Removing OneDrive completely from Windows

OneDrive removing in Windows 10 and Windows 11, if you don’t need the pre-installed cloud app, OneDrive can be completely uninstalled from Windows, the icons are also removed from the taskbar and Explorer as well as from the Start menu. We’ll show you how to remove OneDrive from Windows – here’s how it works.

OneDrive removing from Windows

we shouldn’t share our data on onedrive

To removing OneDrive from Windows, in the first step, insert the following lines into an editor, just do it with the text editor notepad.exe.

@echo off
REM OneDrive uninstall
taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe
IF EXIST %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall
IF EXIST %SystemRoot%\System32\OneDriveSetup.exe %SystemRoot%\System32\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall
REG ADD "HKCR\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}" /v "System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f
REG ADD "HKCR\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}" /v "System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f

Insert the Code lines Copy Paste into the Notepad editor.

Save the contents of Notepad as onedrive-uninstall.cmd file, i.e. to the Documents folder.

Removing OneDrive from Windows Now

Then, in the second step, run the batch file onedrive-uninstalll.cmd. To do this, press the key and type Command Prompt on your keyboard, and select Run as administrator.

In the open command prompt, switch to the directory where the file onedrive-uninstall.cmd is stored, with enter the change directory command cd %userprofile%\documents press enter then run the batch file. This will completely removing OneDrive from your Windows.

The saved batch file can now be copied to other systems to remove OneDrive for additional computers if necessary.

What is Microsoft OneDrive? (formerly SkyDrive) is a file hosting service operated by Microsoft. First launched in August 2007, it enables registered users to share and synchronize their files. OneDrive also works as the storage backend of the web version of Microsoft Office. The app offers 5 GB of storage space free of charge, with 100 GB, 1 TB. OneDrive provide 6 TB storage options available either separately or with Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

Privacy concerns, complete loss of access to data

Data stored on OneDrive is subject to monitoring through technologies like PhotoDNA. Any content that is in violation of Microsoft’s Code of Conduct is subject to removal, and may lead to temporary or permanent shutdown of the associated Microsoft account. Closing an account without pre-notice is in most cases illegal in many jurisdictions, like in Germany. This has led to privacy concerns in relation to data stored on OneDrive. Microsoft has responded by indicating that “strict internal policies in place to limit access to a user’s data”, and that advanced mechanisms, such as Microsoft’s automated PhotoDNA scanning tool, are utilized to ensure users abide with the Code of Conduct and that their account does not contain files in contravention thereof, such as partial human nudity (including art or drawings), or any online surveys.

DNS Lookup How it Works Examples

Domain Name System (DNS) is the phonebook of the Internet. Humans access information online through domain names, like think.unblog.ch or google.com. Web browsers and Email Apps interact through Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. DNS translates domain names to IP addresses so browsers can load Internet Websites, further therfore we able to send and received Emails.

What happens in a DNS lookup?

For most situations, DNS is concerned with a domain name being translated into the appropriate IP address. To learn how this process works, it helps to follow the path of a DNS lookup as it travels from a web browser, through the DNS lookup process, and back again. Let’s take a look at the steps doing with Windows and Linux.

Therefore, when you lookup a domain name (i.e. google.com), your computer will find your nearest DNS name server and ask it what the correct IP address is for that name.

C:\> nslookup pool.ntp.org
Server:  dns.google
Address:  8.8.8.8

Non-authoritative answer:
NName:    pool.ntp.org
Addresses:  195.176.26.206
          162.159.200.1
          212.51.144.44
          84.16.73.33

  DNS consistency and functionality is important for a smooth network operation, misconfiguration and instability can have negative impact on interacting devices and applications across systems, performance bottlenecks can occur up to failures and data loss.

DNS name lookup commands in Windows

If the computer is a member of windows active directory services, the delegated domain controller(FSMO) is usually queried. The domain controller or the server with the DNS server role is responsible for resolving the resources in its local network in the forward zone _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.<DomainName>

The delegated local DNS server must be able to resolve queries from local resources, to check this, the following nslookup commands can be performed.

C:\> nslookup
set type=all
set debug
_ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.cuisine.local
quit

Performs a DNS name query resolution in this example for the AD domain cuisine.local replace it with your domain name.

It should displaying something like the following output in nslookup debug mode, here in this example with two replicating AD controllers.

