- After installing windows 7 you will be greeted with a user creation prompt press shift+f10 and you should get a cmd window up like in the image below
- Copy the Users Profiles, Program Files And ProgramData Folders onto the Partition you want to use
robocopy "C:\Users" "D:\Users" /E /COPYALL /XJ robocopy "C:\Program Files" "D:\Program Files" /E /COPYALL /XJ robocopy "C:\ProgramData" "D:\ProgramData" /E /COPYALL /XJ
- Delete the old folders and create links
For Program Files:rmdir "C:\Program Files" /S /Q mklink /J "C:\Program Files" "D:\Program Files"
For the User Profiles:
rmdir "C:\users" /S /Q mklink /J "C:\users" "D:\users"
and lastly ProgramData:
rmdir "C:\ProgramData" /S /Q mklink /J "C:\ProgramData "D:\ProgramData"
If you have any permissions issues while deleting C:\ProgramData don't worry about them just try to delete it and make the links again after first reboot
- Now open regedit simply by typing regedit on the cmd window
- To change the program files path navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion and edit the ProgramFilesDir and CommonFilesDir as needed
- For the user profiles you'll need to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList and again edit the paths as needed
- Exit Regedit and the cmd window
- Continue to create your user
- Reboot your machine and you should be good to go
Windows 7 Move the Users and Program Files Directories To A Different Partition
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December 9th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
This is the #1 result in google for the search query "windows 7 move programdata"
Luckily for me I also want to move Users, and Program Files (and Program Files (x86) so I'm hoping this will work.
Thanks for taking the time to make this public.
Your method omits one important directory, however: winsxs. I've found a similar tutorial for moving winsxs in vista, and I think I'll try that after your tweak.
http://aspoc.net/archives/2007/12/05/how-to-move-the-winsxs-directory-in-vista/
With me luck!
Thanks again.
December 9th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Hi FuriousGeorge,
Took a quick read over that method for the winsxs directory it should do the trick. I'm sorry the pictures for this post are currently missing, had a few server side issues which lead to the lost off all pictures/files and comments
Regards,
Duffy
December 10th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
It worked pretty well. I did get a BSOD after renaming/moving winsxs, rebooting, then booting into Linux to remove the old winsxs directory (b/c I couldn't in windows as promised in that link), then booting back into windows. Luckily that hasn't happened again.
Also, I've noticed in the logs that I had an episode of 7 or 8 services failing and restarting.
FInally, the main problem is that it breaks some WIndows Updates, for reasons described here: http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windowsupdate&tid=65695f88-726c-4194-8773-8c3b24dc4928&p=1
In the past I've achieved this through registry hacks alone by copying C:\Users and C:\Program* to the new partitions, and editing the registry.
The result was, after 6 months:
C:\Users had grown to 4 or 5 gigs, mostly from temp data that had not been redirected in the registry hacks. After cleaning that out it is about 1.2 gigs.
C:\Windows is 24 gigs, 13 gigs of that is in winsxs (I did not move it last time)
C:\Program Files* have grown to 1.5 gigs from the .75 gigs or so they started at.
Finally, c:\Program Data is .3 giga.
My goal is to keep the primary partition small enough to fit on 35G SSD media.
My point is that in the grand scheme of things, the better practice may be to use your method to relocate C:\ProgramData and C:\Users, use the similar but slightly more complicated method to move C:\Windows\winsxs and C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution, and to leave C:\Program Files* where they are, while changing the default installation directory in the registry to D:\Program FIles*.
Winsxs, as I udnerstand it, holds DLLs, so there may be some advantage if it can fit on the SSD, but I think I'd rather put MS Office there, and keep the Page and Swap files there.
December 11th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Oh yeah, almost forgot: On 64-bit versions you have to make the same changes to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
... and ...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ProfileSet
So I restarted the entire process, changing it as I described above (moving winsxs, but leaving C:\Program Files* while moving the default Program Files* directories to P:\).
Looks like those same updates still fail.
If they don't for you, then it must have something to do with my having moved winsxs. I tried moving Windows\SoftwareDistribution back, but it didn't help.
Oh well.
