Hi,
I want to remove my laptop's synced personal data that's stored in the cloud (themes, internet explorer/edge settings, favourites, stored passwords etc) so that I can clean install Windows 10 without those settings being synced back to my laptop during Windows setup. I followed instructions and first of all disabled syncing under Settings/Account/Sync your settings. Then went back to the Delete personal settings page and selected Remove. The message said Personal Settings removed from the cloud. However, it also said "Your personal settings might not be deleted from the cloud immediately. Some information might remain on Microsoft cloud servers until the next scheduled clean-up process" Do I now have to wait to ensure that those settings have been removed from Windows servers before clean installing Windows 10...and if so..for How long?
...or does that mean that even though personal settings might still be in the cloud until the scheduled clean-up process has been done..i can trust that the personal settings wont be restored to my laptop now that I have removed them from the cloud?
Basically, I want to clean install Windows 10 again as if it was the first time it has ever been installed with setup defaults without any previously synced personal settings being put back on my laptop...

Brink said:

Hello sportsfan, :)

If your sync settings don't get deleted immediately, it will usually within 24 hours.

Hi Brink
Is that definitely what happens? I don't want to start a clean installation and then find that my old personal settings haven't been removed and are synced back from the cloud.
It seems strange if they aren't removed immediately because as soon as you clean install I know the sync settings option is enabled by default so you'd just get old settings set up again. I wondered if the personal settings might be disabled after being removed until they are permanently removed from Microsoft servers so that the old personal settings couldn't be synced straight back after being removed from the cloud?

Brink said:

There's no guarantee, but that is what usually will happen.

The key after deleting your sync settings is to make sure that sync settings remain turned off on all your devices until after you clean install, and only turn sync settings back on afterwards for the devices you want to sync between.

In my case..I don't have any other devices to sync to. I only have my laptop. The reason I use sync is so that all my favourites are synced back to Internet Explorer/Edge and any Settings changes are synced too. So if the old sync settings are still in the cloud..they'll just come straight back onto my laptop. Have I got that right?
The reason Ive removed my old personal settings this afternoon is I want to do a completely clean install without those old personal settings coming back. I want to start over with everything from scratch. Just for the record Ive had the sync settings option turned off on my laptop ever since I removed the old personal settings this afternoon so that nothing can be synced back to the cloud until after I do the clean installation.. signing in with my Microsoft Account

Brink said:

Correct. If your sync settings are still on the cloud, they'll get synced back after a clean install since sync settings is turned on by default.

Worse case, you could still manually change any settings that got synced again though.

Yeah..I was trying to avoid having to go through and check everything and change any settings back manually if possible

Brink said:

Correct. If your sync settings are still on the cloud, they'll get synced back after a clean install since sync settings is turned on by default.

Worse case, you could still manually change any settings that got synced again though.

Hi again mate,
I have another question. At the bottom of the Windows Personal Settings/Delete your personal settings from the cloud page there's a link to delete backed up PC settings for your PC's go to the Device Settings page which takes you into Onedrive. Under Device Backups-Backed Up Device settings Ive always just had the message "You don't have any devices that are backing up settings to OneDrive". Ive never had any backups in there ever since I started using Windows 10. I only have one laptop. I don't have any other devices using Windows.
I remember when I had Windows 8 there were always individual backups in there that could be used during Windows setup or deleted if not required anymore but since I started with Windows 10..no backups