Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10  

Evidently the location of the install.wim file I gave the unattend.xml file made Windows 10 unhappy as it hung up for about an hour until I turned it off and it is now bootlooping at the windows startup screen. Any idea on how to re-do either the sysprep from outside of windows or get it to cancel out of whatever it's trying to do without having to do a clean install? I have the windows ADK and PE as well as Parted Magic and a couple of other recovery utilities if that helps with solutions at all.

Best regards,
Andrew

I am running into an issue where the machine enters a boot loop at the black windows loading screen. I tried doing the process listed on the first page and did sysprep with the Windows 10 ISO installed to a bootable flash drive. Unfortunately the system hung up at the Windows loading screen for about an hour until I force restarted it. After to that it continues to loop at the windows loading screen. I have booted up parted magic and everything data-wise appears to be all there, I'm wondering if there's any way to fix this or to re-sys-prep it from outside of Windows (WinPE maybe?) using a DVD instead of a flash drive as the source of install.wim to get it to finish the process. Thanks again.

-Andrew

Kari said:

Hi Andrew, welcome to Ten Forums.

A boot loop always indicates an error in either the answer file (the xml script), or actions taken just before the sysprep. A most typical error is that although user's target drive for the Users folder is set to be let's say E: and user can see this E: drive in Audit Mode, when sysprep is then run system sees it as D: or F: and cannot find E:.

Another quite typical error is that target drive contained system folders from another Windows installation.

Best to do is to restore a backup made before Sysprep and either try again or forget this method. From the boot loop it's about impossible to exit successfully.

Of course, as mentioned several times in this thread, a couple of reboots is totally normal, Windows always starting the OOBE from beginning asking for language options. I never get worried before the fourth or fifth reboot.

Kari,
Thanks so much for the welcome and the quick response. That's what I was afraid was the case so I guess I'll just offload as many files as I can and then just go ahead and follow the procedure for the clean install. Thanks again for the help and the great tutorial!

-Andrew

Kari, I hope all is well. I have successfully used your user relocation method for several years now on Win 7 and then Win 10 machines. I am not a Windows expert but have been able to follow the instructions and implement the approach. Guess is just like following a recipe.

I have a couple of questions:

1. I am considering getting a new PC and would replace the ssd and potentially the data drive. I was wondering what the easiest method of migrating was. From what I can see it still seems to be method one, a clean install. It would be great if I could image the drives, but as you have commented there are likely legacy items that mean a clean start is better.
2. Any special backup tips? I guess image the C drive and I have a backup of the data drive.

Thank you for all the support over the years. It is much appreciated.

Best
Chris

Hi Kari !
First of all, thanks a lot for such a thorough tutorial

After many hours and an all-nighter figuring out how to go around the many obstacles my own computer brought up ...

(from Windows 8, hours to understand why and how to change my bios settings to allow my Windows 10 installation usb drive to boot, changing from GPT to MBR style on the SSD because it wouldn't have it any other way for the installation to proceed, finding a way to boot Macrium without going through with the "settings" step of the installation - for some reason, turning my laptop on and off trying to get F12 to work wasn't enought, I had first to reboot in Audit mode and press F12, and not the other way around ...? )

... I thought I was almost done when I finally got to the "unattended file" step, but unfortunately, this is where I got definitely stuck with a problem I haven't been able to solve on my own.

As I read through the previous posts as much as I could, I managed to understand why I couldn't find the install.wim file, as I am using an updated and optimised / tweaked version of Windows 10 that only has the new install.esd

My questions are :

1. Why do we need to have the install.wim file, and not the esd version of it? Why does it have to be relocated? In other words, what is this 10th line for?

2. I found a tutorial to convert my install.esd into a wim file. Will that do the trick, or will I have to get a regular Windows 10 iso and do it all over again? ( http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-ea...o-install-wim/ ).

3. I only have two partitions :
- one on C:/ that is my SSD on which I installed Windows and will put all the main programs until it's full.
- one on E:/ which is my regular hard drive on which I intend to relocate the User folder.
In the tutorial and the video, you are moving the install.wim file to a third partition. Does it mean I need to create another one, or is my E:/ intended for my User folder enough? If I do need a 3rd partition, what would be best (what kind of partition and where) ?
In other words, where does this install.wim exactly "needs" to be, if ever.

Looking forward to follow your precious advice ! :)

PS: Sorry for the long explanation, I figured being thorough would be best.

Hi,

After getting over the initial ESD WIM thing, I went with Method 2, this was in Sept a few days before moving house.

I ran into a problem with the .xml file, I then got over that but now I'm stuck. Repairing Windows from the CD doesn't succeed.



I have only today gotten around to powering this machine up since the move of house. I googled this error “Windows could not complete the installation” and an article mentioned changing p/w length to 0, and disabling two other options but as you can see below, they were already set that way.



When I try to rerun sysprep today, it brings up this usage box suggesting I've not typed the right /switches ?

Please point me in the right direction, and thanks for reading.