Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10  


  1. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #890

    Mike McInnarney said:
    Can I leave my existing User folder in the HDD I'll be sending the new User folder to, or is that just asking for trouble?
    Hi Mike, welcome to Ten Forums.

    That depends on how you define "Trouble"?

    If we define it in approximately same way, like "This s**t is not going to work, I'll just end up with a non-functioning brick requiring fresh, clean install, but I have to try it!", then the answer is yes, you are asking for trouble

    The target drive should never contain any system files or folders from any previous Windows installation. Backup the docs, pics, music, videos and so on from every user profile to an external drive, wipe the target drive clean, clean install in UEFI mode, relocate Users folder as in Method One in this tutorial interrupting the installation when it arrives to OOBE and booting to Audit Mode then sysprepping, finalize installation, create initial admin user, when on desktop create other users, sign in once to each user to create user profile folders, restore the user data from backup drive to respective folders under each user profile.

    Kari
    Last edited by Kari; 04 Jan 2017 at 14:55.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 2
    Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
       #891

    Thanks Kari. That puts that bright idea to bed. :)

    Cheers
    Mike.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #892

    You are welcome.

    Extremely simplified explanation: All user files and folders belong to a certain user with specific machine related SID. Trying to get new installation to use old user profiles would create a chaos.

    Backing up user data, then copying it to new installation resets the owner to new user, to new user's SID.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 2
    windows 10
       #893

    Kari said:
    If not the best way to do that but at least the way I recommend:

    • "Empty" your user profile folders as much as you can, copying documents, pics, videos, music and all other personal data from all user profiles to external HDD. As following steps require you to relocate Users folder two times, the less data is left in user profile folders, the faster the relocation process. Important: Leave system folder AppData for each profile intact, do not empty / move its content!
    • Reverse the relocating, doing exactly as told in tutorial Method Two but this time relocating Users folder back to C: drive
    • Shut down the PC, replace the disk where you had Users relocated
    • Mount the new disk, boot to Windows, assign new disk the same drive ID letter than the old one had
    • Again, do as told in Method Two, now relocating Users to new disk
    • Restore the backed up personal user data from external drive to respective folders under each user profile

    Kari
    I decided to leave your suggestion as a last resort (before re-installation). I have my AppData folder ~ 15 GB and also my user profile is placed on the bad sectors of the drive. It took me about 5 mins to login into my desktop with a lot of disk grinding. Anyway, I tried Clonezilla in a "rescue" mode (becasue of unreadable sectors) to clone my drive. I replaced the drive with the clone and It somehow worked quite well. I am able to login and within 2 secs I get usable desktop; even Cortana suddenly came alive again and my menu shows up full. I may still have to fix some minor glitches in my profile or AppData. But everything works well and my user accounts and Program Files (that allow themselves to be installed in any locations) sit happily on the second drive.
    Thank you Kari
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #894

    de123 said:
    I decided to leave your suggestion as a last resort (before re-installation).
    Good to know you got it resolved. The steps I recommended are the last resort as you said, painfully slow but it works often when everything else fails. Anyway, I'm happy you didn't need to go there :)
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 16
    Windows 10
       #895

    Windows 10 - Relocate the Users folder Part 2 -Creating Account Issue


    Hi,
    First of all, I'd like to thank you for posting that great video on youtube about " Windows 10 - Relocate the Users folder Part 2". I encountered an issue when creating the Administrator account, just at the beginning of the process. I exactly followed the demonstration on the video. However, my "Administrator" account doesn't work at all. First of all, it took forever to Windows to create it by displaying the usual messages when creating an account. Then after that, the screen went black where the only thing visible was the mouse icon. I waited a little while hoping that the regular display screen will appear but nothing. I pressed "ctrl+alt+delete" to log out. When logging back, I can see that the Administrator account is available. However, it keeps spinning when signing. Then after awhile the screen goes black. Simply put, the account isn't working. I don't know how to delete it to restart another account. I don't know if I should just try to create another account, maybe by naming "Administrator1" or something similar. I'd REALLY appreciate your assistance. Thank you very much
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 31,398
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #896

    Welcome to TenForums @Astyx!

    First let me correct you slightly. You didn't 'create' the Administrator account, it was always there. This is a special account that's built in to Windows, you can neither create or delete it. It is an essential part of windows and has privileges no other account has but, by default, it is not active - that means you can't log into it. What you did by following @Kari's video is activate the Administrator account, allowing it to log on.

