How To Add OneDrive Desktop Icon in Windows 10

OneDrive is the online document storage solution created by Microsoft which comes bundled with Windows 10. It can be used to store your documents and other data online in the cloud. It also offers synchronization of stored data across all your devices. In this article, we'll see how to add the OneDrive desktop icon in Windows 10.

OneDrive is bundled with Windows since Windows 8. It is the all-on-one solution built by Microsoft to provide the user the ability to have the same set of settings, same files and same appearance on every PC he signs in with using his Microsoft Account. Previously known as SkyDrive, the service got rebranded some time ago.

The synchronization feature in OneDrive relies on Microsoft Account. To use OneDrive, you have to create one first. Besides OneDrive, Microsoft Account can be used to log in to Windows 10, Office 365 and most online Microsoft services.

To add the OneDrive desktop icon in Windows 10, do the following.

1. Open the Registry Editor app.
2. Go to the following Registry key.

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel

   See how to go to a Registry key with one click.

3. On the right, modify or create a new 32-Bit DWORD value named "{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}". By default, its value data is 1, which means to hide the OneDrive icon from the Desktop. Set it to 0 to make the OneDrive desktop icon visible.
   Note: Even if you are running 64-bit Windows you must still create a 32-bit DWORD value.
4. Press F5 on your Desktop to refresh it. The icon will appear instantly.

To save your time, you can download the following ready-to-use Registry files.

Download Registry Files

If some day you decide to switch from OneDrive to some alternative solution like Dropbox for file synchronization, there is a way to uninstall the OneDrive app. In recent builds of Windows 10, Microsoft has provided the ability to uninstall it from Apps and Features directly. For the detailed tutorial, please refer to the article An Official Way to Uninstall OneDrive in Windows 10.