Hi,
My brother started to use "One Drive" as a backup for important
documents.

He asked me how to turn off One Drive's log in identy/information.
He prefers to log in when he needs to use it.

I don't use One Drive and I don't know what to tell him.

Anyone know?

Thanks in advance, John

<jaugustine@verizon.net> wrote:

> My brother started to use "One Drive" as a backup for important
> documents.
>
> He asked me how to turn off One Drive's log in identy/information. He
> prefers to log in when he needs to use it.

When done, he can quit OneDrive. When he next wants to use it, load it.

To quit, right-click on its systray icon, select Gear icon for settings,
select Pause, select Quit. Yep, takes many clicks, but it was designed
for an always-only cloud sync client.

To load, use the Start menu shortcut.

On 2/11/2024 11:58 AM, jaugustine@verizon.net wrote:
> Hi,
> My brother started to use "One Drive" as a backup for important
> documents.
>
> He asked me how to turn off One Drive's log in identy/information.
> He prefers to log in when he needs to use it.
>
> I don't use One Drive and I don't know what to tell him.
>
> Anyone know?
>
> Thanks in advance, John
>

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/onedrive/recurring-login-screen-for-onedrive-for-business/m-p/47829

The state machine is pretty complicated.

It sounds like your brother is using it as "on-demand storage",
like it was an external hard drive for storing a second copy of
something.

It can also be run as an automatically-syncing thing, in which
case it is going to be logged-in while synchronizing.

What this panel does, whether it just disables the syncing kind of
activity, I do not know. If you were running in the "On-Demand"
mode your brother might be using, perhaps this box should be un-ticked.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/11162i0E76326449A53E4B/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999

The important thing to remember, is that it isn't just a "server"
laying passively in Internet-space. It can also have interactive
components, "doing shit while you are trying to work" :-) Microsoft
likes the interactive stuff, because they want you to feel "beholden"
to them, and eventually, you will be "willing to pay recurring monthly fees"
for whatever they've cooked up. That's why they've spent ten billion
on AI -- they think that AI "doing shit behind your back", you will
value the activity so highly, to pay a monthly fee.

Paul

>> My brother started to use "One Drive" as a backup for important
>> documents.
>>
>> He asked me how to turn off One Drive's log in identy/information. He
>> prefers to log in when he needs to use it.
>
>When done, he can quit OneDrive. When he next wants to use it, load it.
>
>To quit, right-click on its systray icon, select Gear icon for settings,
>select Pause, select Quit. Yep, takes many clicks, but it was designed
>for an always-only cloud sync client.
>
>To load, use the Start menu shortcut.

Hi Vanguard,

I forgot a very important detail. He is "syncing" a folder on his
computer to One Drive.

I think, if you sync to One Drive, you will always be logged
in?

What do you think?

Thanks in advance, John

<jaugustine@verizon.net> wrote:

>>> My brother started to use "One Drive" as a backup for important
>>> documents.
>>>
>>> He asked me how to turn off One Drive's log in identy/information. He
>>> prefers to log in when he needs to use it.
>>
>>When done, he can quit OneDrive. When he next wants to use it, load it.
>>
>>To quit, right-click on its systray icon, select Gear icon for settings,
>>select Pause, select Quit. Yep, takes many clicks, but it was designed
>>for an always-only cloud sync client.
>>
>>To load, use the Start menu shortcut.
>
> I forgot a very important detail. He is "syncing" a folder on his
> computer to One Drive.

That's the point of the cloud sync client always running on your end.

> I think, if you sync to One Drive, you will always be logged in?

The client cannot synchronize anything if it is not running, and if not
running then it is not logged into your OneDrive account.

If he doesn't want something immediately sync'ed to his OneDrive
account:
- Exit the OneDrive client until ready to sync whatever you put in the
sync folder(s) at the next load of the sync client. (*)
- Leave the OneDrive client running all the time, but do the file
management (create, modify, delete) in some other folder, and move the
other folder's file(s) to the sync folder when you're ready to have
them sync'ed. (**)

(*) I don't do this. I leave the sync client always running. Any
changes to the sync folders get immediately reflected to the server.
"immediately" is how long to do the network transport, plus the sync
client runs at low priority with bandwidth throttling to prevent choking
your network for other uses, like Web surfing. Exiting the sync client
probably means it logs out, so when you next load the sync client you
get prompted to login again since it won't know to which MS account it
should connect (you can have more than one).

