Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10

pietro · 18 Aug 2016

pietro said:

bug advice for anniversary update. downloaded the iso for my Language, italian. clean install and relocate. the start menu have some voices in english, so few folders (ie: users\public). installing w10 without relocating it is all in italian...

bug still present in new builds 14393.82 anniversary update and 14905.1000 from redstone 2. really dissapointing. hoping they resolve, update on hold...

djino · 22 Aug 2016

Hello,

I followed method one by Moving the User folder location during the installation of Windows 10. Win 10 was installed on my primary 256GB SSD (C Drive), and the Users folder is located on my 2nd 1TB drive (Drive D).

All seemed to be fine after I created my initial windows 10 user account. Everything works there as normal.

Now, I'm not sure if this is related to the the User accounts folder being on the D Drive, but whenever I create additional windows 10 accounts and login to them, I am unable to click/load the start menu. Clicking on it does nothing. I can click on anything else (Desktop icons, task bar icons, notification bar icons), but clicking the start menu button, does not pull open the start menu.

I've created 2 other user accounts, and they are experiencing the same behaviour. The only account that seems to work fine is my initial account created after installing Windows 10.

djino
"Is there something I've done wrong here?"

aglasser · 23 Aug 2016

djino said:

Hello,

I followed method one by Moving the User folder location during the installation of Windows 10. Win 10 was installed on my primary 256GB SSD (C Drive), and the Users folder is located on my 2nd 1TB drive (Drive D).

All seemed to be fine after I created my initial windows 10 user account. Everything works there as normal.

Now, I'm not sure if this is related to the the User accounts folder being on the D Drive, but whenever I create additional windows 10 accounts and login to them, I am unable to click/load the start menu. Clicking on it does nothing. I can click on anything else (Desktop icons, task bar icons, notification bar icons), but clicking the start menu button, does not pull open the start menu.

I've created 2 other user accounts, and they are experiencing the same behaviour. The only account that seems to work fine is my initial account created after installing Windows 10.

djino
"Is there something I've done wrong here?"

Did you have to make sure your target drive was empty? The 2TB? Does it wipe the drive before putting the user file there?

djino · 23 Aug 2016

aglasser said:

Did you have to make sure your target drive was empty? The 2TB? Does it wipe the drive before putting the user file there?

Does the d-drive (1TB HDD) need be empty before hand? I saw nothing mentioned in the instructions on the OP stating such. My SSD was formatted during the install (where Win 10 went). But my D-drive was NOT empty, as it contained some of my backup info. But the process successfully created a D:\Users folder.

djino

aglasser · 25 Aug 2016

djino said:

Does the d-drive (1TB HDD) need be empty before hand? I saw nothing mentioned in the instructions on the OP stating such. My SSD was formatted during the install (where Win 10 went). But my D-drive was NOT empty, as it contained some of my backup info. But the process successfully created a D:\Users folder.

djino

"... Be sure that the drive into which you are relocating the Users folder is empty and does not contain any Windows system folders, especially Users folder or parts of it from a... "

Thanks for the reply. The above are in the instructions, and I didnt want to hose any of my backup data in the process. I'll give it a shot now. Thanks again!

djino · 25 Aug 2016

aglasser said:

"... Be sure that the drive into which you are relocating the Users folder is empty and does not contain any Windows system folders, especially Users folder or parts of it from a... "

Thanks for the reply. The above are in the instructions, and I didnt want to hose any of my backup data in the process. I'll give it a shot now. Thanks again!

Thanks for the reply. As mentioned, the D-drive contained just my personal backup stuff. No system files. But I guess I'll try this all again and hope for the best.

Thanks,

djino

aglasser · 25 Aug 2016

"Windows could not parse or process anattended answer file [d:\relocate.xml]. The specified file does not exist" --

I've triple-checked drive locations, paths, filenames, typos. This is what I keep getting after running Sysprep. Any ideas?

relocate.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<FolderLocations>
<ProfilesDirectory>D:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
</FolderLocations>
</component>
</settings>
<cpi

fflineImage cpi:source="wim:F:\sources\install.wim#Windows 10 Pro" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

Mycenius · 28 Aug 2016

djino said:

...Now, I'm not sure if this is related to the the User accounts folder being on the D Drive, but whenever I create additional windows 10 accounts and login to them, I am unable to click/load the start menu. Clicking on it does nothing. I can click on anything else (Desktop icons, task bar icons, notification bar icons), but clicking the start menu button, does not pull open the start menu...

