Rename OneDrive for Business folder in Explorer

Question

After installing Office 365, I have a new special folder in Explorer called "OneDrive - Company Name LLC".

I found a registry key at Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace whose value matches that text (and it's the only match in the registry), and I confirmed previously that deleting it will remove the entry from Explorer, so I assumed I could rename it here. However, it does not seem to work. I changed the value and even rebooted, but the display value did not change.

How can I rename my personal OneDrive folder?

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Background/reasoning:

I have synced a Sharepoint document library as a public share of sorts. It shows up as "Company Name LLC". My personal OneDrive shows up as "OneDrive - Company Name LLC". This has already led to confusion with some employees. They thought they were putting files in a public space but were not. Ideally it would be named something like "OneDrive - Personal Folders".

Answer 1

There are some good answers here, and since they're scattered I made this post to include the whole process and procedure in addition to what is missing.

Process

• Close OneDrive (step 1 below)
• Rename OneDrive folder (step 2 below)
• (optional) Move the OneDrive folder to the desired location (step 3 below)
• Modify the relevant registry keys (steps 4-5 below)
• Modify the configuration file (steps 6-8 below)

Procedure

1. Close OneDrive.
2. Rename the OneDrive folder.
3. (optional) Move the OneDrive folder to the desired location.
4. Open the registry (start menu >> search "regedit")
5. Modify the OneDrive folder or path in the following locations: (or follow @xoxox advice and search for "OneDrive - (company name)"

In HKEY_CURRENT_USER (HKCU) (4 locations)

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\OneDrive\Accounts\Business1\UserFolder
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\OneDrive\Accounts\Business1\ScopeIdToMountPointPathCache\(ID)
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\OneDrive\Accounts\Business1\Tenants\(name)\(path)
HKCU\Software\SyncEngines\Providers\OneDrive\(ID)\MountPoint

In HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) (2 locations)

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\Provider\CBP\(ID)\NAMESPACE
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\SyncRootManager\OneDrive!(ID)\UserSyncRoots\(SID)

6. Open the following location: %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\settings\Business1
7. Locate the (ID).ini file (usually it's the 2nd file) and edit it (right click >> edit)
8. Locate the OneDrive path in the first line (in the value of the libraryScope parameter) and modify it to be as the new path. Then save the file.
9. Open OneDrive.

Notes
In step 5 above, some parameters are quoted (e.g. (name), (ID), (path)) - that means that these parameters are interchangeable, and there should be some value that is probably unique to your case.

You may find that you do not have access to modify certain registry values, particularly, the Security Center NAMESPACE value. One potential workaround is to make yourself the owner of the parent key (ID). Make sure to record the original owner and restore ownership after you have changed the value.

Reference
Changing your onedrive name in file explorer navigation
How can I change default name of OneDrive for Business folder?

Answer 2

This is a hacky, but the only working solution:

1. First, close OneDrive: Click the icon in the taskbar, select More... then Close OneDrive
2. Next open Registry Explorer: Press Win + R, then type regedit and hit enter.
3. Press Ctrl + F to search for all occurrences of OneDrive - <Company> and replace these with the new desired name.
4. For all files in C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive (i.e., enter %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\OneDrive in the address bar) and subfolders, replace all occurrences of OneDrive - <Company> with the new desired name. (This can be achieved with Notepad++ by selecting Search > Find in Files... from the menu)
5. Rename your original OneDrive - <Company> folder to the new desired name.
6. Reopen OneDrive.
7. OneDrive might realize that the folder name has been change and will ask to set up the OneDrive folder again. Do not do this or else your work will be reverted!

Consider voting for the Rename-OneDrive-Root-Folder feature on UserVoice:

• https://onedrive.uservoice.com/forums/913522-onedrive-on-windows/suggestions/37945567-allow-users-to-change-the-onedrive-folder-director
• https://onedrive.uservoice.com/forums/913522-onedrive-on-windows/suggestions/8729746-allow-onedrive-for-business-folder-to-be-renamed

Answer 3

How about this:

mklink /J your_desired_name "OneDrive - Company Name LLC"

Edit: You should probably first CD to the home directory, e.g., C:\Users\Me (or whatever your home directory is) since that is the location of your OneDrive - <Company>.

Answer 4

You can change this in the registry through the following:

Find the folder name of the OneDrive synced folder in

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}

Now navigate to HKCR\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6} and change the (Default) string entry with the name of your choice.

This change would immediately be visible.

Answer 5

@the-joatmon is 100% correct: end users confuse their private onedrive folders for the companies' folders.