(**) How you do the move of files into the sync'ed folders monitored by
the OneDrive client can be done multiple ways. You manually move the
other folder's files into the sync folders (or perhaps the entire other
folder gets copied into a sync folder), or you could schedule a batch
file to do the copy/move operation at a particular time, like when
you're sleeping. You could use a scheduled event in Task Scheduler to
run robocopy (included in Windows) to copy or mirror the other folder to
the sync folder, or just run a .bat file to run the copy commands.
Instead of Task Scheduler, you could use SyncBack(***) or FreeFileSync
to schedule when to copy/mirror the other folder to the sync folder.

(***) SyncBack Free won't copy inuse (locked) files since it does not
support VSC (Volume Shadow Copy) service. That's why I bought the
SyncBackLite version (which got dropped, so now it's the SyncBackSE
version at $40). If whatever is creating or modifying the files is
absent at the time of copy/mirror, VSC isn't needed, because the files
won't be inuse, so the Free version is sufficient. FreeFileSync
supports VSC, and is free. I tried it, but it was more clumsy, and, as
I recall, had some features missing that I wanted. Those are 3rd party
alternatives to simply using Task Scheduler and robocopy already
available in Windows.

jaugustine@verizon.net wrote on 2/11/24 9:58 AM:
> Hi,
> My brother started to use "One Drive" as a backup for important
> documents.
>
> He asked me how to turn off One Drive's log in identy/information.
> He prefers to log in when he needs to use it.
>
> I don't use One Drive and I don't know what to tell him.
>
> Anyone know?
>
> Thanks in advance, John
>

More info needed or asked(your brother)

Windows logon
- Microsoft Account?
or
- Local Account?

OneDrive has multiple configuration features
- Settings app when OneDrive is active
=> accessed via the cloud icon on the TaskBar
Click the clod icon to access Settings options(the Gear icon) and/or
Pause Options
The Settings option opens a separate window with other options
- Sync/Backup, Account, Notifications, About
=> Account provides the 'Unlink this PC'
When Unlinked, next use requires logon(username/pw) and if desired the
option to change the default local store of configured folders for syncing.

If the user wishes to terminate auto-logon, OneDrive can be unlinked.
Note: Once relinked(logged on) the account must be unlinked(again) for
the username/pw logon option.

i.e. if log on prompt is desired, use the Unlink option and once the
username is entered, acept the default location(C: drive\users
folder\OneDrive) or use the 'Change location' to point to an existing or
new folder

--
....w¡ñ§±¤ñ

<jaugustine@verizon.net> wrote:
>>> My brother started to use "One Drive" as a backup for important
>>> documents.
>>>
>>> He asked me how to turn off One Drive's log in identy/information. He
>>> prefers to log in when he needs to use it.
>>
>> When done, he can quit OneDrive. When he next wants to use it, load it.
>>
>> To quit, right-click on its systray icon, select Gear icon for settings,
>> select Pause, select Quit. Yep, takes many clicks, but it was designed
>> for an always-only cloud sync client.
>>
>> To load, use the Start menu shortcut.
>
> Hi Vanguard,
>
> I forgot a very important detail. He is "syncing" a folder on his
> computer to One Drive.
>
> I think, if you sync to One Drive, you will always be logged
> in?

Well obviously, if he wants to sync actively he'll need to be logged in.

If he wants he can log out and log back in manually, and OneDrive will try
to consolidate changes. Issue is it may end up with conflicts and it's kind
of pointless.