Next time I'll try doing the updates before I move winsxs, but after changing the registry values for ProgramFilesDir*
December 11th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Hi FuriousGeorge,
Does it not work if you just follow the instructions in the tutorial for moving C:\Users C:\Program Files and C:\ProgramData and then doing the following for winsxs
robocopy "c:\windows\winsxs" "D:\winsxs" /E /COPYALL /XJ
rmdir "c:\windows\winsxs" /S /Q
mklink /J " c:\windows\winsxs" "D:\winsxs"
December 11th, 2009 at 3:28 am
... sorry, last point: a comment on the "How to move winsxs" link indicates it should break windows update.
I moved it back and I was able to update.
I am curious if you are also able to install all your updates with C:\Program Files as a junction.
December 12th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Awesome tutorial.
One thing I'll mention, I was browsing around and found a website that suggests using a hard link:
"Use the /J switch to create a junction that’s a hard symlink. (If you use the /D switch, you’ll also have to edit the registry, cuz it won’t be a hard link.) Using /J, when Windows looks for the C:\Users dir, it will find it! But it will be on the HDD instead of the SSD. Tricky!"
The website is http://www.tips5.com/how-to-relocate-user-profile-folder-to-other-drive-in-windows-7
I just got my new hard drive, so I'll be fooling around with this and see how it works.
December 12th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Whoops, I misread your commands, I thought you were using "/D" instead of "/J"
In that case, I'll ask why do you edit the registry when you are creating a junction that points everything that looks for "C:\Program Files" to wherever you moved it?
December 12th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Hi Nix,
The registry tweaks are to set system variable correctly e.g %programfiles%
December 12th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Interesting, it seems if editing the registry is _not_ done, then windows update will give a "80070011" error when trying to install some updates.
Editing the registry as you mentioned above fixes this.
December 13th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Hi there - this is a great thread - however, I am not getting this fully working:
1. I couldn't delete my ProgramData as described above. Went on to edit the registry and delete the ProgramData after first reboot.. which is fine as this is noted above
2. This is the issue - my user profile pictures have disappeared. Half my start menu items are no longer there e.g. cmd.exe - I have to search for cmd in accessories then I can open it. I can't search for it in the start menu (windows 7 x64). Also, I cannot access my computer properties (e.g. right click on my computer > manage)??
3. I've noticed that there are 2 ProgramData files on my newly located D:\ drive. One is inaccessable. The other one is fine. My thinking is that this ProgramData file which cannot be accessed is the result of the robocopy detailed above. The second one which is being used is the result of changing the path in the registry..
Can anyone help here please? Would really like this to work as I'm using SSD
Cheers
Rixx
December 13th, 2009 at 12:26 am
ProgramData 'file' referenced above is meant to read 'ProgramData folder'
Thanks
December 13th, 2009 at 12:33 am
Hey RickyS,
Could you give me the output of
dir C: /A
and
dir D: /A
December 14th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
@Ricky
#1 I couldn't delete it either. I could after changing the registry values and rebooting.
#2 Did you manually make the ProgramData directory hidden, and allow those settings to be inherited by child items? That will make start menu items disappear. Just taking a stab in the dark.
#3 How can there be two "ProgramData" directories unless they are spelled slightly differently?
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February 20th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Hey Furious George, you don't happen to be writing a guide for this just now, do you?
February 20th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
I installed windows 7 on my first primary partition three days ago. Then went through your instructions to move program files and programdata.
1. Robocopied the folders to j:\Win7\ ... .
2. Tried but was not able to delete old folders (access denied). Tried many times and then renamed them(adding an x before each name) in order to ...
3. Did the mklinks.
4. Modified the registry.
5. Rebooted.
6. Still could not remove the old folders (access denied). Tried a few times like:
a. Login as system administraor.
b. Inspected security and found the r attribute. Tried turning it off withour success.
b. Restarted to Win XP (on my second primary partition) and tried everything again (access denied).
d. Thus restarted back to the Windows 7 partition.
7. Installed Office 2007 and verified that installation was properly done to the j:\Win7\Program Files directory.
8. Upadated windows from internet.
9. Displayed the c:\ partitioon (windows explorers) and it shows two Program Files one of them linked plus an extra xProgram Files. Under DOS, one of the Program Files has a long name including the fact that it is linked to the j:\win7\Program Files.
