Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10  

brainvision said:

EDIT: I have a question, if you please: I did everything and it worked like a charm, now I see in my C: drive a folder called Logs (a different one from PerfLogs); I assume it stores the logs from the sysprep process, didn't it? Can I delete this folder?

That folder has nothing to do with Sysprep, which stores its logs in folder C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Panther. Your Logs folder most probably belongs to some third party software.

ponq101 said:

Thanks

You are welcome :)

Kari

bohrar said:

Hi,

I tried to do the suggested process to transfer the users but forgot to heed to the warning about assigning the drive and am now stuck in endless sysprep loop. I gather that I have to reinstall the OS using the usb drive. The computer has a flash drive where the OS was installed and a disk where I was trying to move the user profile data and where some other data was present. I want to be able to retreive the other data (not saved in user profile) that was there on the hard disk (not the flash drive).Will I be able to to that after I reinstall the OS or should I do it before the reinstall? Can someone please guide me how to do this?
Really appreciate the help.
Thanks
Rashed

I think that what you can actually do is this:

Boot from the Windows 10 installer externally (USB / DVD), then go to audit mode, without actually installing anything, and re-do the process, this time verifying the drive letters are correct, and it should be fine.

Theoretically, all you should need to do is boot windows 10 (USB / DVD), enter audit mode, and fix the the drive letter assignments, then reboot from the system HD, and the original Sysprep procedure should pick up where you left off and finish what you were doing, but there is the possibility that booting from external media may interrupt the process so it cannot continue, and thus you may need to redo the whole process again.

Kari, am I correct in this supposition?

harris128 said:

Kari,
After watching your users-folder-move-location-windows-10-a.html#MethodTwo video, I immediately registered on your site. Great info here. I would like to move my user folders to a separate drive, but have one question.

I upgraded from Win7 x64 to the free upgrade to Win10 Pro x64, and do not have the DVD with the needed file "install.wim". Is there a work around, or do you suggest I purchase a copy?
Thanks in advance,
harris128

You can download the official Windows 10 installer .ISO directly from Microsoft.

As soon as I get to a computer I will edit this post with the link. You may need to log in with a Microsoft account to do so.

EDIT: added the following:

OK, so you have to download the tool now, as there is no direct download of the .ISO anymore. Bummer.

Link for the .ISO download tool is: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

To use the tool to create a bootable USB device, see part 1 of this tutorial: USB Flash Drive - Create to Install Windows 10

To create a DVD, follow the same tutorial but select DVD and follow the prompts.

However, there *is* a tool that downloads the .ISO directly, if you don't mind giving it a whirl - Heidoc's Microsoft .ISO downloader. See Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool

With this tool, if you select Windows 10 (not Insider Preview) you then have the ability to select all of the official releases of Windows 10 - Redstone 1 (July 2016), Threshold 2 (April 2016), Threshold 2 (February 2016), Threshold 2 (November 2015), Threshold 1 (July 2015),

Using the Microsoft tool will get the latest, which is Redstone 1, downloaded and then you can just have it make the .ISO or optionally you can have it create a bootable USB device or DVD disc. The Heidoc tool downloads the .ISO directly, and you will need to burn it to DVD / create a bootable USB device yourself. For DVD, you can use the native burning tools in Windows using this tutorial - Burn Disc Image from ISO or IMG file in Windows 10 - or a 3rd party tool, such as Burnaware, ISO Recorder, etc. and for USB, I recommend Rufus to make the bootable USB device, following the instructions in part two of this tutorial: USB Flash Drive - Create to Install Windows 10

HTH

johngalt said:

I think that what you can actually do is this:

Boot from the Windows 10 installer externally (USB / DVD), then go to audit mode, without actually installing anything, and re-do the process, this time verifying the drive letters are correct, and it should be fine.

Theoretically, all you should need to do is boot windows 10 (USB / DVD), enter audit mode, and fix the the drive letter assignments, then reboot from the system HD, and the original Sysprep procedure should pick up where you left off and finish what you were doing, but there is the possibility that booting from external media may interrupt the process so it cannot continue, and thus you may need to redo the whole process again.

Kari, am I correct in this supposition?

Kari, is that information correct? Specifically, I was wondering what would happen if he just boot into audit mode from a bootable device and changed the drive letter to match the .XML script and see if it did not break the chain and allow Sysprep to continue after the subsequent reboot....

harris128 said:

After watching your users-folder-move-location-windows-10-a.html#MethodTwo video, I immediately registered on your site. Great info here. I would like to move my user folders to a separate drive, but have one question.

I upgraded from Win7 x64 to the free upgrade to Win10 Pro x64, and do not have the DVD with the needed file "install.wim". Is there a work around, or do you suggest I purchase a copy?
Thanks in advance,
harris128

Windows install media is no longer needed in this process when doing it on an existing Windows 10 installation (Method Two in tutorial). Sysprep does not require install.wim file. Video is a bit old and still has the CPI Source line in example answer file, that line can be removed.

Read Method Two, use example answer file provided. The line with CPI Source (install.wim) location is no longer there.

johngalt said:

I think that what you can actually do is this:

Boot from the Windows 10 installer externally (USB / DVD), then go to audit mode, without actually installing anything, and re-do the process, this time verifying the drive letters are correct, and it should be fine.

That will not work. You can boot to Audit Mode from OOBE setup phase after the installation, not directly from boot. Alternatively you can restart to Audit Mode from desktop on an existing installation.

Daswolfen said:

How long should I expext to wait before giving up and reformatting and clean installling... NOT something I want to do, personally...

You can try hard reset (power off PC), then turning the PC back on. If it does not proceed, restore a system image backup and check your answer file and drive letter associations.

Worst case scenario is to do a clean install.

   Note

At this point a general reminder: Method Two in this tutorial starts with following sentence:

Remember to create a system image before proceeding!

That's there for exactly this reason: Sysprepping an existing Windows installation, especially if there's a lot of data in Users folder to be moved can take time and is more risky than doing Method One, relocating Users folder in a fresh clean install.

bohrar said:

I tried to do the suggested process to transfer the users but forgot to heed to the warning about assigning the drive and am now stuck in endless sysprep loop. I gather that I have to reinstall the OS using the usb drive. The computer has a flash drive where the OS was installed and a disk where I was trying to move the user profile data and where some other data was present. I want to be able to retreive the other data (not saved in user profile) that was there on the hard disk (not the flash drive).Will I be able to to that after I reinstall the OS or should I do it before the reinstall? Can someone please guide me how to do this?

I recommend you restore a system image then start from beginning.

Kari