Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10  

Please do not do the same mistake as I did! I had and installation of Windows 10 10240 with relocated Users folder. After updating to 1511 not long ago I went into Settings to check out what's new. In System -> Storage I discovered the new option to save new apps to a different partition other than C. Not much after changing this setting to D, my HDD, as I have and SSD for the operating system I noticed that the whole taskbar was broken! Start, Search, Network, Volume, Notification Center and Date & Time buttons did nothing other than making my cursor display that circle for a split second. Also, I right clicking on pinned icons would do nothing (only left clicking worked, for opening the associated applications). I looked for all the fixes I could find including the PowerShell command to reinstall all apps, recreating the DataLayer folder or even running a third party repair tool. Nothing worked! Not even creating a new user profile! New user profiles would also be greeted with a broken taskbar. So please do not do my mistake and never touch the settings in Storage. I've created a forum account specifically to post this. The only way I could fix this was to reinstall Windows altogether.

Kari said:

I just checked, the ISO downloads site works perfectly well, offering normal 32 and 64 bit ISO images, with a standard install.wim file.

Windows 10 ISO

Kari

I am having the same issue as BlackSoldierB. I downloaded the Windows 10 64x ISO with the Media Creation Tool yesterday, but when I mount the ISO, it only has install.esd. The mounted image name is "ESD-ISO".

Did they change the ISO that is downloaded with the tool?
Is the Windows 10 ISO different from the Windows 10 Pro one?
Is there another way I can move my Users folder to another drive?

pats0 said:

I am having the same issue as BlackSoldierB. I downloaded the Windows 10 64x ISO with the Media Creation Tool yesterday, but when I mount the ISO, it only has install.esd. The mounted image name is "ESD-ISO".

Did they change the ISO that is downloaded with the tool?
Is the Windows 10 ISO different from the Windows 10 Pro one?
Is there another way I can move my Users folder to another drive?

I was having the same issue. I found out this tool called NTLite that allowed me to convert install.esd back to install.wim. Afterwards I just replaced it in the sources folder and after Windows installation relocation went fine.

Hi Kari,

First, Thank you so much for amazing post. I recently change my laptop, which included 128 GB SSD for C drive, and this post is helped me a lot to reduce the load from SSD.

One thing to note is that I am using Autocad, and when I tried to installed it after I moved all my user folder to D drive, I have a error 1606. If anyone, who is using CAD trying to do this, they need to read this.

"https://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-result/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Error-1606-when-installing-2014-product.html"

Follow the instruction and get to that specific folder, make sure that your common file's address. For mine, all the user folder was still under C drive. After I changed their address to D: and some minor changes (I did not use public, but my own account's name), I was finally able to install autocad. I am not sure any other program might cause you the same issues, but hopefully this would help anyone who is suffering to download autocad!

Thank you so much Kari for your amazing work.

Hi,

I am trying to relocate the users folder back to my C: drive (SSD) from my D: drive (HDD for Users), and don't know what to make of what is happening. I backed up all my files and deleted them from my Users account to make everything lighter. I then made the relocate.xml file from your directions, and ran sysprep. Everything worked fine, except when it restarted. It has been at the Windows Logo screen, and the "ring of circles" has been spinning for an hour now. I'm not sure if I should stop it or not.

Does the Windows install media have to be in the computer when you run sysprep? Mine was out, and then I put it in before the computer restarted. Would this cause a problem?

My relocate.xml file is the same as what you have posted under the upgrading windows section. The only thing I changed was to remove the ProgramData section, and to change the windows version to Windows 10 Pro.

How many hours do you think I should give it? It is over 1 hour now. Am I correct in assuming that, if the circle is still moving, it is working?

The user folder was successfully moved back to C:. The start button was not working in my old profile, so I made a new administrator account. In the new account, the start button works; however "User name" button (where you select change account settings, lock the profile, etc.) doesn't work. I click on it, and the fly out menu appears momentarily and then it exits the start menu. It does this whether you use the classic start menu or the Metro full screen menu. Do you think if I go through with the upgrade it will correct this? or do I have to load the disk image and start over?