Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10  


  1. Posts : 17
    Windows 10
       #1090

    theojt said:
    Thanks for these great tutorials; I keep learning from them!

    I have two questions in regard to moving user profiles please:

    (1) The latest builds (16251, 16257) have different screens presented through the installation process - which (of the latest screens) is the proper place to interrupt the installation and boot for audit mode? I thought it might be the screen that introduces Cortana?

    (2) I have many, many files stored in my User profile between My Documents, Pictures, Music, etc. I would like to relocate my profile folders to "E:\Users", but I'd like to simply point to my *existing* on-disk folder set for the user profile I create during a clean install (i.e E:\Users\Jeff). It seems that a new, uniquely-named folder is always created. If you specify an online Microsoft account it is the first few letters of that email and if it is a local account the generated system name is appended to make the folder name unique. So for local user 'Jeff' this becomes a folder named Jeff-SYSTEM_NAME.

    I really just want it to use my old existing folder so I don't have hours upon hours of copying - is there anyway to accomplish this? It seems like there should be a way since Windows can perform an in-place upgrade and retain the existing profile folders.
    Thanks in advance.
    1) Not sure about builds 16251/16257, but on 1703 (Build 15063.502) you'd start the sysprep process at the Region screen. I think it's pretty safe to assume it'll be the first screen your presented with after the installation reboots complete.

    2) I played around with a couple of scenarios leaving the old Users directory and profiles on the drive I was moving the new install profiles to. I have 1.5TB of music/movies in my Music folder and it takes between 4-6 hours to copy that back into my new user profile, so I'm looking for ways to reduce that as much as possible.

    In my testing I found that the user data was still present after sysprep step. If I renamed the Users directory to something else while in audit mode, installation always renamed/moved them to Users. You will still have to create new users and move the data from the old profile directories and as others have stated, you will likely need to reset some permissions and/or at the very least take ownership of the old files. If you want to keep your new profile directories "clean" (ie, user jeff has a profile directory named jeff rather than jeff01) you'll have to move the old profiles to subfolder (ie, D:\Users\Oldprofiles) before creating any user accounts.

    I recommend you perform some testing within a virtual environment to completely work out the process that works for you before attempting to do it on your production/daily device. I'll echo Kari's words of caution -- backup your data BEFORE attempting on your daily use machine.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 1
    Windows 10
       #1091

    Here's my scenario. I had a c: drive that was failing so I wanted to upgrade to an SSD, but I needed to offload the Users directory first. I used method 2 to move from C to P (my drive that I use for Plex) and it worked fine. I cloned my (now much smaller) C drive to my SSD and everything was happy. I installed a new internal hard drive (U:) to store my Users directory on and wanted to move my Users directory to that drive. I have attempted method 2 a number of times now and each time I get stuck in the reboot loop from heck, requiring me to wipe the drive, re-clone and start over. The first time I did it I wasn't using the admin account, so I suspected that would be the issue. Nope. Then I thought maybe how the drives showed up in diskpart was the issue, so I changed how they were physically hooked up. No luck. Is it possible to move from P: to U: in one move or do I need to move the users folder back to C first, then move it to U?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Build 19033
       #1092

    glockster said:
    1) Not sure about builds 16251/16257, but on 1703 (Build 15063.502) you'd start the sysprep process at the Region screen. I think it's pretty safe to assume it'll be the first screen your presented with after the installation reboots complete.

    2) I played around with a couple of scenarios leaving the old Users directory and profiles on the drive I was moving the new install profiles to. I have 1.5TB of music/movies in my Music folder and it takes between 4-6 hours to copy that back into my new user profile, so I'm looking for ways to reduce that as much as possible.

    In my testing I found that the user data was still present after sysprep step. If I renamed the Users directory to something else while in audit mode, installation always renamed/moved them to Users. You will still have to create new users and move the data from the old profile directories and as others have stated, you will likely need to reset some permissions and/or at the very least take ownership of the old files. If you want to keep your new profile directories "clean" (ie, user jeff has a profile directory named jeff rather than jeff01) you'll have to move the old profiles to subfolder (ie, D:\Users\Oldprofiles) before creating any user accounts.

    I recommend you perform some testing within a virtual environment to completely work out the process that works for you before attempting to do it on your production/daily device. I'll echo Kari's words of caution -- backup your data BEFORE attempting on your daily use machine.
    I had a chance to try this today and it worked well. It seems that if you keep the (old) users profile folder under x:\Users it moves the file pointers into the new profile folder and If you keep it "above" x:\Users it does a full copy? It was much, much quicker to move files from my backup location under \Users - literally minutes instead of hours.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 17
    Windows 10
       #1093

    theojt said:
    I had a chance to try this today and it worked well. It seems that if you keep the (old) users profile folder under x:\Users it moves the file pointers into the new profile folder and If you keep it "above" x:\Users it does a full copy? It was much, much quicker to move files from my backup location under \Users - literally minutes instead of hours.
    I hear ya! I have 1.5TB of iTunes music/movies and my user profile data takes about 4 hours to copy from one drive to another, so this is a real time saver. I always perform a back-up to an external drive just in case.
    I found it odd that Microsoft would move existing profile directories into the new \Users directory even from a directory that had been renamed. I guess it's better than arbitrarily blowin' them away, but if \Users doesn't exist, you'd think they'd just create it and move on.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 1
    Win 10 Pro
       #1094

