How do I delete the onedrive shortcut without damaging the files?

Hello,

Are you saying you need all your files back to the local computer, but you don't want to manually download them?And eventually after that, do you want to get rid of OneDrive?

Yes! I just want my files on my desktop screen as normal

Ok, since you don't want to manually download them, you would have to do it this way:

In order for us to sort all of these out, it is necessary (just for now) to get OneDrive desktop app back up and running.

To do so, go to your Start menu and see if you already have the OneDrive app installed. If so, go ahead and run it, sign in. If you don't have it installed, you will need to download it, install it back and then set it up. You can download it from here: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/onedriv...

Once you have the OneDrive app up and running again, please follow these steps closely:

1. Right click on the OneDrive cloud icon on the lower right on your taskbar to go to Settings.

2. On the "Sync and Backup" tab, click on "Advanced Settings" to expand that section. Then under File On-Demand, click on "Download all files".


3. Give it plenty of time to allow the files to be downloaded from the online cloud. On your computer's file explorer, you can observe the OneDrive folder and its folders/files inside. You want all of the green checkmark icon to turn solid green with a white checkmark. Depends on how many files you have, this process can take a while, so please be patient.

4. Once all of the folders and files turn into the solid green icon with white checkmark, you can go back to OneDrive Settings. Very important - click on "Manage Backup" button, then turn off all folders listed there.

5. After you turn off the folders sync in Step 4, now go to Account tab, click on "Unlink this PC"

6. Go to your Windows Settings > Apps, find OneDrive and uninstall it.