Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10  


  1. Posts : 373
    Windows 10 Home 21H2
       #1250

    I have Win 10 Pro, Ver 1803.

    I have a small SSD, so my Music, Pictures, and Videos are on DATA (E:) partition. These were moved by standard Windows tools.

    I now want to try relocating my Users (with a final "s") folder to wherever it's supposed to be. If I had plenty of space on the SSD, I think I might have moved the MVP folders back to C before trying to relocate the Users folder. But that's not possible now.

    How should I proceed?

    Thanks.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 16
    Win 10 Pro x64
       #1251

    anson5 said:
    I'm installing a fresh copy of Windows 10 version 1809 from a USB created by Media Creation Tool. Following all the steps in your method 1, after running the sysprep command and it rebooted, it is stuck at the screen with Windows logo and a spinning wheel for more than an hour with no error. The disk LED flashes every 5-10 seconds. Both C and D drives are new M.2 NVMe SSD's. Does sysprep usually take a long time even for new installation?.
    anson5, Maybe it needs the installation drivers for the M.2 drive (especially if doing a UEFI install). Will it work if you try the WIN10 installation without trying to change the users folder. If it does, then ignore my comment and continue troubleshooting the answer file.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 2,666
    Windows 11 21H2 (22000.593)
       #1252

    OldGrantonian said:
    I have Win 10 Pro, Ver 1803.

    I have a small SSD, so my Music, Pictures, and Videos are on DATA (E:) partition. These were moved by standard Windows tools.

    I now want to try relocating my Users (with a final "s") folder to wherever it's supposed to be. If I had plenty of space on the SSD, I think I might have moved the MVP folders back to C before trying to relocate the Users folder. But that's not possible now.

    How should I proceed?

    Thanks.
    @Kari may supersede me on this, as he has a much better understanding on how this whole process works on systems that are already installed.

    First point: I'm assuming that your E: drive is a larger mechanical drive. If true: {depending upon the technical info of your machine and that drive in particular, you might actually introduce a tiny bit of lag / sluggishness to your system: moving the \Users tree from the faster SSD to the slower E: drive means you would also be moving your profile folder, \Users\{your_profile_name}, which contains a great many of your programs settings, cache folders (<-- important one in this consideration), etc. (under the respective folders of AppData\Local and AppData\Roaming). Those programs relying on these folders *may* load a little bit more slowly because of the bottleneck in terms of speed of reading files from the slower E: drive versus the SSD. If your system is modern, this will not be as noticeable. But it is something to think about.}

    Second point: If you do this on a system that is already installed (versus a clean install of Windows again), be sure to read the warning in the red at the start of Method Two - Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10 | Tutorials - and then read it again, carefully, and if you have any questions, post back.

    ---

    If you cannot clean install Windows:

    My suggestion is to move those MVP folders (as you called them ) back to the SSD, and a good place to look is in the tutorial I link on the next line - but with a caveat! Do not copy the files back to the new (default) locations! (you'd have a hard time copying all those files back, I suspect, because of the spatial limitation of the SSD, anyway, bu don't try if you know for a fact you do not have the space).

    Restore Default Location of Personal Folders in Windows 10 | Tutorials

    Using that tutorial, Option 1 let's you go through each folder that you've moved and manually move it back, and step 6 is the one where you do differently - here, according to that screenshot, you would select No.

    However, it is a lot easier *and* faster to use Option 2 - Just download the relevant .BAT file for each folder you've moved and follow the instructions. And skip steps 17 and 18.

    After that, I'd make a full backup of the SSD and (I'm assuming Mechanical HDD) E: drive using your backup program of choice (Kari recommends Macrium as its Free version is more than adequate to accomplish the backup necessary, and I use it myself, for that reason, along with other reasons). (Kari mentions this also as the very first point in Method Two of this tutorial - it is an absolute must - if *anything* breaks and you do not have that backup, you'll spend hours reinstalling Windows, programs, setting them up, etc.)

    After that, having that backup in hand, you can work through Method Two of this tutorial to move the \Users tree fully to the E: drive.

    If you *can* (and are willing to) clean install Windows, reinstall all your programs, set everything back up, etc.:

    Of course, this is most easily accomplished if you decide to clean install. You still need the full backup (Method One is generally a lot easier, less finicky and, at least for me, almost foolproof, as I've only had a problem once or twice, and that was of my own cause, and I've been using this same method since Windows 7, when Kari wrote the original for Win7 back at the sister site sevenforums), but then you follow Method One through, and once your system is booted, you can go to your E: drive and move the existing files from those manually create MVP folders into the normal MVP folders in your users profile (under \Users\{You_profile_Name}). If you can afford to cleanly install Windows, I'd recommend this method, but only if that clean installation is an available option for you.

