How do you stop Microsoft One Drive for Business from running?

[user55009]

I have a Windows 10 laptop with Microsoft Office 365 installed on it. I don't use the regular One Drive, nor do I use One Drive for Business, and One Drive for Business tends to run in the background on my laptop. I need to go into the system tray and right click and hit exit to get it to stop. Is there a way to get it to stop running altogether? I have it disabled on startup but it still runs in the background and will eventually come back on sometime after I exit out of it from the system tray. It's a problem that it runs, because the moment it starts running the fans in the laptop spin up, and the battery drains at a much faster rate. I couldn't find anything online on disabling it without fully uninstalling Office 365. Thanks in advance!

 

[canadianvice]

Look into Microsoft click to run and the example config files. This allows you to configure MSO 365, without installing all the components. I believe it is also able to modify installations in-situ.

If you tell me what programs you want to keep in the package, I can upload the config files and tell you where to get the click-to-run installer that works with them to do the configuration. I wrote a program to generate the XML config files for it since I get O365P through school, but only use Word/PPT/Excel. It's not a good idea to accept random EXEs from people on the internet, so instead tell me what you want and I'll upload the resulting plaintext XMLs. I'll also need to know if your OS is 32x or 64x.

With the standard disclaimer, of course, that I assume no liability.

 

[user55009]

I do appreciate that you're willing to upload that stuff, but I honestly don't know enough about those things to implement their use, nor do I know how to tell if it is safe in general. I will look into how to look into the click to run and example config files, and I will go from there. Thank you!

 

[canadianvice]

I do appreciate that you're willing to upload that stuff, but I honestly don't know enough about those things to implement their use, nor do I know how to tell if it is safe in general. I will look into how to look into the click to run and example config files, and I will go from there. Thank you!

I can make the config files for you... they're plain XML and I think you'll find very easy to verify if I tried something nefarious.

If you give me the apps you want to keep and the bittage of your PC, I can explain how everything works step by step. Or you could use the app, if you wanted. I only mention that for cybersecurity reasons, my objective is purely benign.

Trust me... you may want me to at least gen the XML for you, as I made this tool specifically because it was a PITA to do it manually.

For instance, this is an XML that will download the full O365P suite, exempting OneDrive and OneDrive business. The OfficeClientEd =64 is the bittage of your machine (32 for 32 bit). The other stuff should be kind of obvious.

Download XML

<Configuration>
	<Add OfficeClientEdition="64" SourcePath="<CHANGE THIS TO A DIRECTORY YOU LIKE>" Channel="Current">
		<Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
			<Language ID="en-us"/>
			<ExcludeApp ID="Onedrive"/>
			<ExcludeApp ID="Groove"/>
		</Product>
	</Add>
</Configuration>

Configure/Install XML

<Configuration>
	<Add OfficeClientEdition="64" DownloadPath="<CHANGE THIS TO MATCH ABOVE>\Office" Channel="Current">
		<Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
			<Language ID="en-us"/>
			<ExcludeApp ID="Onedrive"/>
			<ExcludeApp ID="Groove"/>
		</Product>
	</Add>
</Configuration>

Either way, if you want an easy list of the app names:
(Ignore the surrounding code... I copied this from my app. Just look at the strings, where shown, the second is the 'codename' for an app.):

"Access"
"Excel"
"OneDrive for Business", "Groove"
"InfoPath"
"Lync/Skype for Business", "Lync"
"Onedrive"
"OneNote"
"Outlook"
"PowerPoint"
"Project"
"Publisher"
"SharePoint Designer", "SharePointDesigner"
"Visio"
"Word"

The command you run to download, once you have your download XML:
setup.exe /download configuration.xml

To install/configure once you have the configuration XML made::
setup.exe /configure configuration.xml

You get this 'setup.exe' from the Click-to-run installer you download from Microsoft.

Hope this helps, at any rate.
This should provide a good framework if you want to try this method. Please look through the literature though and confirm things like the office version and products listed are accurate to what you're aiming for.