Server:  server02.cuisine.local
Address:  192.168.10.21

------------
Got answer:
    HEADER:
        opcode = QUERY, id = 2, rcode = NXDOMAIN
        header flags:  response, auth. answer, want recursion, recursion avail.
        questions = 1,  answers = 0,  authority records = 1,  additional = 0

    QUESTIONS:
        _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.cuisine.local.cuisine.local, type = ANY, class = IN
    AUTHORITY RECORDS:
    ->  cuisine.local
        ttl = 3600 (1 hour)
        primary name server = server02.cuisine.local
        responsible mail addr = hostmaster
        serial  = 44664
        refresh = 600 (10 mins)
        retry   = 600 (10 mins)
        expire  = 86400 (1 day)
        default TTL = 3600 (1 hour)

------------
------------
Got answer:
    HEADER:
        opcode = QUERY, id = 3, rcode = NOERROR
        header flags:  response, auth. answer, want recursion, recursion avail.
        questions = 1,  answers = 2,  authority records = 0,  additional = 2

    QUESTIONS:
        _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.cuisine.local, type = ANY, class = IN
    ANSWERS:
    ->  _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.cuisine.local
        SRV service location:
          priority       = 0
          weight         = 100
          port           = 389
          svr hostname   = server02.cuisine.local
        ttl = 600 (10 mins)
    ->  _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.cuisine.local
        SRV service location:
          priority       = 0
          weight         = 100
          port           = 389
          svr hostname   = server01.cuisine.local
        ttl = 600 (10 mins)
    ADDITIONAL RECORDS:
    ->  server02.cuisine.local
        internet address = 192.168.10.21
        ttl = 3600 (1 hour)
    ->  server01.cuisine.local
        internet address = 192.168.10.20
        ttl = 3600 (1 hour)

------------
_ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.cuisine.local
        SRV service location:
          priority       = 0
          weight         = 100
          port           = 389
          svr hostname   = server02.cuisine.local
        ttl = 600 (10 mins)
_ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.cuisine.local
        SRV service location:
          priority       = 0
          weight         = 100
          port           = 389
          svr hostname   = server01.cuisine.local
        ttl = 600 (10 mins)
server02.cuisine.local
        internet address = 192.168.10.21
        ttl = 3600 (1 hour)
server01.cuisine.local
        internet address = 192.168.10.20
        ttl = 3600 (1 hour)

DNS name nslookup utility

The DNS name nslookup utility allows for interactive as well as run with command line options, here in this example the domain cuisine.local replace it with your own domain name.

C:\> nslookup -type=any _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.cuisine.local

The domain controller, which usually also has the DNS server role, forwards the query to external forwarder name servers, which means that the non-local resources are resolved by external resolvers.

In the following command query cloudflare’s DNS against google DNS.

C:\> nslookup 1.1.1.1 dns.google
Server:  dns.google
Address:  8.8.4.4

Name:    one.one.one.one
Address:  1.1.1.1

DNS name query resolution in the PowerShell

In windows it is also possible to perform DNS name query resolution in the PowerShell. The Resolve-DnsName cmdlet performs a DNS query for the specified name. This cmdlet is functionally similar to the nslookup tool which allows users to query for names.

PS C:\> Resolve-DnsName -Name www.bing.com

This example resolves a DNS name using the default options.

PS C:\> Resolve-DnsName -Name www.bing.com -Server 1.0.0.1

In this example resolves a name against the DNS server at 1.0.0.1.

PS C:\> Resolve-DnsName -Name hotmail.com -Type TXT

example queries for TXT type records for a specified domain.

PS C:\> Resolve-DnsName -Name outlook.com -Type MD

example queries the DNS query type is mail destination.

By default the type is A_AAAA, the A and AAAA types will both be queried. Record Type Accepted values: UNKNOWN, A_AAAA, A, NS, MD, MF, CNAME, SOA, MB, MG, MR, NULL, WKS, PTR, HINFO, MINFO, MX, TXT, RP, AFSDB, X25, ISDN, RT, AAAA, SRV, DNAME, OPT, DS, RRSIG, NSEC, DNSKEY, DHCID, NSEC3, NSEC3PARAM, ANY, ALL, WINS.

PS C:\> Help Resolve-DnsName

Further more DNS record types and hints are displayed with help.

Domain Information Groper (Dig) in Linux

Dig (Domain Information Groper) is a command-line DNS lookup utility for querying Domain Name System (DNS) name servers. It is useful for verifying and troubleshooting DNS problems and also to perform DNS lookups and displays the answers that are returned from the name server that was queried.

$ dig time.google.com

; <<>> DiG 9.16.1-Ubuntu <<>> time.google.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 13840
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 4, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 65494
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;time.google.com.               IN      A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
time.google.com.        14400   IN      A       216.239.35.8
time.google.com.        14400   IN      A       216.239.35.4
time.google.com.        14400   IN      A       216.239.35.0
time.google.com.        14400   IN      A       216.239.35.12

;; Query time: 16 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.53#53(127.0.0.53)
;; WHEN: Mon Sep 12 15:12:36 CEST 2022
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 108

By default, dig is quite verbose, to cut down the output use the +short option. which will reduce the output as shown below.