> What do you think?
>
> Thanks in advance, John
>
>

On 13/02/2024 18:51, VanguardLH wrote:
> <jaugustine@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>>>> My brother started to use "One Drive" as a backup for important
>>>> documents.
>>>>
>>>> He asked me how to turn off One Drive's log in identy/information. He
>>>> prefers to log in when he needs to use it.
>>>
>>> When done, he can quit OneDrive. When he next wants to use it, load it.
>>>
>>> To quit, right-click on its systray icon, select Gear icon for settings,
>>> select Pause, select Quit. Yep, takes many clicks, but it was designed
>>> for an always-only cloud sync client.
>>>
>>> To load, use the Start menu shortcut.
>>
>> I forgot a very important detail. He is "syncing" a folder on his
>> computer to One Drive.
>
> That's the point of the cloud sync client always running on your end.
>
>> I think, if you sync to One Drive, you will always be logged in?
>
> The client cannot synchronize anything if it is not running, and if not
> running then it is not logged into your OneDrive account.
>
> If he doesn't want something immediately sync'ed to his OneDrive
> account:
> - Exit the OneDrive client until ready to sync whatever you put in the
> sync folder(s) at the next load of the sync client. (*)
> - Leave the OneDrive client running all the time, but do the file
> management (create, modify, delete) in some other folder, and move the
> other folder's file(s) to the sync folder when you're ready to have
> them sync'ed. (**)
>
> (*) I don't do this. I leave the sync client always running. Any
> changes to the sync folders get immediately reflected to the server.
> "immediately" is how long to do the network transport, plus the sync
> client runs at low priority with bandwidth throttling to prevent choking
> your network for other uses, like Web surfing. Exiting the sync client
> probably means it logs out, so when you next load the sync client you
> get prompted to login again since it won't know to which MS account it
> should connect (you can have more than one).
>
> (**) How you do the move of files into the sync'ed folders monitored by
> the OneDrive client can be done multiple ways. You manually move the
> other folder's files into the sync folders (or perhaps the entire other
> folder gets copied into a sync folder), or you could schedule a batch
> file to do the copy/move operation at a particular time, like when
> you're sleeping. You could use a scheduled event in Task Scheduler to
> run robocopy (included in Windows) to copy or mirror the other folder to
> the sync folder, or just run a .bat file to run the copy commands.
> Instead of Task Scheduler, you could use SyncBack(***) or FreeFileSync
> to schedule when to copy/mirror the other folder to the sync folder.
>
> (***) SyncBack Free won't copy inuse (locked) files since it does not
> support VSC (Volume Shadow Copy) service. That's why I bought the
> SyncBackLite version (which got dropped, so now it's the SyncBackSE
> version at $40). If whatever is creating or modifying the files is
> absent at the time of copy/mirror, VSC isn't needed, because the files
> won't be inuse, so the Free version is sufficient. FreeFileSync
> supports VSC, and is free. I tried it, but it was more clumsy, and, as
> I recall, had some features missing that I wanted. Those are 3rd party
> alternatives to simply using Task Scheduler and robocopy already
> available in Windows.

I assume that what I do with Google Drive will also work with One Drive.

If I have a folder that's in some other place on my hard drive that I
wish to have synced then I move it into my One Drive folder, possibly
renaming it if I want it to be clear that it doesn't really belong
there. Then I create a junction (a symbolic link would work too) with
its original name and location pointing to the moved folder in its new
location so that as far as almost all software is concerned it *is* also
still there in its original location.

There is at least one case where Google Drive will occasionally upset
other software trying to use the files. But maybe One Drive is better
than Google Drive at avoiding this.

--
Brian Gregory (in England).

Chris wrote on 2/13/24 1:07 PM:
> <jaugustine@verizon.net> wrote:
>>>> My brother started to use "One Drive" as a backup for important
>>>> documents.
>>>>
>>>> He asked me how to turn off One Drive's log in identy/information. He
>>>> prefers to log in when he needs to use it.
>>>
>>> When done, he can quit OneDrive. When he next wants to use it, load it.
>>>
>>> To quit, right-click on its systray icon, select Gear icon for settings,
>>> select Pause, select Quit. Yep, takes many clicks, but it was designed
>>> for an always-only cloud sync client.
>>>
>>> To load, use the Start menu shortcut.
>>
>> Hi Vanguard,
>>
>> I forgot a very important detail. He is "syncing" a folder on his
>> computer to One Drive.
>>
>> I think, if you sync to One Drive, you will always be logged
>> in?
>
> Well obviously, if he wants to sync actively he'll need to be logged in.
>
> If he wants he can log out and log back in manually, and OneDrive will try
> to consolidate changes. Issue is it may end up with conflicts and it's kind
> of pointless.
>
>> What do you think?
>>
>> Thanks in advance, John
>>
>>
>
>
>
OneDrive ==>> 'Unlink' to logout