    Windows 10 New Install Version 1703 Build 15063.0


    I've been installing Windows 10 since Version 1607 on my 2008 MacBook Pro using a NATIVE (non-bootcamp partition) installation and moving the user profiles to a different partition using this guide and it has been working great. Recently I got a new MacBook Pro touch bar mid-2017 and did a fresh NATIVE (non-bootcamp partition) install of Windows 10 version 1703 Build 15063.0 which worked just fine. Upon initial reboot after the install and pre-setup, I used the NEW guide to once again move the user profiles to a different partition by using shift + F10 at the region screen, then launching disk management, sysprep, the relocate.xml file, etc. After sysprep rebooted the machine, I was able to continue with the Windows setup and eventually when I got to the desktop, I checked the D drive, where I had moved the user profiles to using sysprep and they were there. Success! After manually rebooting after that, I get to the login screen, enter my password and get the message "The User Profile Service service failed the sign-in. User profile cannot be loaded." I though maybe I had made a mistake somewhere, so I repeated the entire install process again and followed the NEW tutorial to move the user profiles, but the same problem happened. Am I missing any steps/settings?
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 1
    Windows 10
       #1095

    Kari,
    You mean I can move my user folder in Win 10 by using the registry edit method described in http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...-location.html?
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 101
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Build 17763
       #1096

    Hi,

    I just completed this tutorial successfully, but have a couple of questions:

    1). Does the SHIFT + F10 and then Win-X QUICK LINKS menu not work on some builds? I installed using Redstone Version 1703 Build 15063 and attempted this shortcut, but it didn't work. I pulled up the command prompt just fine with SHIFT + F10, but the WIN-X shortcut did nothing.

    2). What's the purpose of the note about clean install and making a system image? If I am doing a clean install, do I need to do this? It seems kind of redundant since my bootable USB already essentially has a "system image" that will be pretty much be the same as any new system image I would create during a clean install. I am installing on a brand new, blank SSD so don't need to back anything up. I am guessing this note was just for those clean installing on a system with data already on it, but want to make sure.

    Thanks!
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #1097

    ahelton said:
    1). Does the SHIFT + F10 and then Win-X QUICK LINKS menu not work on some builds? I installed using Redstone Version 1703 Build 15063 and attempted this shortcut, but it didn't work. I pulled up the command prompt just fine with SHIFT + F10, but the WIN-X shortcut did nothing.
    WIN +X is not supposed to work in OOBE. SHIFT + F10 (Command Prompt) activates other WIN key shortcuts like WIn + R, WIN + E, WIN + I and so on, but WIN + X does not work by default. However, I've noticed it occasionally works in OOBE but I cannot explain why.


    ahelton said:
    2). What's the purpose of the note about clean install and making a system image? If I am doing a clean install, do I need to do this? It seems kind of redundant since my bootable USB already essentially has a "system image" that will be pretty much be the same as any new system image I would create during a clean install. I am installing on a brand new, blank SSD so don't need to back anything up. I am guessing this note was just for those clean installing on a system with data already on it, but want to make sure.
    The note about a system image is in Method One, Step 1 simply because if something goes wrong for instance when instructions are not followed to the letter, it is faster to start again by restoring a system image than it would be to clean install Windows again. Simply a time saving tip in case you have to start from scratch.

    Kari
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 101
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Build 17763
       #1098

    Kari said:
    WIN +X is not supposed to work in OOBE. SHIFT + F10 (Command Prompt) activates other WIN key shortcuts like WIn + R, WIN + E, WIN + I and so on, but WIN + X does not work by default. However, I've noticed it occasionally works in OOBE but I cannot explain why.
    Ah. Ok. In the tutorial video about the Creator's Update you use the win+x shortcut at one point to access disk management. I was trying to do this, which is why I asked. Was this not in OOBE?
    The note about a system image is in Method One, Step 1 simply because if something goes wrong for instance when instructions are not followed to the letter, it is faster to start again by restoring a system image than it would be to clean install Windows again. Simply a time saving tip in case you have to start from scratch.
    That makes sense. Thanks for the tip!
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 10
    Win 10 pro 64
       #1099

    Hi Kari,

    I relocated my Users folder succesfully with using method 2 running sysprep in an exsisting installation.
    The only odd thing is that there still is a C:\Users folder on my C drive containing user subfolders \Administrator, \user and \myname.
    these old userfolders also have a few subfolders in \Appdata with a few files left but all dated before the move and they are no longer in use.
    Is there a way to remove this Users folder? I tried to rename/delete but I get the message that this action cannot be completed because the folder is in use by some other program.

    After applying the method 2 moving method I noticed the following:
    In the registry I find a bunch of keys with values pointing to C:\Users\user.. user was the original user present when I received the PC with Windows 10 pre-installed. The values are pointing to Temp and Installsource data that is not existing in this C:\users\user folder.
    After the move, also user was moved to the new location and afterwards removed, so these registry entries became useless.
    Safe to remeove them??

    Best regards,

    Cesar
      My Computer


 

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