$ dig time.google.com +short
216.239.35.12
216.239.35.0
216.239.35.4
216.239.35.8

By default, dig looks for the “A” record of the domain specified, with using specify other record types, the MX (Mail eXchange) record tells mail servers how to route the email for the domain, other record types like TTL, TXT, SOA, CNAME and more see at the end of this post.

This example querying only answer section.

$ dig time.google.com +nocomments +noquestion +noauthority +noadditional +nostats

; <<>> DiG 9.16.1-Ubuntu <<>> time.google.com +nocomments +noquestion +noauthority +noadditional +nostats
;; global options: +cmd
time.google.com.        4811    IN      A       216.239.35.12
time.google.com.        4811    IN      A       216.239.35.0
time.google.com.        4811    IN      A       216.239.35.4
time.google.com.        4811    IN      A       216.239.35.8

This example querying ALL DNS record types of gmail.com. When you query for ANY, you will get a list of all records at that level but not below. Note. Most DNS servers reject ANY queries.

$ dig +noall +answer +multiline gmail.com ANY

To querying DNS Reverse Lookup, dig -x automatically performs a lookup for a name like x.x.x.x.in-addr.arpa and sets the query type and class to PTR and IN respectively.

$ dig -x 212.227.17.170 +short
imap.gmx.net.

To query a domain for autodiscover that is requested for Microsoft Outlook Anywhere regarding to the service connection point (SCP).

$ dig autodiscover.hotmail.com +short
eas.outlook.com.
outlook.office365.com.
outlook.ha.office365.com.
outlook.ms-acdc.office.com.
40.99.149.210
40.99.150.34
52.98.175.18
40.99.150.50

Query specifying a name server like cloudflare’s one.one.one.one.

$ dig +noall +answer +multiline cloudflare.net @one.one.one.one
cloudflare.net.         200 IN A 104.16.208.90
cloudflare.net.         200 IN A 104.17.156.85

host – DNS lookup utility

With the bind-utils there is also the host – DNS name lookup utility available. In contrast to dig, this does not show verbose display by default.

$ host cern.org
cern.org has address 188.184.9.235
cern.org mail is handled by 20 cernmxgwlb.cern.ch.

DNS pass through UDP port 53 or TCP port 53

Commonly DNS using UDP port 53, but as time progresses, DNS will rely on TCP port 53 more in the future. DNS has always been designed to use both UDP and TCP port 53 from the beginning, with UDP being the default, and fall back to using TCP when it is unable to communicate on UDP, typically when the packet size is too large to push through, this when a DNS messages exceed 512 bytes.

DoH – DNS over HTTPS

Modern browsers support their own DNS name queries and build also their own DNS cache, it calls Browser level caching. DNS over HTTPS (DoH) is a relatively new protocol that is intended to encrypt data traffic in the DNS system (Domain Name System). The DNS queries are routed via an HTTPS session (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure). With DoH, the protection of privacy on the Internet should be improved, since DNS queries carried out via this protocol can no longer be freely viewed.

What is DNS spoofing?

DNS spoofing describes various scenarios in which the DNS name resolution is manipulated. In particular, the IP address belonging to a domain is faked. The end device therefore establishes a connection to the fake IP address and the data traffic is redirected to a wrong server. Since name resolution largely takes place in the background, the victim usually does not notice the manipulation. A particularly perfidious feature of DNS spoofing is that the correct domain is displayed in the browser.

DNS Troubleshooting and diagnostics

Wireshark provide capturing the DNS traffic in the network for diagnosis and troubleshooting, you can apply here the display filter:
tcp.port == 53 or udp.port == 53

Wireshark capturing DNS network traffic

tcpdump in the command-line can also be used to dump DNS traffic.

$ sudo tcpdump -i ens160 -n "tcp port 53 or udp port 53"
tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode
listening on ens160, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 262144 bytes
19:12:08.861708 IP 192.168.10.9.42852 > 8.8.8.8.53: 45514+ [1au] A? imap.gmail.com. (55)
19:12:08.865466 IP 8.8.8.8.53 > 192.168.10.9.42852: 45514 2/0/1 A 108.177.119.108, A 108.177.119.109 (75)

If you don’t have a linux machine, you can get windump for windows here.

Run windump and get the same result as tcpdump with linux.

