New
#150
In your case the best and safest approach would be:
- Remove all possible juntions / symlinks you might have
- If you changed location of any personal folders to another drive with Location tab in folder properties, set all back to defaults in C:\Users
- Copy the content of D:\Users to an external drive, format D:
- Upgrade to Windows 10, enter Audit Mode from the Settings dialog after the last reboot
- Run the sysprep to relocate Users
- When back in the OOBE phase, please read Method Two Step 3 to see why you need to use a "dummy" user account when finalizing the Windows 10 installation
This warning has now been added to the tutorial:
WarningIf you intend to use drive D: as the location for the relocated Users folder, please read this before proceeding!
When Windows is sysprepped it resets the drive ID letters to default:
- Drive C: > The system drive where Windows will be installed
- Drive D: > First optical drive (CD / DVD drive)
- Drive E: > Second partition on the same disk where the C: is located, or in case that disk only has one partition, the first partition on the secondary disk
Now when you sysprep telling it to move the Users to D: drive, after the reboot Windows finds that the D: is an optical drive and your intended drive D: is now E:, sysprep fails and you have to reinstall.
To be able to use drive D: for the relocated Users folder you need to set the drive letters manually before the sysprep is run. In Audit Mode you can do this for instance with Disk Management by manually changing the drive letters:
- Change the optical drive letter to something at the end of the alphabet, I use X:
- Change the drive letter of the partition or disk you intend to use for the Users folder to D:
- If the partition or disk you want to use already has a letter D:, change it to something else, close the Disk Management, open it again and change the letter back to D:
See the tutorial at our sister site the Seven Forums: Drive Letter - Add, Change, or Remove in Windows - Windows 7 Help Forums
I recommend to always set drive letters manually to override the defaults but this is extremely important for those wanting to use drive D: for relocated Users folder.
Kari