Desktop in now in my icloud

For instructions for turning off iCloud Desktop and Documents, see the following from: Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support

Turn off Desktop and Documents

1. From your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Settings. In macOS Monterey or earlier, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences. 
2. Click Apple ID, then click iCloud.
3. Next to iCloud Drive, click Options.
4. Deselect Desktop & Documents Folders.
5. Click Done.

What happens when you turn off Desktop and Documents

When you turn off Desktop & Documents Folders, your files stay in iCloud Drive and a new Desktop and Documents folder is created on your Mac in the home folder. You can move files from iCloud Drive to your Mac as you need them, or select all of your files and drag them to the place you want to keep them.

I have a similar problem. I had inadvertently transferred my Desktop and Documents to iCloud on one of my work Macs (2014 MacMini running Mojave.) I followed the instructions above to return them to my computer.

The new Desktop and Document folders on my Mac are empty. There are still Desktop and Document folders in iCloud but when I try to open them, the screenshot below pops up.

When I click on the Desktop folder that I can't open and click "Get Info", it shows that the folder has 51,245,698,588 bytes (Zero bytes on disk) for 114,612 items, created on March 31, 2008 and modified on March 28, 2023 (yesterday, when I unchecked Desktop and Documents in iCloud.)

It also shows that I can read and write and I was able to make myself the owner, but I still "can't open because I don't have permission to see the contents."

I've been using Macs for decades and thought I knew about permissions but I am confused. The stuff on the Desktop was migrated years ago from an older Mac to this computer...but where did those 114,612 items go? Why don't I have permission to see the contents of a folder that I have permissions to read and write to? Why does that folder show "Zero bytes on disk?"

I'm a little concerned that I lost a bunch of stuff that I thought existed in iCloud.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated...thanks in advance!

It always used to be that the only way it was turned on would be if you did it in the same place where you turned it off but they may have some new default or way of encouraging you to use it.