--
....w¡ñ§±¤ñ

Brian Gregory <void-invalid-dead-dontuse@email.invalid> wrote:
> On 13/02/2024 18:51, VanguardLH wrote:
>> <jaugustine@verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>>>>> My brother started to use "One Drive" as a backup for important
>>>>> documents.
>>>>>
>>>>> He asked me how to turn off One Drive's log in identy/information. He
>>>>> prefers to log in when he needs to use it.
>>>>
>>>> When done, he can quit OneDrive. When he next wants to use it, load it.
>>>>
>>>> To quit, right-click on its systray icon, select Gear icon for settings,
>>>> select Pause, select Quit. Yep, takes many clicks, but it was designed
>>>> for an always-only cloud sync client.
>>>>
>>>> To load, use the Start menu shortcut.
>>>
>>> I forgot a very important detail. He is "syncing" a folder on his
>>> computer to One Drive.
>>
>> That's the point of the cloud sync client always running on your end.
>>
>>> I think, if you sync to One Drive, you will always be logged in?
>>
>> The client cannot synchronize anything if it is not running, and if not
>> running then it is not logged into your OneDrive account.
>>
>> If he doesn't want something immediately sync'ed to his OneDrive
>> account:
>> - Exit the OneDrive client until ready to sync whatever you put in the
>> sync folder(s) at the next load of the sync client. (*)
>> - Leave the OneDrive client running all the time, but do the file
>> management (create, modify, delete) in some other folder, and move the
>> other folder's file(s) to the sync folder when you're ready to have
>> them sync'ed. (**)
>>
>> (*) I don't do this. I leave the sync client always running. Any
>> changes to the sync folders get immediately reflected to the server.
>> "immediately" is how long to do the network transport, plus the sync
>> client runs at low priority with bandwidth throttling to prevent choking
>> your network for other uses, like Web surfing. Exiting the sync client
>> probably means it logs out, so when you next load the sync client you
>> get prompted to login again since it won't know to which MS account it
>> should connect (you can have more than one).
>>
>> (**) How you do the move of files into the sync'ed folders monitored by
>> the OneDrive client can be done multiple ways. You manually move the
>> other folder's files into the sync folders (or perhaps the entire other
>> folder gets copied into a sync folder), or you could schedule a batch
>> file to do the copy/move operation at a particular time, like when
>> you're sleeping. You could use a scheduled event in Task Scheduler to
>> run robocopy (included in Windows) to copy or mirror the other folder to
>> the sync folder, or just run a .bat file to run the copy commands.
>> Instead of Task Scheduler, you could use SyncBack(***) or FreeFileSync
>> to schedule when to copy/mirror the other folder to the sync folder.
>>
>> (***) SyncBack Free won't copy inuse (locked) files since it does not
>> support VSC (Volume Shadow Copy) service. That's why I bought the
>> SyncBackLite version (which got dropped, so now it's the SyncBackSE
>> version at $40). If whatever is creating or modifying the files is
>> absent at the time of copy/mirror, VSC isn't needed, because the files
>> won't be inuse, so the Free version is sufficient. FreeFileSync
>> supports VSC, and is free. I tried it, but it was more clumsy, and, as
>> I recall, had some features missing that I wanted. Those are 3rd party
>> alternatives to simply using Task Scheduler and robocopy already
>> available in Windows.
>
> I assume that what I do with Google Drive will also work with One Drive.
>
> If I have a folder that's in some other place on my hard drive that I
> wish to have synced then I move it into my One Drive folder, possibly
> renaming it if I want it to be clear that it doesn't really belong
> there. Then I create a junction (a symbolic link would work too) with
> its original name and location pointing to the moved folder in its new
> location so that as far as almost all software is concerned it *is* also
> still there in its original location.
>
> There is at least one case where Google Drive will occasionally upset
> other software trying to use the files. But maybe One Drive is better
> than Google Drive at avoiding this.

Why not store the files directly in the google drive folder? What advantage
does linking add?

I have all my files stored directly in my OneDrive folder and it works
great.