Hell Freezes Over, If Only Slightly ⭐

In December, I began seeing a positive new behavior in Windows 11 related to OneDrive Folder Backup. No, Microsoft isn't suddenly respecting our wishes, and it still silently enables Folder Backup after the user declines the offer multiple times. But the change I'm seeing is a small step forward.
📜 The history
In late 2023, I began noticing that OneDrive in Windows 11 would auto-enable Folder Backup even after I had declined multiple offers to do so. This is a clear and obvious example of enshittification, despite the benefits of this feature for those that want it. No, after all, means no.

In the years since, I've struggled to adapt to this problem. The first and most important thing I did was move my files out of harm's way by creating a top-level folder (inventively named Paul) in OneDrive and moving all my personal data there. (And out of the default Documents and Pictures folders.) Then I switched to Google Drive, which works just as well as OneDrive but with none of the enshittification. And then, in mid-2025, I switched to Synology Drive, which works just as well as OneDrive and Google Drive but is hosted on two NAS devices I own, control, and sync, one in Pennsylvania and one in Mexico City.

But I also review over 20 laptops each year. And on each of them, literally, I have watched helplessly as Windows 11 silently enabled Folder Backup in OneDrive against my explicit wishes every single time. This still happens today and it will continue happening. But something has changed. And as noted, it's a positive change.
😱 The behavior to date
To date, my experience in Windows 11 has been consistent since September 2023: I bring up a new PC or reset an existing PC, step through the Out of Box Experience (OOBE) in Windows Setup, and decline its offer to "backup [my] files to OneDrive." By default, this feature, called Folder Backup, will sync (not back up) files you put in your Windows 11 user profile's Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders to the corresponding folders in OneDrive. (And you can optionally enable Folder Backup on the Music and Videos folders later if desired.) But I do not want to sync those folders to OneDrive, as I have my own folder structures (and, these days, don't use OneDrive regularly for day-to-day work).

If you decline to use Folder Backup during the OOBE, Windows 11 will at some point in the next few days display a notification asking you, once more, to enable Folder Backup. If you decline that offer, or don't see it, Windows 11 will then silently enable Folder Backup without so much as a peep. It just happens. And the way I find out, inevitably, is that I notice that files on my Desktop, which I use as a sort of daily scratch space for temporary documents and others files I'm working on, is syncing to the cloud.

To be clear, OneDrive Folder Backup is a good feature that will benefit many people: With this enabled, you will not lose documents and other files in the synced folders if there'...

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