10. The update seems to have created one additional Program Files and one additional Programdata on the c: partition.
Thus, I restarted my second primary partitiona, Windows XP, and reformated the first primary partition with Power Quest Partition Magic 8, deleting all traces of the Win installation. The tried to remove the j:\Win7 folder and got the access denied error message again. Renamed the win7 folder to xxwin7 with no problem. Then restarted to my first primary partition, started a brand new Windows 7 installation. Everything went fine and stopped there. No additional installation. No windows update. No folder moving.
Here I am now thinking of what to do next. I want to move those folders but I want to avoid the problems I had. Still, I have that xxwin7 folder on partition j;. I don't know what to do with it. Googled around for a while but must of the questions/answers are somewhat unresponsive or incomplete. From what I read here, it can be done. May be I have a particular problem which is absent in other cases.
See my Windows 7 system information below:
========================================================================
System Information report written at: 02/20/10 14:16:43 System Name: NET5
[System Summary]
System Information
Item Value OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600 Other OS Description Not Available OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation System Name NET5 System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. System Model G41M-ES2L System Type X86-based PC Processor Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5200 @ 2.50GHz, 1700 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processo r(s) BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. F6, 11/4/2009 SMBIOS Version 2.4 Windows Directory C:\Windows System Directory C:\Windows\system32 Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1 Locale United States Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7600.16385" User Name Net5\Castro Time Zone SA Western Standard Time Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB Total Physical Memory 1.96 GB Available Physical Memory 1.32 GB Total Virtual Memory 3.93 GB Available Virtual Memory 3.23 GB Page File Space 1.96 GB Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Can you help?
Juan
February 21st, 2010 at 7:22 pm
I was try to play with the windows infrastructure and was curious if you had any knowledge on moving around the "Windows" system file folder on the installation. I've been doing it a similar way to your method but through booting into the installation disc and doing the commands there. I've changed a few references in the registry such as the winload.exe but i'm sure there's plenty more and i was curious if you knew of a place that had them listed or a way to do it in bulk. Thanks for your time, help, and great articles, keep them coming!
Joe
February 22nd, 2010 at 8:26 am
forgive me, but there aren't any temp directories in C:\Program Files\, right? Nothing that will fill up over time unless you install a program yourself, right? If so, then why do you want to move the directory? Why don't you just tell each individual install to install to D:\Program Files? What am I missing?
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Quote: Juan..
This is a procedure under the installation.. Not afer you have installed. If you want to do that you need to do a liveCD (BartPE,LiveXP), and from there you can do this procedure.
Hope you get tit right.
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Duffy.. You need to change the
"1.After installing windows 7 you will be greeted with a user creation prompt press shift+f10 and you should get a cmd window up like in the image below"
TO
1. Under the Installation of windows 7.......
March 3rd, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Many thanks for your conducive article. I have been looking for this for a long time in many websites. Windows 7 is a wonderful software ever. I know a software called Win7Zilla to tweak Windows 7 efficiently
March 5th, 2010 at 12:46 am
I successfully transferred the Users folder to my D Drive in Vista a couple of years ago. I now want to upgrade to Win 7 professional. Will the in-place upgrade option preserve the settings I have in Vista, or over-ride to the default?
March 10th, 2010 at 11:20 am
Hi bquirky. I would sugest not to uppgrade.. If you can afford a new disk (or make a new partition on the one you have..) To do a fresh install. and then move stuff over..
The uppgrade is and can be messy.. (but formose it works.)
This is only my opinion. And I think you might get into truble with XP forwarding .. But do a backup befor you try it...
Good luck.
March 14th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Sorry for not replying guys, was having a issue with email didn't realise it until a few moments ago
@Clarinda Arnaud: Thanks for your kind message
@Axachi "1.After installing windows 7 you will be greeted with a user creation prompt press shift+f10 and you should get a cmd window up like in the image below" is suppose to be as it is as at this stage the windows 7 installation is actually finished.
If anybody else has any issues please let me know, again sorry about not replying new comments weren't been emailed to me.
March 22nd, 2010 at 5:21 am
Whenever I try to robocopy the C:\Users to A:\Files\Users it skips 37 directories. Why is it skipping those directories? Thanks!
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:50 am
Thanks. It works! I'm running win7-64bit .. no issues just yet.
I also moved 'pagefile.sys' to D:\ .....
My C-drive is 32G SSD ....
thanks to all!
March 24th, 2010 at 2:40 am
(Jon - I suspect that you missed out the /E on the robocopy line)
Thanks Duffy,
What an excellent Post.
