Mozilla is now redirecting my Downloads to OneDrive, not my local hard-drive as intended
I am trying to get rid of OneDrive on my newly purchased Windows 11 Dell computer -- because it is a fact that Microsoft has no idea how to assure security of my stuff (see yesterday's zero-day vulnerabilities in Excel, eg). BUT when I go to Mozilla/Settings/Files/Downloads/ Save files to, Browse ..., and Select Folder 'Desktop' and then a folder I have newly created on my Desktop [called 'FFox downloads'], the name is changed to "C:\Users\[mynamedfolder]\OneDrive\Desktop\FFox downloads". And it is NOT possible to edit the text in the 'Save files to' to remove the 'OneDrive' path within the Mozilla box. And there is no warning that the desired location has been altered to send it to Microsoft and the cloud, not the hard drive in my office.
Details: When I look via Start File Explorer, 'This PC' contains 'OS(C:)'. which is my Local Disk per Type--clearly hardware, not cloudland). However, within 'This PC' also exists 'Desktop', containing the folders I see on my monitor/desktop, including a new folder I created there, as one always could before, called 'FFox download' to try to use it to save downloads locally, ie without sending the actual download (and/or a copy of same) to the cloud. BUT, with Windows 11, a look at Properties admits its 'physical' location is actually 'C:\Users\[mynamefolder]\OneDrive\Desktop! Also, under OS (C:) exists Users, containing a [mynamefolder] name, with a OneDrive folder within it, and Desktop within that, my intended local FFox download folder within that. HA!! Obviously it is not Mozilla's fault that Microsoft is being sneaky. I suspect Microsoft is redirecting or copying everything on my Desktop, which in the past would exist only on my 'Local Disk', to cloudville. I have been unable so far to figure out how to fix this: do you by chance know, if so I would be most grateful. And I suspect others who wish to protect their information will, too.
Workaround: For now, I have created a new folder on OS (C:), called 'LocalDesktop', and within it a new folder, 'Localdownloads'. This seems to work, in that FFox will accept that as the place to send downloads.
ACTION ITEMS: I suggest Mozilla put a bold Warning that your FFox downloads in Windows 11 will no longer go to you alone, and certainly not insert the phrase 'OneDrive' into the 'Save files to' box when those words were NOT chosen via 'Browse...'.
[What I don't know, so far, is whether Microsoft is also copying the contents of this local folder to OneDrive, and I fear that if so there will be no warning given of this security breach.] Thank you, and thank you Mozilla for providing Firefox to the world, Rich
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Update: SUCCESS! What one has to do is move all the OneDrive Desktop stuff to a Desktop in your own Users folder, for which there is a process that I never would have come up with, but someone (Fatima Wahab -- THANK YOU if you see this) did, available at: https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/move-the-desktop-folder-out-of-onedrive-on-windows-10/ Take a deep breath first...
Then, delete the OneDrive app completely, as explained here (with other, TMI options too): https://allthings.how/how-to-disable-onedrive-in-windows-11/ It is basically simple, just open Settings Apps, scroll down to Microsoft OneDrive, click on the 3 dots, do Uninstall. It can be re-installed later if you want. There are ways to limit what it accesses, but I went with 'Never again'.
In my case it took several minutes to move the OneDrive Desktop stuff to my real Desktop; worked perfectly, it seems, with nothing lost that I have noticed. I then went back into Mozilla, set the 'Save files to' by Browse to be my real/new Desktop, and Bob's your uncle!
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To set the default download folder;
Type about:preferences#general<enter> in the address bar. Look under Files and Applications
Is there a problem doing this?
Yep, still a problem. If I select 'Desktop' via the Browse choice, it shows up as 'Desktop' now. BUT when I download something with Mozilla, it goes to C:/Users/[myname]/OneDrive/Desktop. This is actually worse than before I set up the hard link to a folder I created by hand on C: (/LocalDesktop/Local downloads), which does work if I Browse to use that instead. It's worse now because the 'OneDrive' words don't even appear in the address of 'Desktop' now. It doesn't seem to make any difference if I get to the entry box by the three horizontal bars at top rt of Mozilla bar, or by the method above. The screenshot attached (if it went thru) shows what I see on 'Save files to', and where it went, ie to OneDrive\Desktop; and a rather worrying Security statement at the bottom to boot!).
But thanks for trying to help on this. [I think a binary 'thumbs down' on 'Helpful' is rather harsh, so I didn't check it]
(BTW, I'm reading now on how to circumscribe what OneDrive can be allowed to do, altho I'm afraid I might lose anything that's gone there already, and/or not really be able to scrub it clean if I uninstall it, eg.) Rich
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Update: SUCCESS! What one has to do is move all the OneDrive Desktop stuff to a Desktop in your own Users folder, for which there is a process that I never would have come up with, but someone (Fatima Wahab -- THANK YOU if you see this) did, available at: https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/move-the-desktop-folder-out-of-onedrive-on-windows-10/ Take a deep breath first...
Then, delete the OneDrive app completely, as explained here (with other, TMI options too): https://allthings.how/how-to-disable-onedrive-in-windows-11/ It is basically simple, just open Settings Apps, scroll down to Microsoft OneDrive, click on the 3 dots, do Uninstall. It can be re-installed later if you want. There are ways to limit what it accesses, but I went with 'Never again'.
In my case it took several minutes to move the OneDrive Desktop stuff to my real Desktop; worked perfectly, it seems, with nothing lost that I have noticed. I then went back into Mozilla, set the 'Save files to' by Browse to be my real/new Desktop, and Bob's your uncle!
That was very good work. Well Done. Please flag your last post as Solved Problem as this can help others with similar problems. Go to that post and click the 'Solved' button to its right.