Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10  

Kari said:

I have to be honest with you, I have never experienced something like this, nor heard about it happening. I am completely unable to explain why this is happening to you.

I have a suggestion, though. Theoretically this should work, if it really works is impossible to say before you test it:

1.) Shut down / turn off the PC

2.) Remove Disk 1, the HDD

3.) Clean install Windows 10 on Disk 0, the SSD

4.) Go through OOBE setup, use a local dummy account as initial user. This dummy account will be later removed, use any username but your real username

5.) When Windows finally arrives to desktop, open the Run dialog (WIN + R), type %windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe, click OK

6.) When Sysprep dialog opens, set System Cleanup Action to Enter System Audit Mode, and Shutdown Options as Shutdown, click OK
Attachment 74876

7.) PC shuts down now. Mount Disk 1 HDD, turn PC on, it will now boot to Audit Mode

8.) In Audit Mode, remove the dummy account, check that Disk 1 HDD has correct drive ID letter. Proceed as instructed in tutorial

This should work. If you decide to try it, please come back and post the results.

Kari

I'm having the same problem with mine. Even after the additional steps provided. Still looping in the initial setup wizard, same as ManhattanMarc above.

Kari said:

Which build of Windows 10 you are using, and how / where did you obtain the install media?

To get the full build number, open the Run dialog with WIN + R, type winver and click / tap OK:

1511. The installation media was downloaded from techbench (to obtain the wim). Let me elaborate the situation a bit:

If I run sysprep during a clean install (method 1), then it goes on a loop at the initial setup wizard. I let it go many times more than the 4 times that you had mentioned. It never was able to get pass that point.

If I were to run sysprep after a normal install (method 2), then it would go through, with the User directory properly sitting on the D: drive. BUT, just like using the junction method, when logged in to the desktop, the start menu, search and all the store apps wouldn't work. The Application Event Log would be full of app crashes.

Hello there !

Thanks for the tutorial, very well detailed.

I may have missed a step somewhere as now that the Users folder moved to the new HDD letter.
I cannot use my old accounts anymore, even after reactivation.
Windows will not allow allow me to switch users and will not even show any advertisement or error message. While looking to switch or log off the Dummy user account, the start menu will just close without any actions.

Do you have any ideas ?

Best regards.

StaNKiLL said:

Hello there !

Thanks for the tutorial, very well detailed.

I may have missed a step somewhere as now that the Users folder moved to the new HDD letter.
I cannot use my old accounts anymore, even after reactivation.
Windows will not allow allow me to switch users and will not even show any advertisement or error message. While looking to switch or log off the Dummy user account, the start menu will just close without any actions.

Do you have any ideas ?

Best regards.

Think I may have found the answer in the previous reply.

I will copy my docs and folders and try again.

Hello and thank you for this tutorial! I followed the steps and so far everything works out fine on two computers but I experience longer loading times since appdata has been relocated along with the user folders to my slower HDD. So I was wondering if there is a way to keep the app data folder on C while moving the other folders like user folders and download etc to another drive? Or from my perspective: is there a way to move the appdata folder back to C and keep the rest on my HDD?

thank you!

Yeah, I just deleted old users and recreated them and copied the docs from old to new folder and went OK

Sorry to bother and thanks again

Hi Kari,

Thank you for your tutorial! I wish to use this on my new PC build - I just upgraded my mobo/CPU and reinstalled most of my software onto my new SSD. Here's the thing - I used to have my user files on my D: drive. You mention that the D drive should be empty for doing this process and have no old windows files. Does this include if I moved those files into a folder named "old stuff" which I'll move over later? The thing is that this is a 2TB drive that's half full... I don't have any other hard drive space to store 1 TB of data... can I still move my user folder over to my D drive or am I totally screwed? Thanks

PS: I think it's absolutely ridiculous the lengths we need to go to do be able to do this. I've been doing this since the XP days... ridiculous!