How to Uninstall OneDrive in Windows 8 and Windows 10

Windows users who have updated their PCs to Windows 8 will know that the OS is closely integrated with their cloud solution OneDrive, formerly called SkyDrive. If you head over to the File Explorer, you’ll notice that OneDrive sits prettily in the left pane waiting for your files and folders. If you have been using other cloud storage solutions, you may not want to be bothered with OneDrive.

In fact you may even think about uninstalling it so you can get yourself some extra space. In this post, we’ll show you how to uninstall OneDrive in Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

How to Uninstall OneDrive in Windows 8

If you want to uninstall OneDrive from Windows 8:

1. Right-click the OneDrive icon in the Notification area and select Settings.

2. Select the Settings tab and then select Unlink OneDrive.

3. Click OK.

If you are prompted to OneDrive again, just close the window.

4. Now to go the Control Panel and select Programs and uninstall OneDrive as you would other programs.

How to Uninstall OneDrive in Windows 8.1

Uninstalling OneDrive in Windows 8.1 is not done the usual way, by heading over to the Control Panel and doing an uninstall. Rather you have to make a few changes in the Group Policy Editor, all of which is rather simple and uncomplicated.

The only problem with this is that it will work only on Windows 8 Pro and Enterprise edition because the Local Group Policy Editor is not available on the Home version. Let’s go ahead to the steps now.

How to Uninstall OneDrive in Windows 8.1 (Method One)

1. Head over to the Start screen and type Run. In the left pane, select Run to display the Run window. Alternatively, from anywhere in Windows, you can press Win+R to open the Run window.

2. In the Run text box, type gpedit.msc and press OK or Enter.

3. This will open up the Local Group Policy Editor window. In the left pane, in the Computer Configuration Section, navigate to Administrative Templates > Windows Components > SkyDrive.

4. In the right pane, double-click Prevent the usage of SkyDrive for file storage.

5. In the next window that pops up, select the Enabled option and press OK.

That’s it. Now, to see the changes in effect, you must close and reopen any Explorer windows that are open. If you want to remove the metro screen app, just right-click the tile and click Unpin.

If for some reason you want to re-enable OneDrive, simply go back to the Local Group Policy editor, follow steps 3, 4 and 5 and select Disabled. You must however, restart the PC to get OneDrive to show up again in File Explorer. To get the OneDrive tile back on the Start screen, type SkyDrive on the Start screen. In the Search section, right-click the program and select Pin.

How to Disable OneDrive in Windows 8.1 (Method Two)

If you are running a Home edition of Windows, you most likely will get an error message when you try to access gpedit.msc.

In such situations, you can try disabling all the sync features or unlink your Microsoft account from your Windows account.

1. Open the Windows Charms and click Settings.

2. In the Settings pane, click Change PC Settings.

3. On the right pane, select the OneDrive tab.

4. In the next screen, select the Sync Settings tab.

5. On the right pane, switch off Sync your settings on this PC.

6. Select the File Storage settings and turn off the Save documents to OneDrive by default option to stop files from automatically saving to OneDrive.

• Note: Make sure you don’t put any files into the OneDrive folder to avoid any sync issues.

Unlink Microsoft Account from OneDrive

Since OneDrive is well integrated into your Windows PC, you cannot remove it while your PC is still connected to your Microsoft account. To unlink your Microsoft account from your Windows account:

1. Open the Charms Bar and go to Settings.

2. Select Change PC Settings.

3. Select the Accounts tab.

4. On the right pane, click Disconnect account.

That’s all there is to it. If you have access to a pro version of the operating system, you can uninstall OneDrive on Windows 8.1 without too much of a hassle. If not, you can use the delinking workaround to prevent OneDrive from syncing.

How to Uninstall OneDrive in Windows 10

1. In the Start screen Search box, type local group policy editor.

2. From the Search results, select Edit group policy.

3. In the left pane, select Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> OneDrive.

4. In the right pane, double-click Prevent the usage of OneDrive for file storage.

5. in the pop up window, select Enable.

You can clear up some space on your PC by getting rid of all OneDrive files. To do that:

1. In the Notification area, right-click the OneNote icon and select Settings->Unlink OneDrive.

2. Next, open File Explorer and go to the OneDrive folder and just delete it.

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