Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10  

Michael833 said:

Definitely noted. Sadly when I tried to do a fresh install, it asked me for a key which didn't work. And there was no option to skip as shown in the video. So I used my backup and got back to this (already installed) version with the User folder in a less-optimal location. Am I missing something that would allow me to bypass the need for a fresh key? The CD I created with Windows Media Creation Tool doesn't seem to be doing the trick. Is there some other way to create that CD (from inside Win10 as opposed to inside Win7, etc) that would allow me to bypass the need for the key on a system that already has Win 10 and is using the same hardware?

Or should I try to "Reset This PC"? I've read that this is like a fresh install (I have my files backed up elsewhere), but I'm not sure it will go as far as letting me get into Audit Mode as a fresh install would.

As far as I know, it should always have the option listed when performing a clean install "I don't have a key". It's been that way for me every clean install I have done in that last 2 years (around 25 clean installs).

Soapm said:

This isn't working for me either, fyi... I have to use CTRL + SHFT + FN + F3 to get into audit mode. Just saying in case anyone runs into my same situation...

Anyway, I created the relocate.xml file and used my newly created H: drive for my user profiles. Nothing was on the partition which is what I mean by newly created, I used disk manager to create the partition and assign it the letter H:.

After the reboot it gets to where Cortona says, "Now let's see what's new". Then I get a screen that says, "Something went wrong" with an error in yellow that says, "OOBEEULA".

These results were consistent over three attempts, each time I got the same results. I finally loaded the OS without this step and it loaded just fine so there is something in this step that's causing the error.

This is my relocate file in case something's wrong with it...

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>H:\Users\</ProfilesDirectory>
</FolderLocations>
</component>
</settings>
</unattend>

The reason you have to press Fn is because your device, which I assume is a laptop, has the F-keys mapped to device functions as default in the BIOS< and you need to hold Fn whenever you want to actually use the F-keys *as* F-keys. This can be changed if you want, with the steps to do so depending upon your manufacturer.

As for the error - did you verify that after reboot and starting setup that your newly created partition was still, in fact, H?

ouno said:

Hello,

I followed this tutorial to perform a fresh Windows 10 1809 install with users folders located on a different drive (method 1). This works perfectly except that I'm unable to perform system restore from any restore point. The restore process seems to work correctly except that once Windows restarts to finalize the operation I get this error (translated from french):

Code:

System restore could not be performed. Files and settings haven't been modified.

Details:
An undetermined error occurred during system restore. (0x80070003)

Is there a way to make system restore works with relocated users folders ? (I already enabled system protection for the volume containing the users folder).

Thanks !

Interesting. I've never had a problem with RS working, but I've also used it extremely rarely.

Soapm said:

That makes sense, how do I verify that it's still H after the reboot? It's in that portion where Cortona is talking you through the setup, and at the top it just changes from basic to network, do I go into audit mode again??? Or is there another key combination that will allow me to see what's going on?

In method One, step 2, the red warning talks about this issue explicitly.

I may have seen my problem, looking at the code I posted from my relocate.xml file, I have an extra backslash that isn't in the first post. I'm going to see if maybe that makes a difference.

Code:

<ProfilesDirectory>H:\Users\</ProfilesDirectory>

<ProfilesDirectory>H:\Users \ </ProfilesDirectory>

Interesting. I've seen the \Users tree created on C:, but it only had a single folder in it, Administrator, so I just left it alone.

I did a reg search for C:\Users and did find numerous links to C:\Users\{My username} but that actual folder does not exist.

And when using Method One, on a clean install, that folder never gets created to begin with, because the sysprep audit mode is used to move \Users before you ever create a user.

Not sure why you're having issues. Maybe @Kari has some insight.