installed. As I discovered the issues with One Drive and Lightroom after I was using my PC for some time... my previous experience informed me to leave the Windows stuff alone and just bypass it.

A genuine Windows Engineer would probably sort this stuff out in a few mins... but who has access to such skills.

I would not have much confidence of making any progress with a PC supplier unless you have a very good relationship. PCs are commodity items and sold without professional services.

I ran IT for multiple large global Plc's. I did multi million dollar contracts with all the brands. I have had multi million dollar disputes. I bought a personal Dell laptop at the start of Covid. It was a max spec with an included highest spec extra gpu. It was a disaster. Because of my contacts and experience I was able to escalate this up thru the highest levels in Dell. They eventually gave me a full refund, after admitting the GPU would not be used by Lightroom or Photoshop, because they were deemed to be non graphic apps. The point of this story is this took 6 months to resolve and I had access to corridors most people do not.

I think Adobe should be massively ashamed for defaulting anything into a OneDrive environment ... knowing full well this will cause problems in due course.... but that is the Adobe way.
 
Gnits said:
.. Windows "Special Folders". That includes the Documents, Pictures, Downloads folders and anything to do with the Windows One Drive system.
Click to expand...

These are system folders managed by the system. Deleting any of them will cause the OS to recreate them on next reboot. The same folders exist as system folders on MacOS too. On MacOS what I managed to do was alias Documents and Downloads to my iCloud folder which gets them out from my user folder but still has a place holder there

Over 15 years ago when I last installed Windows OS, Microsoft gave you an option on install to let OneDrive manage your system folders. Then you could opt out at install.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Gnits said:
While I am not a Windows expert, and I understand more than most, I am extremely reluctant to make any config changes to any Windows "Special Folders". That includes the Documents, Pictures, Downloads folders and anything to do with the Windows One Drive system.

The reason ... I have very badly burnt fingers by trying to make even the most modest of changes. My view... leaving those folders and the OneDrive system in situ will do no harm. Just make sure they are empty.

Just move anything in these folders onto folders on your second internal drive. Create a root folder such as MyData and put whatever subfolders here... with recognisable different names (eg use your initials and an underscore) such as MoB_Docs, MoB_Pics, MoB_Music. Then move the contents of the respective "Special folders" to folders which you have created and which you (and not Microsoft) have access to and control off.

If I was building a new PC from scratch .. I would make serious efforts to insure OneDrive or its relatives are not installed. As I discovered the issues with One Drive and Lightroom after I was using my PC for some time... my previous experience informed me to leave the Windows stuff alone and just bypass it.

A genuine Windows Engineer would probably sort this stuff out in a few mins... but who has access to such skills.

I would not have much confidence of making any progress with a PC supplier unless you have a very good relationship. PCs are commodity items and sold without professional services.

I ran IT for multiple large global Plc's. I did multi million dollar contracts with all the brands. I have had multi million dollar disputes. I bought a personal Dell laptop at the start of Covid. It was a max spec with an included highest spec extra gpu. It was a disaster. Because of my contacts and experience I was able to escalate this up thru the highest levels in Dell. They eventually gave me a full refund, after admitting the GPU would not be used by Lightroom or Photoshop, because they were deemed to be non graphic apps. The point of this story is this took 6 months to resolve and I had access to corridors most people do not.

I think Adobe should be massively ashamed for defaulting anything into a OneDrive environment ... knowing full well this will cause problems in due course.... but that is the Adobe way.
Click to expand...
When I first purchased MS SurfacPro, I spent lot of time to remove the link to OneDrive. The main reason was I only had a small SSD withe PC tablet. So I Keith running out of space MS wanted me to buy more cloud space. I didn’t want to do it. I also spent lot of time with customer support. Finally managed to do it. The method employed was in my earlier post. I had no problem using original Doucument system folder to read/write etc.
When I bought second MS SurfacPro 5 years ago. I straightway removed the OneDrive.
I am still using this Surface Pro and haven’t had any problem.

When I updated my SurfacePro from Windows to 11. The update automatically installed OneDrive again. I straightaway removed it.

Still working fine except now it’s too old any need to replace soon. But move to Mac. No decision made but watching all the stories about teething problem with Lightroom.
 
In the case of the original post… it is difficult to know the exact status of Windows Special Folders , what they contain and exactly what is under OneDrive and/or OneDrive365 control.

I am very nervous of removing OneDrive in such a scenario, as I am not sure what will happen to files or folders under the influence of OneDrive.

For a brand new machine, with no accumulated files or folders in any of these ‘special folders’ is the ideal time to remove OneDrive.

Unless I am asked a specific question I plan not to post further to this discussion as I think I have nothing extra to add.
 
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