How to set up multiple Windows laptops WITHOUT sharing OneDrive?

Question

Ever since Microsoft started requiring a Microsoft account to set up a new computer, I have been facing an issue that I need to find an answer for.

I have multiple computers that I need to set up, but I don't want them to all share the same desktop, documents, OneDrive, etc. For example, one machine is for banking and financial work, one machine is for gaming, and one machine is for media and entertainment. I don't want any of my financial or banking information to ever appear on the other two machines. I don't want everything I put on the desktop of the gaming machine to show up on the other two, and I don't want my photos and music to show up on the other two.

So the dilemma I face is having to set up (and manage) three separate Microsoft accounts, which is NOT an appropriate option. All three computers belong to me, and I want them all to be set up to work with OneDrive and other Cloud integration (ie: M365 file saving, etc), but I do NOT want them to share data between them.

I have found a few work-arounds that are a pain to set up and maintain, but I want to know what Microsoft recommends in this situation. This is a significant problem and I KNOW I am not the only person who is trying to find a solution.

Answer 1

Hi,

Did you want to use the same Microsoft account in different PCs with OneDrive and the same account will not share OneDrive sync files and folders under different PCs?

It's impossible, OneDrive cannot use the same account to sync different contents on different PCs. It is recommended that you use different personal accounts to synchronize your data.

If you have any feedback or suggestion about this behavior, you can try to give a feedback to Microsoft about your requirement:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-do-i-give-feedback-on-microsoft-office-2b102d44-b43f-4dd2-9ff4-23cf144cfb11

Microsoft values your opinion. Your feedback goes directly to our engineers and helps us shape the future of Microsoft products and services for all our users.

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Answer 2

This is the core of the problem.

I don't want to have to manage multiple email addresses and accounts just because I have more than one computer. The forced requirement to have a Microsoft account in order to set up a PC means that there NEEDS to be a solution to allow multiple computers to be set up independently without having to maintain and keep multiple email accounts up to date.

Microsoft seems to assume that I would want all of my computers to be identical, but that ignores the point of having different computers. I want to have multiple computers that are independent of each other when it comes to what gets replicated between them without having to set up and remember / manage / maintain multiple Microsoft accounts. I should have the choice of whether or not I want files copied out of the cloud onto my computers.