I have wasted days trying to do this on my own.
I'd previously set up all my Users Accounts on a separate drive when I first installed Windows 7, but this caused problems with lots of problems with applications - e.g. Google Chrome browser will not allow themes or extensions to be installed while the user account is on a separate drive to ProgramData.
Even though I've been running Windows 7 for for months now with all my programs installed, your method worked without any issues, apart from a Repair of the Microsoft Office programs which the Office CD will do on its own and kept everyone's email accounts intact. [I did make a backup copy just in case! but didn't need it]
Thanks again for making your post so clear.
John
March 27th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
hi there, does anyone know how to link back to the old user profile when you reformat and reinstall the win 7? i thought the whole point of sep OS and data was for this purpose, yet when i try to do it (either by registry or mklink), win 7 keeps logging me out or just gives me a temp account.
onlyway i could do it was to create a new profile, do the mklink, than robocopy my old users data into this new profile. this doestn seem right as its just like backing up data from a single partition and copying back the files into a fresh install. there must be a more efficient way
March 28th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
for proper update you will need change this paths in registry (win 7 x64 ultimate)
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion]
"SM_GamesName"="Games"
"SM_ConfigureProgramsName"="Set Program Access and Defaults"
"CommonFilesDir"="d:\\Program Files\\Common Files"
"CommonFilesDir (x86)"="d:\\Program Files (x86)\\Common Files"
"CommonW6432Dir"="d:\\Program Files\\Common Files"
"DevicePath"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,\
00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,69,00,6e,00,66,00,00,00
"MediaPathUnexpanded"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,\
6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,4d,00,65,00,64,00,69,00,61,00,00,00
"ProgramFilesDir"="d:\\Program Files"
"ProgramFilesDir (x86)"="d:\\Program Files (x86)"
"ProgramFilesPath"=hex(2):25,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,67,00,72,00,61,00,6d,00,46,\
00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,73,00,25,00,00,00
"ProgramW6432Dir"="d:\\Program Files"
@=""
"{5254156F-AA77-499A-B7C1-D5581D44E788}_OEM"="oem17.inf"
"OEM_Reboot"=dword:00000000
April 14th, 2010 at 11:02 am
The problem I have found in Windows linking is the original file or directory, when linked and later deleted, doesn't just delete the link, but also all the files and directories that link points to. I don't recall if there are other difficulties, as that was enough to halt me.
One of my chronies told me there are some applications written to utilize linking in a more secure manner and the deletion problem has been handled but I have not looked. May be worth a search. Apparently they are free online.
I move all I can to separate volumes but through a completely different approach that is a bit difficult to explain here. 7 is about 14Gb, XP around 5-6Gb and they both image in less than 12 minutes on an old but well modified Dell 8300 commercial machine with 2.6Tb.
April 28th, 2010 at 11:10 am
I went through a lot of pages about this topics.
But it seems there is still a major issue which is definitely not solved :
80070011 error.
Once WinSxS folder has been relocated, most of Windows Updates will fail, because of hardlink limitation in Windows.
According to what I have read, it is mainly because WinSxS and Program Files folders are not on the same volume... but as far as I have tried, it seems the error remains when you have relocated WinSxS, User profiles, Program folders and SW Distribution to the same volume (which is different from the one where Windows folder is). One's could expect that hardlink should work, in this configuration, but it does not.
I cannot understand why Microsoft, when they added the JUNCTION feature to their OS, has not made the effort to convert all hardlink to junction in the default configuration. Especially in Windows Seven, knowing the buzz in Vista.
So my question : has anyone found a definitive way to solve this Windows Update issue, when WinSxS has been relocated ??
Thinking of how many patches will come in the future of this last OS, I cannot stand the idea to apply them manually ! :D
May 5th, 2010 at 3:11 am
@Jon: Those skipped files you are seeing are JUNCTIONS. If you do a "dir /a /s c:\users | more" you will see links. I count 39 in my Users dir.
I'm pretty sure those junctions have to do with legacy app support. It would be great if there was a way to get robocopy to copy the junctions without following them.
Also, since C:\users is junctioned to D:\users (and transparent) I'm not sure why the registry change is needed ProfileList.
Good info here, thanks.
