Sunday, August 6, 2023

Duplicate OneDrive Icon in File Explorer

 I just got a new laptop and after doing most of the configuration I noticed that there were two OneDrive folders in File Explorer. The top one is named for my work tenant and the lower just named OneDrive. Typically the icon named OneDrive is for the personal version of OneDrive but I didn't have that configured. Only a OneDrive for Business account was configured.

When I clicked on the OneDrive icon it opened the same content as my OneDrive for Business. So, it appeared to redirect.

In my user profile folder (C:\Users\ByronWright\), I saw that there was a folder named OneDrive. When I deleted that folder, the redirection stopped and I got an error indicating that the folder didn't exist. Whoops. No fix there.

After a bit of searching around I found that I could remove it by removing the reference to it in the registry. That area of File Explorer is controlled by HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace. In that registry key, I had two registry keys that looked like GUIDs. Inside I could see one with the name OneDrive and the other was the OneDrive for Business name.

I deleted the registry key that referred to OneDrive (the entire key named like the GUID) and it immediately removed the extra reference to OneDrive from File Explorer.

My new laptop was originally purchased with Windows 11 Home edition which required me to sign in with a Microsoft account during setup. This configured personal OneDrive at the time. I upgraded the laptop to Windows 11 Pro and did a system reset but I think the reference to personal OneDrive was left over in the default user profile which was then copied when I signed in as my Azure AD (Entra ID) user.

For some additional information about this see: https://superuser.com/questions/1144868/duplicated-onedrive-icon-in-explorer


7 comments:

  1. I think it’s just Windows trying to display an option for personal OneDrive, even if it’s not actively configured. I’ve had similar things happen when setting up new systems before. You might want to check your OneDrive settings or uninstall/reinstall it.
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  2. If you haven't configured OneDrive for Personal, it could be showing a placeholder folder. It might not actually be syncing anything, so you could try right-clicking on it and seeing if there’s an option to unlink or hide it.
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  3. This happened to me when I linked my work account to OneDrive. Windows creates a placeholder for the personal OneDrive folder even if you’re not using it. I had to go into settings to unlink it and remove it from File Explorer.
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  4. It’s good to know I'm not alone in this! I guess it’s just Windows default behavior, showing a separate folder for personal OneDrive even if it’s not configured. I'll check my OneDrive settings to make sure everything is linked properly.
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  5. This is weird. I have OneDrive for Business set up, but I didn’t configure a personal account either. The extra folder might be a default behavior in Windows. I’ll check if there’s an option to hide or remove it.
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  6. I’m seeing the same thing. After I configured my work OneDrive, I noticed a second 'OneDrive' folder appeared, even though I didn’t set up a personal OneDrive account. It looks like the system might be defaulting to show a personal OneDrive folder, even if it's not set up.
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  7. I noticed this issue too after configuring my work account. It seems like Windows just displays a placeholder for the personal OneDrive folder, assuming you might want to use it later. You can try disconnecting the personal OneDrive from settings.
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