C:\Windows\windump.exe -n -i "\Device\NPF_{7B4B5ECD-77B4-4F4E-B95A-09DED3CBA30D}" "udp port 53 or tcp port 53"
C:\Windows\windump.exe: listening on \Device\NPF_{7B4B5ECD-77B4-4F4E-B95A-09DED3CBA30D}
19:56:52.247174 IP 192.168.10.9.63734 > 8.8.8.8.53:  55702+ [1au] A? imap.gmail.com. (55)
19:56:52.255555 IP 8.8.8.8.53 > 192.168.10.9.63734:  55702 2/0/1 A 108.177.126.109, (75)

Note. BIND9.16.x win 64-bit is the last branch of BIND with native Windows support they can download here.

Flush DNS Cache in Windows

Flushing the DNS resolver cache can help resolve DNS related problems. In case of issues like the website error 404 not found or not being able to view certain web pages that have been changed. In windows flush the DNS client cache with ran the following command in a opened command prompt as administrator.

C:\> ipconfig /flushdns

Retrieves the contents of the DNS client cache with ran the following command in the command prompt.

C:\> ipconfig /displaydns

Windows also retrieves the contents of the DNS cache in PowerShell.

PS C:\> Get-DnsClientCache

Clears the contents of the DNS client cache with PowerShell.

PS C:\> Clear-DnsClientCache

Flushing DNS Resolver Cache in Linux

Linux systems commonly using the DNS name resolver systemd-resolved or dnsmasq. In order to know which is working, you can ask lsof.

$ sudo lsof -i :53 -S
systemd-r 651 systemd-resolve   12u  IPv4  23556      0t0  UDP localhost:domain
systemd-r 651 systemd-resolve   13u  IPv4  23557      0t0  TCP localhost:domain (LISTEN)

As we can see, on a recent Linux Mint 20.3 the service listening on port 53 is systemd-resolve.

Just to flush the DNS client cache on Linux using systemd-resolve, with ran the systemd-resolve command followed by –flush-caches.

$ sudo systemd-resolve --flush-caches

In order to verify that your Linux DNS client cache was actually flushed, you can use the –statistics option.

$ sudo systemd-resolve --statistics

Another way of flushing the DNS client cache can be achieved by sending a “USR2” signal to the systemd-resolved service that will instruct it to flush its DNS client cache.

$ sudo killall -USR2 systemd-resolved

To flush DNS resolver when using dnsmasq, we send a “SIGHUP” signal to the dnsmasq process with the killall command.

$ sudo killall -HUP dnsmasq

If you known that dnsmasq is running as a service, may you ran the command systemctl is-active dnsmasq you can restart it using systemctl.

$ sudo systemctl restart dnsmasq

After running those commands, always make sure that your services were correctly restarted.

$ sudo systemctl status dnsmasq

Clear DNS Cache in Browser

Modern browsers provide their own DNS name resolver cache, in chrome flushing the browser cache in the url address bar, with open new tab and enter the url: chrome://net-internals/#dns

Click the Clear host cache button.

Flushing DNS resolver cache in Firefox with open new tab, in address bar enter the url: about:networking#dns

Click the Clear DNS Cache button.

If using Microsoft Edge Browser, then it is the same url as for chrome.

Type of DNS Records

The most common DNS Records:

Record TypeDescription
A Record This maps your hostname to an IPv4 address.
AAAA RecordSimilar to an A Record, but this allows you to point to an IPv6 address
NS Record (Name Server)An NS record or (name server record) tells recursive name servers which name servers are authoritative for a zone.  Recursive name servers look at the NS records to work out who to ask next when resolving a name.
CNAME Record (Canonical Name)The target host is a hostname that the host you are creating resolves to. This host must be an actual hostname that resolves to an IP address.
MX Record (Mail Exchange)Directs email to a mail server
TXT Record (Text)Text records are used to describe a host or a DNS entry. You can enter anything you want as long as it is 255 characters or less.  
SRV Record (Service Record)An SRV record describes services offered by a host. It defines the location of a server (port number and hostname).  They are commonly used in SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and XMPP Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol protocols.
SOA Record (Start of Authority)The SOA resource record is an essential part of the DNS zone file, it indicates the basic properties of the domain name server and the zone that the domain is in. Each zone file can contain only one SOA record. At No-IP, we build this record automatically by pulling from email, TTLs (Time to Live), and NS (Name Server) settings.
PTR (Pointer Record)Provides the domain name associated with an IP address. This record is the exact opposite of an A Record.
CAA Record (Certification Authority Authorization)This record is a way for you as a domain owner to make it known to everyone which certificate authorities can issue SSL/TLS certificates for your domain.
Round RobinThis maps your hostname to multiple IP address. Only used for DNS based load balancing (not common).
Exit mobile version