May 16th, 2010 at 3:27 am
Worked like a charm on Win7 x32. Noted your comment on removing ProgramData and rather than create a user and continue I simply typed "shutdown -g" in the command window and forced a reboot before I created the user. The folder was removed without a hitch ;) then created my user and away we went. Sill cant figure out why the install was 8G though but oh well. As I placed the core system on an 18G SSD partition Im not at a loss.
May 20th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Duffy,
Is moving users, program files, and Program Data the same for either the 32 bit and 64 bit WIN 7 systems? The only differrence I see is you have to move seperate directories of Program Files and Program Files(X86).
May 20th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Hi Bruce, Yes its nearly the same procedure for windows 7 x64. If memory serves me right HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion contains a x86 path for program files x86 and common files x86 so just change that value and then make the links for program files x86
June 26th, 2011 at 2:36 am
Hey, thanks for this post and follow-up comments - this is a very clean procedure.
I am a novice user. If someone has time to explain this all to me that would be helpful. All 'more advanced computing' is a means to an end for me and I'll not likely understand this without distilling into some very blunt amateur statements.
Here's my goal and reinterpretation of what I've read so far as it applies to my situation: I have a single hard drive on a personal laptop. I run mostly AutoCAD and 3D Modeling on it. I am reinstalling everything so as to clean and reorganize. I've decided to partition out of convenience and so that the Op Sys can be limited to the first section of the hard drive - resulting in a very slight productivity boost. Also, if I need to reinstall Windows 7 64 again I will be able to do so easily without disturbing my data. Since most data will be saved through User Libraries it would be pointless to partition without moving these Libraries off the front of the disk reserved for system files. So, following the procedure posted above will accomplish this in total.
Next, personal settings such as keyboard shortcuts and UI customizations are stored in a registry database associated with the program (AutoCAD). If these programs are installed to D:\program files then any registry changes to the UI are also automatically directed to the D:\ drive location. So, If I reinstall Windows again on the C:\ drive, when I open AutoCAD it will look and act just like it did before reinstalling Op Sys.
And, I'll be able to use my Windows search bar @ the Start button to search for all these data and program files on the D:\ drive without any trouble. And, all of the user icons in the Start Menu such as My Documents will automatically link to the new D:\ locations. And, none of these changes will actually sap performance by making windows look for things in a way it wasn't designed to.
So, the end result is that my computer behaves as it did before partitioning, I won't notice any differences, but my data will be safe from a system corruption and it will be convenient for me to address system problems without disturbing data or applications.
Is this interpretation correct? Am I missing anything?
One other question - Is there a "find and replace" command in regedit so that I could find and "C:\users" and replace them with "D:\users"? Just in case I don't know where everything is that will assume C:\users - so that I don't miss any changes. ---incidentally, since I'm setting up the users and program files locations with a fresh install, then every new program installed should understand the D:\ location without me needing to edit the registries.?
Thanks so much to whomever has time to explain these things to me.
-Kenneth
July 6th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Hello! Yesterday i moved arnis under users in c drive to drive d. did it cause i was running low on space. since then a lot of files kinda vanished somwhere. many of the program icons vanished from desktop. a lot of not recognised in all programs panel. i tried puting everything back to c drive from d, but didnt fix anything. can you help!?
July 16th, 2011 at 11:35 am
For EVERYONE'S information... this fix doesn't QUITE work. Removing the ProgramData folder cannot be done while in windows at all. Not even in safe mode (at least not in the Windows 7 Pro OEM version...). Not to fear... here is a slight modification to make it work:
1. Instead of pressing shift-f10 when it asks for a user name (the first input you do after installation) DO NOT DO ANYTHING. INSTEAD RESTART YOUR COMPUTER WITH THE WINDOWS 7 CD IN YOU DVD ROM DRIVE. Make sure you boot from the cd.
2. Let it come up to the language selection and hit next.
3. Then select "Repair" from the options list.
4. It will probably scan your computer for installed versions. WHEN IT ASKS IF YOU WANT TO ATTEMPT RECOVERY SAY NO!
5. Hit the next button. You will be given a few options. Select the last one (command prompt).
6. It is possible that your C: drive is NOT your windows installation folder when you boot into the repair mode. Sometimes the windows 7 installer creates a small unnamed partition for saving restore information. So go through each drive starting with c: and find your windows installation folder (and program files etc...).