    Any account, from the Administrator to a standard user, creates its profile at the first log in. This is based on the default profile, and it seems that it's this that may have a problem. I suspect if you were to try creating a standard user it too would not work.

    Repairing the default profile is not something I feel qualified to advise on, but I'm sure someone will be along soon to help.
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #897

    Astyx said:
    I encountered an issue when creating the Administrator account, just at the beginning of the process. I exactly followed the demonstration on the video. However, my "Administrator" account doesn't work at all. First of all, it took forever to Windows to create it by displaying the usual messages when creating an account.
    First, welcome to Ten Forums Astyx.

    I asked mods to move your post in this thread because your question is directly related to this tutorial and a video it includes. Having your issue and possible solution posted here might benefit other users with same issue.

    Your description of events does not sound correct. As Bree told you, the built-in administrator account always exists, it's just deactivated by default and therefore hidden. What the video and tutorial instructions show is how to activate it in order to be able to sign in to it and use it. At no point will activating this built-in administrator account be "displaying the usual messages when creating an account" as you mentioned.

    You just enter a simple command net user Administrator /active:yes (yellow highlight in below screenshot), and get a clear and simple confirmation that command was completed, executed successfully (green highlight):
    Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10-image.png

    That being said, if you were following the instructions on video as you said, you have not deactivated existing user accounts yet. Restart the PC and sign in to your normal user account. Right click Start, select Run, type netplwiz and click OK:
    Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10-image.png

    A small window listing your active user accounts will open. Take a screenshot of that window and post it here. If you need any instructions on making and posting screenshots, see these tutorials:


    Kari
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 308
    Win10
       #898

    I am a bit confused which makes me feel dumb since these instructions been here since 2014 and I am sure tons of people have gotten them to work.

    1. The first box of code under step 2 doesn't have this line;

    Code:
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:E:\sources\install.wim#Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
    I assumed it was no longer needed so I left it out of mine. Is it needed or not?

    Code:
    <?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>
    </unattend>
    Second, I am the only user on my laptop and wanted my profile on the root of my H: drive so I have fewer clicks to find things. The line I used was;

    Code:
    <ProfilesDirectory>H:\</ProfilesDirectory>
    But windows doesn't like something I've done because it's been sitting on a blue screen for hours.

    Is what I'm attempting to do possible?

    Anyway to recover this or do I need to start from scratch? This is a new install so it doesn't matter. I had to replace my hard drive but the last time I moved the profile it was a bunch of registry changes I think. It was years ago...
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #899

    Soapm said:
    I am a bit confused which makes me feel dumb since these instructions been here since 2014 and I am sure tons of people have gotten them to work.

    The first box of code under step 2 doesn't have this line;
    A bit long answer but I want to make this clear once and for all: No, the CPI Source is not needed, I've removed it from sample answer file in this tutorial.

    Background: the story goes back to early days of Windows Vista pre-release versions over 10 years ago. When I wrote Windows 7 Users relocation tutorial over 6 years ago on our sister site Seven Forums, I left the CPI Source line in answer file example which then was a copy from answer file I had used in Vista.

    Somehow I didn't even think about this when I again copy & pasted that answer file sample from Seven Forums tutorial to this one.

    Long story, a very short version: Sysprepping Windows 10 does not require CPI Source being told in answer file, it does not need Windows 10 install media present. My bad it was included in sample answer file until I removed it. It does not cause any harm when present but it really is not needed.

    My apologies for confusion.


    Soapm said:
    Second, I am the only user on my laptop and wanted my profile on the root of my H: drive so I have fewer clicks to find things.
    Honestly, I've not even tried that but based on that you can even get various issues when you are using another name than Users for that profile folder, I would like to say it will not work. As far as I am concerned, my recommendation is always use folder name Users, placing it on root of any drive (in your case H:\Users).


    Soapm said:
    Anyway to recover this or do I need to start from scratch? This is a new install so it doesn't matter. I had to replace my hard drive but the last time I moved the profile it was a bunch of registry changes I think. It was years ago...
    Yes, my recommendation is as mentioned above to start from scratch, accepting the fact that the rest of the life of that computer your profile folder will be buried one level deeper than what you'd prefer, requiring an extra double click to access it.

    Kari
      My Computer


 

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