Last Updated on July 3, 2017
onedrive.exe is the main executable for OneDrive on Windows 10. Any seasoned user of Windows will know that it comes bundled with Windows 10 by default since the Anniversary Update.
Being an inbuilt app, the OneDrive updates and downloads data in the backgroundwithout your confirmation. Sometimes, if an error or exception shows up during installation or download, the CPU usage for onedrive.exe can increase.
Most commonly, it will hover around 30-40%. This may not sound much to the layman, but unnecessary CPU usage increases the power consumption of your PC along with slowing it down.
If you are having high CPU usage from the onedrive.exe process, try this method to fix it.
The most common issue with OneDrive’s app on Windows is its updater. You can try to download and update the app by manually downloading and installing using an updated installer.
Uninstall OneDrive
First, you’ll need to uninstall the OneDrive app from your PC.
- Press Windows + X + A to open Command Prompt with Administrator privileges.
- Type
taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe
and press Enter. - Now, type
%SystemRoot%\System32\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall
(for 32-bit OS) or%SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall
(for 64-bit OS) and press Enter. - Restart your PC.
While OneDrive is uninstalling, you won’t see any uninstallation prompt or notification from Windows to notify you of what’s happening.
Reinstall OneDrive
If you ever change your mind about OneDrive and feel like using it on your PC, then you can reinstall it again. For that, you can use the setup file present in the SystemRoot folder on your PC.
- Press Windows + R to open Run.
- Type
%SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\
and press Enter. - Look for
OneDriveSetup.exe
and open it.
Now, if you look for OneDrive, you’ll find it installed on your PC.
If the method of reinstalling the app doesn’t work correctly, you can download the latest setup file from Microsoft Live and open the installer.
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=248256
You can also try to reset the OneDrive app on your PC. For that, simply press Windows + R to open the Run box. Type the following:
%localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset
Press Enter. The OneDrive process will quit and then Windows will restart the app. Perhaps this might fix the High CPU usage issue on your PC.
That’s the fix for onedrive.exe high CPU usage.
I personally just disabled it from starting up on boot. So much easier.