OneDrive on Mac: OneDrive folder always opens at startup - How can I stop this?

Copper Contributor

Hello,

 

I run the latest version of OneDrive (Version 24.132.0701.0001) on a Mac running macOS 14.5.

When I start a session, the OneDrive folder always opens.

How can I stop this? I want a "silent" run of OneDrive...
I couldn't find any option in the preferences for this...

 

By the way, I have the same " issue " with Windows10 and Windows11.
(I consider it an issue, but maybe it's not considered an issue by Microsoft...)

 

Many thanks in advance for any help.

 

3 Replies

@chibiberu 

To stop the OneDrive folder from automatically opening at startup on your Mac, follow these steps:

On macOS:

  1. Prevent OneDrive from Opening the Folder:
    • Open System Settings (or System Preferences depending on your macOS version).
    • Go to Users & Groups.
    • Click on your user account.
    • Click on Login Items (or the "Login Items" tab).
    • Look for OneDrive in the list. If it's there, select it and click the minus (-) button to remove it from startup items.
    • Note: If OneDrive isn't listed here, it's likely not adding itself as a startup item but still opens the folder due to its own behavior.
  2. Check OneDrive Preferences:
    • Open OneDrive from the menu bar (the cloud icon).
    • Click on the Settings (gear) icon and choose Preferences.
    • Under the General tab, uncheck any option that says "Start OneDrive automatically when I sign in to my Mac."
    • There isn't a specific setting to stop the folder from opening directly, but this ensures OneDrive doesn't run until you start it manually.

On Windows:

  1. Task Manager:
    • Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager.
    • Go to the Startup tab.
    • Find OneDrive in the list, right-click it, and select Disable.
  2. Registry Editor (Advanced Users):
    • Open the Registry Editor by typing regedit in the search box.
    • Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
    • Look for an entry related to OneDrive and delete it (only if you're sure about this and have a backup).

Note: Disabling the startup behavior on Windows may affect how OneDrive syncs at startup, so be sure to manually start OneDrive if needed.

These steps should help stop the OneDrive folder from opening automatically on startup on both macOS and Windows. The text and steps were edited with the help of AI.

 

My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!

 

Hope this will help you.

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This will help all forum participants.

@NikolinoDE your non solution is not have OneDrive NOT launch at startup which is not what is being asked. We want the app to launch and do its sync job but we just don't want its folder to open.

I am suddenly experiencing the same issue. Multiple OneDrive folders open at startup. This unacceptable behavior began just a few days ago. A recent update probably caused this because the modified date in the application details shows 09/09/2024.

OneDrive is already disabled in Startup and shows as disabled in TaskManager. That registry path provided in the previous reply does not show an entry for OneDrive.

Please escalate this issue to the OneDrive team.