The Enshittification of OneDrive Escalates Yet Again, But Help is On the Way (Premium)

Freaked out by the rapidly escalating enshittification of OneDrive in Windows 11, I’ve done what I can do. I’ve explained the new problem. I’ve explained what you can do to work around that and previous problems, when possible, though truly fixing them is not truly possible today. And I've written about the scary changes I made to my own OneDrive to help me cope with these new challenges.

And I’m sure some of you may think that I’m exaggerating this issue, though my reply there is simple enough: Wait until you encounter Windows 11 version 23H2, which is where things really go off the rails. Microsoft’s aggressive marketing of its own products and services in Windows has been bad enough to date, but as I noted, this is escalating again in 23H2. And, worse, Microsoft is silently enabling OneDrive’s Folder Backup feature behind our backs, which I do not want, on PCs in which I have explicitly disabled it. That’s not just insidious, it’s malicious.

But as per my original slippery slope argument from the naïve days of Windows 8---literally over a decade ago---in which the only ads in Windows were hidden away in modern apps few people even used, things can always get worse and they usually do. And I am sad to report that in the two and a half weeks since I first raised the alarm on OneDrive in 23H2, it has gotten even worse.

I know. It seems impossible.

As noted, Windows 11 version 23H2 introduces several horrible new OneDrive behaviors, among them a Microsoft Edge-like behavior in which Microsoft ignores the user’s explicit choices, in this case by quietly enabling Folder Backup when the user said no to this feature during Windows Setup and/or opened OneDrive settings and turned it off. It does this without any messaging or communication, and while it’s unclear what triggers this, I had seen this behavior on three PCs when I first wrote about it.

And now, because of all the work I’m doing for the Windows 11 Field Guide update, I’ve seen it on many more PCs/VMs across multiple installs. It’s real, and it’s bad, and I’d like to find a permanent solution that doesn’t involve just not using OneDrive.

But aside from verifying this behavior, a new related annoyance has popped up. And here, again, Microsoft is following the same strategy it employs with the Edge browser: When the user tries to switch, it puts up some blockers and tries to get you to stay. You’ve seen this when you try to change a file or link type association in the Settings app, where it pops up an “Are you sure?” roadblock in a last-ditch effort to keep you on Edge.

Well, here’s how it works in OneDrive now. This is a new behavior that’s gone live in the last week or so, and I have seen it in both 22H2 and 23H2 in the Release Preview ring: You notice that OneDrive has silently enabled Folder Backup against your wishes and so you open OneDrive settings to turn it back off. And you navigate to Sync and backup > Manage ba...