OneDrive Backup
Revised: May 5, 2024
Overview
OneDrive Backup is a feature of OneDrive which automatically maps your local user profile folders to your OneDrive cloud share.
When you enable OneDrive Backup, PowerShell modules installed for your user profile are moved to a new location on disk and the PSModulePath
environment variable is updated by OneDrive to reflect the change.
Default Path
By default, user-specific PowerShell modules are deployed to $env:USERPROFILE\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules
which looks like C:\Users\janedoe\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules
on a default installation of Windows with a user profile on the C:\
drive.
OneDrive Backup Path
When you enable OneDrive Backup, the contents of your $env:USERPROFILE\Documents
folder gets moved to $env:ONEDRIVE\Documents
which looks like C:\Users\janedoe\OneDrive\Documents
on a default installation of Windows with a user profile on the C:\
drive for a personal OneDrive account.
As a result of this, OneDrive updates your PSModulePath
and changes the default path to the OneDrive backup path.
Where PowerPass is Deployed
PowerPass is always deployed to your Default Path, even if you have OneDrive Backup enabled. PowerPass stores secrets in your local AppData folder which will never be backed up to OneDrive. If you are using OneDrive Backup, and you want to use PowerPass, deploy PowerPass for your user profile then move it to your OneDrive Documents folder.
How To Move PowerPass
In this example, Jane Doe is deploying PowerPass on her personal computer with OneDrive Backup enabled for her Documents folder.
- Jane deploys PowerPass for herself which gets deployed to
C:\Users\janedoe\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\PowerPass
- She uses OneDrive Backup with her personal account
- Jane moves the
PowerPass
folder fromC:\Users\janedoe\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules
toC:\Users\janedoe\OneDrive\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules
Jane’s PowerPass installation will now be stored in the cloud in OneDrive.
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