Hello All,

New here - great forum - appreciate all the info I've picked up previously here as a guest.

Just confirming I have the exact same issue as Djino also (i.e. no start menu for new user profiles). I installed a copy of Windows 10 Pro (x64) to a new Samsung SSD Drive last week and followed Kari's instructions to the letter (except I did not bother with making a back-up disk image) - my second drive (a Seagate 2TB SATA) for the users was formatted clean prior to commencing process. Any new users I create do not have start menu.

I have tried the following standard fixes and none have worked:

reinstalling the 'modern' apps / DISM RestoreHealth
doing the integrity check for corrupt files
renaming the 'tileset' folder in the user
running the batch file 'service fix' (supplied via a YouTube video I found - can post link if helpful)

I have also found the Windows 'Refresh' option will not work with split drives - states if Users are not on the same drive as Windows you can only do a full 'Reinstall' not just a system refresh. (I am a bit confused here at present as originally there was talk of moving users back to C:\ to do updates but then there's some posts about that no longer being necessary).

Finally, as an observation I have noted I have 2 different 'default user' folders in my User directory:

"Default" - which is the original one that was there and was in the new moved location when I initially completed Kari's instructions.
"defaultuser0" - which appeared sometime after I first logged in with my primary account, but long before I created any additional user accounts or had installed most of my software.

As the second default profile appeared almost certainly soon after the build and implementation of Kari's instructions, and around the first time (or times) I logged into the new Windows build with my main account and/or had activated windows and/or did the bulk of the Windows updates, I am wondering if the issue could be Windows is using the wrong default profile to duplicate for new users? (Note: I had installed the Windows 10 Pro Anniversary Edition build so updates needed were minimal, and for the record I have a free digital upgrade license for Win10 Pro that's ex-Windows 7 Ultimate, and associated with my Microsoft account).

Also of note I did initially log in immediately with my Microsoft Account and forgoing creating a local user profile first (and associating Microsoft account later for activation) - so perhaps too that is the cause of a bug?

Appreciate if anyone out there has any thoughts, or advice, or has experienced this (start menu issue) and managed to resolve it. Right now I have exhausted all the known fixes for the "Windows Start Menu doesn't work in New Users" and the only remaining process is to nuke the whole machine and reinstall from scratch and hope it doesn't replicate itself in the new build...

Also anyone been able to use the 'Windows Refresh' function with this config? Do you still need to relocate back to C:\ to complete any updates (I'm assuming no) or this 'refresh' function (I'm assuming yes)?

P.S. I do want to say thanks Kari for the instructions - they worked perfectly and the basic process was excellent and has done exactly what I want.

P.P.S. Apologies if any of this has been covered previously - I did try to skim read and search through this whole thread - but it has become awfully long...

Many TIA,

John

Mycenius · 28 Aug 2016

Kari said:

Anyway, my suggestion is as always: create a system image backup, download Windows 10 ISO, burn it to DVD or make a bootable USB flash drive, do a clean install wiping everything and follow instructions for Method One. Alternatively forgot relocating Users and manually change storage location of your docs, pics and such (tutorial).

Hi Kari, Brink, et all - do we know what the implications of doing this are on an SSD? I understand it would still result in large amounts of superfluous and non-critical log data and similar being written to the SSD, significantly impacting it's lifespan due to constant overwriting? So if using an SSD (as I am) this doesn't really seem a viable an alternative to completing the full User Folder relocation as described in Method 1 of this tutorial - due to the increased disk usage the SSD will suffer?

TIA,

John

Mycenius · 30 Aug 2016

Mycenius said:

Finally, as an observation I have noted I have 2 different 'default user' folders in my User directory:

"Default" - which is the original one that was there and was in the new moved location when I initially completed Kari's instructions.
"defaultuser0" - which appeared sometime after I first logged in with my primary account, but long before I created any additional user accounts or had installed most of my software.

A quick follow up - I have tried manually editing the registry to replace all references to "defaultuser0" folder with the "Default" one instead - as the former appears incomplete (it lacks NT.DAT(?) file in root and similar items, and file creation dates of some items are later than the items in the "Default" folder). Rebooting and creating new user profiles however has no effect and they continue to lack the start menu, etc...

I am assuming I am going to have to (delete the new failed user profiles and then) relocate my primary user back to C:\ temporarily, and run the Windows Refresh function to try and 'repair' whatever the bug is - and try recreating new user profiles before moving the Users directory back to D:\ drive? And if that fails, nuke the whole thing and start again?

Can anyone suggest a better plan?