    HTH
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 5
    windows 10
       #1253

    windir problem


    I have successfully used your advice previously on Win 7. I have just upgraded my pc and am having trouble doing a users move on my win10.
    I have tried a number of fresh installs with a WIN10 1809 build.
    Please note there is no CMD option now its called powershell.

    I get this error when running this command:
    %windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /reboot /unattend:d:\relocate.xml

    the error is : %windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe : The module '%windir%' could not be loaded. For more information, run
    'Import-Module %windir%'.
    At line:1 char:1
    + %windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /reboot /unattend:d:\relo ...
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (%windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe:String) [], CommandNotFoundExcept
    ion
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CouldNotAutoLoadModule

    I note that I have a install.esd on my usb install stick.

    I wondered if you could please update your scripts to cope with the new win10 .

    I have a M.2 SSD C drive and a mechanical HDD D drive for my user folder.

    Thanks for any advice.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #1254

    spudnz said:
    Please note there is no CMD option now its called powershell.
    Of course there is CMD, Command Prompt. You can start it in multiple ways:
    • Press WIN key, type cmd, press Enter
    • Press WIN + S to open Windows Search, type cmd, press Enter
    • Press WIN + R to open Run dialog, type cmd, press Enter
    • Press WIN to open Start Menu, scroll down to letter W, select WIndows System > Command Prompt

    Tutorial: Open Command Prompt in Windows 10 | Tutorials

    You can even switch PowerShell to Command Prompt simply by typing cmd in PowerShell and pressing Enter. To return to PowerShell, type exit and press Enter.
    Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10-image.png

    Sysprep command does not work in PowerShell, so please use one of the above mentioned methods to open Command Prompt and try again.

    Kari
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 5
    windows 10
       #1255

    Kari thank you very much for the prompt reply.
    I have never used WIN10 and after about 7 (fast at least) reinstalls I got frustrated.
    I had just googled CMD in WIN10 as you posted, knowing that it did work on and older WIN10 build.

    Thank you very much I have just succeeded in moving my user file.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #1256

    spudnz said:
    Thank you very much I have just succeeded in moving my user file.
    You are welcome.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 5
    windows 10
       #1257

    I am having a different problem today.
    I could not successfully move my users folder during a fresh install (it created a bug which couldn't be fixed by anyone). I am trying to move the folders using your 2nd method. Unfortunately I get the error "windows could not parse or process unattended answer file [D\relocate.xml]. The specific file does not exist."
    Yes I have your code saved as the file relocate.xml in the root of D drive.
    I've tried your method 1 and 2 and your suggestion to try this WIN7 technique User Profile - Change Default Location - Windows 7 Help Forums
    All unsuccessfully.
    I see some people saying they have used symbolic links to move their users file. What do you think Kari, can you suggest a good tutorial for moving the users file with symbolic links. This is my last option now. Other wise I may need to buy a much larger M.2 ssd and forget moving my files.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #1258

    spudnz said:
    I see some people saying they have used symbolic links to move their users file. What do you think Kari, can you suggest a good tutorial for moving the users file with symbolic links. This is my last option now. Other wise I may need to buy a much larger M.2 ssd and forget moving my files.
    I am sorry it does not work for you. As you can see if you read this whole thread through, it is always a user caused error when this procedure does not work. We have for the most finally fixed those, got it to work. Method is failproof when done correctly.

    Having said that, if your options are either symlinks or a bigger SSD, get bigger disk. I would not even dream about starting to play with sysmlinks.

    Kari
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 5
    windows 10
       #1259

    I'm sure it is user error.
    But I have reinstalled my new machine about 12 times since Friday. Your tutorial is very simple so I think I got that right.
    Using your process 1 I got the file moved fine but I had a strange windows error where I couldn't access my defender. No one could help me there. I reinstalled so many times and always got the bug. So missing out your process 1 and reinstalling without moving my users removed the bug. So I have to try moving it after install. The new M.2 250GB SSd is only 4 days old so its a shame to discard it so soon.
    I used your users file move technique in WIN7 with my SSD and HDD, for 5 years and loved it. I just cant do it in WIN10.
      My Computer


 

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