It annoyed me enough that I came with an easy solution that works for me: Hide OneDrive on the explorer left pane. To do so, use regedit --

navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID and search for: System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree Than change the DWORD value from 1 to 0

Then to see the effect, kill explorer in Task Manager and restart it.

Typically OneDrive syncs Documents and Pictures that are pinned to QuickAccess, so there is no reason to see them twice.

If your users have other folders that are synced, I suggest pinning them also to Quick access. Finally to cleanup I prevent Explorer from adding recently visited folders to Quick access by

right click Quick access on left pane in explorer select Options and uncheck: Show frequently used folders in Quick access

Answer 6

The solution that worked for me (to avoid spaces and special characters) was to assign the path to the onedrive folder to a virtual disk with the command subst (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/subst).

For instance: subst O: "C:\OneDrive - <Company>" uses the drive letter O to point to the onedrive folder in disk C.

One problem with this approach is that the mapping is temporary. It can be made permanent following How to make SUBST mapping persistent across reboots?. However, I chose to create a shortcut to subst O: "C:\OneDrive - <Company>" in C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.

Another minor problem is that it assigns the same label as that of the original disk. Following https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/how-to-assign-a-custom-icon-and-label-to-a-drive-letter, I removed the label (of disk C:) and added new default labels (and an icon) with the regedit keys:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\DriveIcons\O\DefaultIcon]
@="%USERPROFILE%\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\OneDrive\\OneDrive.exe,0"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\DriveIcons\O\DefaultLabel]
@="OneDriveCompany"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\DriveIcons\C\DefaultLabel]
@="System"

Answer 7

My answer is based on Oz Edri's answer , but with a spin:

1. Setup OneDrive , specifying a folder name that you are sure is unique inside your PC
2. Quit OneDrive
3. Rename OneDrive Folder as you desire
4. Open a registry editor and search for your unique folder. Replace every occurrence possible (you might not have permission to change some, that's fine)
5. Steps 6-8 from Oz Edri's answer
6. Reboot

Answer 8

An update to Uriel's answer based on advice for creating links in Powershell for recent versions of Windows:

Create a 'symbolic link' rather than a directory junction ; in Powershell, this is done using:

New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path "NewLink" -Target "Target"

Answer 9

If you are a "global admin" of the Office installation which gives you the business OneDrive, then changing the OneDrive root folder name is easy without changing the registry or adding filesystem links, because "Currently, updating the organization name does not update it for configured clients." (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-US/microsoft-365/admin/manage/change-address-contact-and-more).

This means, in summary, that you can change the organization name to anything you like, call it string S, trigger each OneDrive installation to use the new name, then change the organization name back to what it should be for billing, etc.

This works for me as of day of posting on my Windows 10 Pro machines, which are not associated with a Windows domain.

1. Log into Office admin center (admin.microsoft.com). Go to Settings > Org settings page > Organization profile tab > Organization information. Change the "Name" to the string you want to use, and save the changes. For new OneDrive installations, your root OneDrive folder name is required to be "OneDrive - S". Existing installations will NOT be changed.
2. Steps 2-4 must be done for each OneDrive root folder whose name should be changed (i.e., repeat for each user/machine). In OneDrive settings, unlink the PC. OneDrive will probably pop up a new sign-in window, which you can leave open.
3. In Explorer, change the root OneDrive folder name to "OneDrive - S".
4. Return to the OneDrive sign-in window (or launch OneDrive again; or open another running OneDrive such as a personal OneDrive and "add account" in settings). Sign in with the business credentials and proceed to the screen which lists and confirms the location of the OneDrive. The default OneDrive folder root name will be your new name. (If you've moved the location of the OneDrive root folder, you may need to navigate there. Wherever it is located, the root folder name must be "OneDrive - S".) On the next screen, you will get warning that the selected location already exists and has files in it, and you get the choice whether to re-use the folder or create a new one. Choose to re-use. OneDrive will go comparing all the contents looking for changes. Assuming the folder was synced before you started and no changes in the cloud while you worked, OneDrive will simply count down from the total number of files to zero, making no changes to your local folder.
5. Go back to the online admin center and change the organization name back to whatever is right there. The documentation link above lists where that name is used across the Office environment.

Answer 10

How can I rename my personal OneDrive folder?

The Company Name is pulled of from your Office 365 account company you signed up for. If you wanted it to be named COMPANY then change your company name in Office 365.

See Change your organization's address, technical contact, and more

Source [SOLVED] How can I change default name of OneDrive for Business folder? - Spiceworks