Anyone who uses Windows 11 he knows that one well full-screen pop-up asking to turn on OneDrive backup. Until a few days ago, however, refusal didn’t really exist and could only be postponed.
The button that was missing
The news was reported Mayank Parmarfounder of Windows Latest, who found it on two of his computers with stable builds of Windows 11 25H2. Neither had the OneDrive sync client installed, yet the system continued to offer to back up files, folders, settings, and credentials via the Windows Backup app. This time, however, a different option appeared next to the button to proceed, the wording Reject backup. Up to this moment there were two alternatives, and neither of them was really a refusal. Continues activated OneDrive and started syncing, often before the user understood what was happening, Remind me in 3 days it simply postponed the issue, and the same screen promptly returned a few days later, after an update or simply when the PC was restarted. A cycle that users and forums, from Reddit to the official Microsoft forums, have been reporting for years.
The the same pattern was also repeated during the installation phase. To the screen Backup is recommended, you could only choose between Continues And Skip for now: here too, no real way out, because Windows could re-propose the request later. Microsoft continues to promote integration with OneDrive, listing its advantages: cloud backup, protection of files and memories, synchronization of settings between multiple devices, and the novelty lies precisely in the fact that, for the first time, there is also the opposite option, formulated explicitly.
A still unofficial rollout
It must be said clearly that . Microsoft has not publicly communicated this change, which is currently only usable on some devices with stable Windows 11 25H2. It therefore remains to be understood how widespread the rollout is and whether it will also affect previous versions of the operating system.
Declining backup doesn’t mean turning off OneDrive
One detail to remember, clarified by Windows Forum: rejecting this specific prompt is not the same as turning off OneDrive altogether. The request concerns Windows Backup, the feature that syncs selected folders with the cloud, not the OneDrive app itself. If you have already activated file synchronization, for example, you will maintain it even after rejecting this specific backup.
This isn’t Microsoft’s first OneDrive misstep
The story comes a few weeks after another inconvenient episode for Redmond, after at the beginning of August Microsoft admitted that it had installed, by mistake, the new OneDrive Photos app on a larger number of PCs than expected, only to backtrack after the protests. Two different episodes, united by a common thread: the pressure of users, combined with reports from the specialized press, seem to be actions capable, finally, of moving something.
