How to remove onedrive shortcut from file explorer

Microsoft has integrated OneDrive in Windows 10 so that it’s hard to avoid. It’s no surprise that Microsoft is aggressively pushing all its products and services on to users in this operating system; Bing, Cortana, Edge, Bing news, Bing Sports, etc. As part of this integration, OneDrive is now a quick access location in the sidebar in File Explorer. Much like you would have Dropbox added as a location to the sidebar in older versions of Windows, OneDrive exists the same way with one major difference; you can’t get rid of it, at least not with a simple UI switch or check box. A registry edit is what it takes to make it go away.

In the search bar type in ‘regedit’ (without the quote marks) to open the registry editor. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}.

Find the System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree key and edit its value to 0.

OneDrive should no longer appear in the sidebar.

Even though OneDrive no longer appears in the sidebar, it is still running in the background. If you want to prevent it from running automatically when you boot your system, you’re going to have to remove it from the startup folder. If you want to quit the app, you will have to do so from the system tray. Bear in mind that if you exit it and prevent it from running, any syncing that’s done through OneDrive will be stopped. If you use OneDrive you should let it run in the background and at start up, and simply contend yourself with it no longer showing up in the sidebar.

This tutorial contains instructions to remove OneDrive from Explorer Pane (sidebar). In a previous article I mentioned the way to completely uninstall OneDrive from Windows. But, as you may have discovered, after the OneDrive removal, the OneDrive shortcut at Explorer sidebar

and the "OneDrive" folder under your user profile directory remain.

In this tutorial I 'll show you how to remove (turn off) the OneDrive shortcut from Explorer's sidebar and how to remove all other OneDrive leftovers in Windows 10, 8/8.1 or 7 OS.

How to prevent OneDrive from appearing in Explorer Navigation pane.

1. Open Registry Editor. To do that:

1. Simultaneously press the Win

+ R keys to open the run command box.
2. Type regedit and press Enter to open Registry Editor.

2. Then, apply the steps below, according your needs:

A. To Remove ONEDRIVE from Explorer Pane for the CURRENT USER only.

• Navigate to this registry key:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}

• At the right pane, double click at "System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree" REG_DWORD value and change the value data from from 1 to 0.
• Click OK and close Registry Editor.
• Close and re-open Explorer.

B. To Remove ONEDRIVE from Explorer Pane for ALL USERS.

• Delete the "{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}" key at the below two (2) registry locations:
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}

Windows 32bit:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}

Windows 64bit:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6

• Close Registry Editor.
• Restart your computer.

3. After restart, proceed and delete the following folders (in bold), to remove OneDrive leftovers. *

* Important: Before removing the OneDrive folder from your User Profile folder, backup all contained files to another location on your disk.

• C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\OneDrive
• C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive
• C:\ProgramData\Microsoft OneDrive

That's it! Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.

If this article was useful for you, please consider supporting us by making a donation. Even $1 can a make a huge difference for us in our effort to continue to help others while keeping this site free:

If you want to stay constantly protected from malware threats, existing and future ones, we recommend that you install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware PRO by clicking below (we do earn a commision from sales generated from this link, but at no additional cost to you. We have experience with this software and we recommend it because it is helpful and useful):

Full household PC Protection - Protect up to 3 PCs with NEW Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium!