Microsoft has started force-feeding a new “OneDrive Photos” app onto Windows 11 PCs, whether you want it or not. And if you’re a OneDrive user, you cannot get rid of it without also removing OneDrive; it’s a case of either OneDrive and the OneDrive Photos app, or neither.
Obviously, users are up in arms over the mandatory installation of an app they didn’t ask for and possibly didn’t want. To add to Microsoft’s dilemma, OneDrive Photos, which is purely a consumer-oriented app, has inadvertently been force-installed on enterprise systems as well.
Once again, Microsoft’s decision-making has been called into question with this OneDrive Photos saga creating a lot of unhappy users. Enterprise users are unhappy about having a piece of consumer-oriented software automatically deployed on their systems, and rightly so.
And home consumers are equally unhappy; even if a home user doesn’t use OneDrive at all, they’ll still be force-fed this OneDrive Photos app and, if they do use OneDrive, they can’t remove the OneDrive Photos app without deleting OneDrive as well.
That latter situation might change, though. According to Windows Latest, Microsoft is preparing an update that adds an option to remove the OneDrive Photos app without needing to get rid of OneDrive.
Even so, it does beg the question; surely that should have been an option in the first place?
BOTTOM LINE:
In and of itself, this really is no big deal. What makes it a big deal, however, is that it’s all taken place amid Microsoft’s promise to do better with Windows 11, including making smarter decisions.
What’s that saying? Oh yes… actions speak louder than words.
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Thanks for the heads up Jim
I don’t use “OneDrive” and when OneDrive Photos gets installed onto my PC I will uninstall it immediately – root and branch. I use DropBox for short-term and NAS for long-term storage of my snaps. I wouldn’t trust Microsoft as far as I could kick ’em with precious photos – lose access to your Microsoft account (as I once did through no fault of my own having to fight for several months through Consumer Affairs just to regain it) and you can likely kiss them all goodbye (together with any other Microsoft product access hanging off your Microsoft account such as Microsoft game purchases).
Not in a flamin’ million !
Cheers
Reg
Maybe it had some spyware in it.
Maybe they assumed people would just think it came with their computer and either use it or not.
In any case it would just sit there quietly harvesting data and sending it home.
But then maybe the PC is already full of their crap harvesting data anyway.
Hi Jim. This is what I discovered.
(Starting August 1, 2026, OneDrive Photos quietly showed up on some consumer PCs, and it eventually rolled out to almost everyone with the OneDrive sync client installed.
Microsoft has now confirmed that this broad rollout wasn’t intentional.
“We are incubating a new photos experience in OneDrive that went more broadly than it should have in Windows,” Microsoft told Windows Latest in a statement. “We’re fixing that. Windows Photos will always give you the option of local and cloud photos and the choice to use OneDrive or not.”
Microsoft also told Windows Latest that OneDrive Photos cannot currently be removed from PCs unless you delete OneDrive entirely, but there are plans to let you remove one without the other.
Of course, the company won’t explain why it made sense to force an app onto PCs when the “feature” to easily remove it wasn’t ready.)
So my take on this is if one does not have OneDrive installed, one does not have to worry, Mindblower!