I moved the downloads folder to one drive, but now I can't move it back

Sulay Lavsi 0 Reputation points
2025-08-08T13:32:00.56+00:00

Hi there, I just moved ~100GB of my downloads to OneDrive by changing the location by right clicking the downloads section & moving the location to OneDrive. My goal was to be able to backup the entirety of my downloads section to the cloud as well as offline.

However, I am not at all enjoying how OneDrive is syncing & plus the entire muscle memory of just being so used to the native downloads section is being missed a lot. I would like to revert to the original downloads section ensuring all my files come back intact.

Picking up from a previous post - posting my registry screenshot before to understand :)

Thanks!

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. David-M 127.9K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-08-09T14:34:07.2033333+00:00

    Great! Glad to help.

    If you don't mind, consider clicking "Yes" on the answer that helped you.

    Indicating the answer that helped you helps other users who come to this thread with a similar question.

    Best regards.

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  2. Sulay Lavsi 0 Reputation points
    2025-08-09T12:06:50.9333333+00:00

    Thank you so much, this worked perfectly fine!

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  3. David-M 127.9K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-08-08T16:48:04.5766667+00:00

    Sorry for the delay in reply. I've been offline.

    Thanks for the screenshot.

    You'll need to make a registry change. I suggest creating a restore point just in case before doing this.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/system-protection-e9126e6e-fa64-4f5f-874d-9db90e57645a

    Change the items highlighted in the image below.

    To change them, double-click on the item. Then change the "Value data" field to: %USERPROFILE%\Downloads

    Screenshot (1)

    Then close Registry Editor and restart Windows.

    After the restart, the Downloads folder should link to the correct folder on the C: drive.

    You will likely have to manually move the content from the current Download folder location to the correct location after doing this.

    Let me know the result.

    Feel free to ask back any questions.

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  4. David-M 127.9K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-08-08T14:05:51.3+00:00

    Hi. I'm David, and I'm happy to help you.

    Please do the following:

    1. Press "Windows + R", type regedit and press Enter;
    2. Navigate to the following key:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

    1. Select the "User Shell Folders" key in the left panel and take a screenshot of the right panel.

    Use the shortcut "Windows + Shift + S" to use the screenshot tool.

    Share the screenshot.

    I await your reply.

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