You can do this by typing c: and then pressing enter. Type dir to get a list of files and folders. If you find your windows and program files folders, you have the correct drive. If not.. type in the next one at the prompt. d: then e: and so on until you find the right drive. (Most likely it will be the LAST drive before the cdrom drive letter).
7. Finally... follow all the steps in the fix above but ALWAYS replace the c: with the letter of the drive you found.
8. You can also do one other thing: do all the above can be done to the Program Files (x86) folder as well. However... before you do this read one more important note:
ADOBE ACROBAT READER WILL NOT SUPPORT its new security features when your user profile has been redirected by a hard link or junction. (Don't ask me why... lazy programmers?). So you will have to disable your the new security features in adobe acrobat if you want it to work. It should give you a notice and direct you to how to do this. You might be able to avoid this by NOT transferring your Program Files (x86) folder.
FYI... I have created a batch file that does ALL the above by simply typing a simple command. However... if you want to use it on your own computer you will have to edit it first to replace all my o: drive references with the drive that your windows comes up on when you boot into repair mode.
August 3rd, 2011 at 3:27 pm
Hey Matthew,
Where is the batch file you created? I'd like to take a look at it.
July 16th, 2011 at 11:37 am
Ooops... mistake above.. The transferring of your program files (x86) folder will not make a difference in the Adobe acrobat issue... so I would recommend copying this folder as well.
July 16th, 2011 at 11:56 am
Hi Matthew,
As post author I'd just like to say I'm running the latest Adobe reader with this system without any issues.
I also did not have to do any messing about with the programdata folder. I changed it during the system with the shift-f10 method, I couldn't fully delete it, no big deal. Booted the system removed programdata while in windows(yes it let me do this) created a link rebooted and all worked perfectly :)
I've been thinking of doing a re-design on the site and deleting a lot of posts and updating the ones that are heavy with original content(like this one) with a video of it aswell as both instructions and proof of concept.
July 27th, 2011 at 6:23 am
Hi Duffy
I just want to know if this can be done after my primary user has been created. What can I do to move my files (Users and Program Data) when I already created my user??
Thanks a lot for they reply in advanced.
Kind regards!
August 25th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
1: first image is broken,
2: wonderland misses you
3: ...gonna move documents to another drive at least.
September 10th, 2011 at 10:24 pm
I can't delete the ProgramData folder... I tried it before I made the user and then I tried it after I logged on and still got access denied.... any help? (I'm using w7 64bit
September 14th, 2011 at 2:29 am
Hi Duffy
Thanks so much for this, i followed the steps as said in your post and was able to relocate the 3 folders to my SD card. Awesome instructions.
For people who are struggling to remove the 3 folders left in C:\, please do the following.
Insert Windows 7 CD
Boot into Win7 setup
Once your mouse becomes active, Press Shift+F10, no need to click continue or anything else, just Shift+F10
Follow the steps above to use the RMDIR command and mklink commands...
After that, you can type in REGEDIT and do the registry modifications from there.
after that is done, reboot the machine using the following command:
Shutdown /r /t 0
October 1st, 2011 at 7:46 am
Re Matthew's (July 16, 2011) fix for the permissions problem on the ProgramData folder: the fix doesn't seem to work for Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit).
At his Step #4, the System Recovery Options DOES NOT ask if I want to attempt recovery.
And when I click the "Next" button, instead of being offered a list of tools I get an error message that says:
“This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair…”
Have you got another way of getting into the System Recovery Command Prompt?
October 14th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Hey Duffy,
Thanks for the post! I've been having a few issues with this process though. After attempting to delete the C:\ProgramData folder and failing, I continued with the process as suggested. But upon editing the registry and rebooting, I've found that anything requiring administrative permissions simply won't load (this includes regedit and cmd as admin). Likewise, I cannot use cmd to delete the C:\ProgramData folder either. I've tried reverting by deleting the junctions and copying the Program Files, Users, and ProgramData folders back in their entirety, but since regedit still won't open, I can't undo those changes made to the registry. I figure I can always reinstall Windows, since this is a fresh install with no other files yet, but I thought I'd check in here to see if anyone else has a solution for this first. Thanks for any assistance you could render me!
October 20th, 2011 at 1:31 am
Quick question. If I run ccleaner will it detect the registry changes, or try to fix them?
Thanks in advance.