Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10  


  1. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #550

    canufrank said:
    With clean install (deleted all partitions), using the same iso (10586), I never get back to the OOBE screen after running sysprep. Instead it fails while on the Windows logo with a blank-body/blank-button error (X) dialog titled Windows Install. Escaping it gives 2 successive "Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer, restart the installation" error messages. Escaping them causes a reboot and the loop restarts with the blank error dialog.
    The highlighted error message in above quote, shown after sysprep when rebooting to OOBE, it always (without an exception) means that Windows is not able to follow the instructions in answer file for one of the following reasons:
    • A syntax error or typo in answer file
    • An SSD card or flash drive is used as target for a system file or folder (it's a no go, it must be HDD or SSD)
    • Non-existing resource
    • No access to resource

    In your case, reading that your optical drive is E: and Users folder trying to be relocated to D: drive, I suspect the last item on the above list.

    Before explaining this a bit more, here's a warning as it can be seen in tutorial:

    warning   Warning
    If you intend to use drive D: as the location for the relocated Users folder, please read this before proceeding!

    Windows "likes" to set the the drive ID letters like this:
    • 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 might find that the D: is an optical drive and your intended drive D: is now E:, sysprep fails and you have to reinstall.

    To be sure you are 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 especially important for those wanting to use drive D: for relocated Users folder.

    Quite often even when you see your hard drives as C: and D: and optical drive as E: when in Audit Mode, after sysprepping the installation, the system before it starts OOBE sets the hard drives as C: and E: giving D: to your optical drive. As the optical drive cannot be used to store a system folder, OOBE fails and the error message you got is shown.

    The above warning in the tutorial is meant to be taken seriously! If your target for Users is D: drive, always (I repeat: always!) set the drive ID letters manually in Audit Mode. If your Disk Management shows hard drive D: and optical drive E:, don't take it at its face value. Change the letters to something else, close Disk Management, reopen it and set the letters back to D: and E:.

    Kari
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 4
    Win10 Pro
       #551

    Kari said:
    The highlighted error message in above quote, shown after sysprep when rebooting to OOBE, it always (without an exception) means that Windows is not able to follow the instructions in answer file for one of the following reasons...
    Kari
    Hi Kari, I meant to update... The problem wasn't the D: drive. (I assigned drive letters long ago.) The problem was with the E: drive- even though it appeared as E: when running diskmgmt. I suspect that it wasn't being mounted early enough. A simple workaround was to copy install.wim to the D: drive too. (In fact, I copied the entire sources directory.) I suspect that others with non-sata drives might encounter the same thing.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Enterprise
       #552

    My preference is to do a fresh install, but they don't want to give up their machine again. I'm going to give it a shot and will report back with the results. Again, thank you very much for your help.
    Kari said:
    See the last part of this tutorial, titled Upgrade. In that part you'll find instructions on moving the Users folder back to C: drive, although personally I would do it by clean installing Windows.

    Kari
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Enterprise
       #553

    @Kari I was able to move the 'Users' folder back to the original location (C:\Users) without too much problem. I did have to reinstall/configure Microsoft Office 2016 since the mail profile was using the previous location 'D:\Users\User.Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook' which was now incorrect. That was the only issue I encountered; so I'm thrilled with the results. Thank you Kari!!!
    JohnStl said:
    My preference is to do a fresh install, but they don't want to give up their machine again. I'm going to give it a shot and will report back with the results. Again, thank you very much for your help.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #554

    JohnStl said:
    I was able to move the 'Users' folder back to the original location (C:\Users) without too much problem.
    You are welcome. Good to know it went smoothly :)
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 13
    Win10x64,Mint KDE,VMware-"Stuff"
       #555

    Outlook and Word issues


    JohnStl said:
    @Kari I was able to move the 'Users' folder back to the original location (C:\Users) without too much problem. I did have to reinstall/configure Microsoft Office 2016 since the mail profile was using the previous location 'D:\Users\User.Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook' which was now incorrect. That was the only issue I encountered; so I'm thrilled with the results. Thank you Kari!!!
    I had similar issues and finally resolved them by editing the registry from pointing to C: to this.
    G:\Users\[My Username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache
    G: being my new user folder location
    I have some other weird issues relating to duplicate C: drives appearing in the left viewing pane and some program niggles
    but that will no doubt be my own fault.......
    The tutorial was great- "Thanks Kari"
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 2
    Win1
       #556

    Hello. Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer, restart the installation" error messages. Escaping them causes a reboot and the loop restarts with the blank error dialog.

    How can I drop it and start the Windows normally? Thank you for your answer!
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #557

    kegloadam said:
    Hello. Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer, restart the installation" error messages. Escaping them causes a reboot and the loop restarts with the blank error dialog.

    How can I drop it and start the Windows normally? Thank you for your answer!
    The error message means something is wrong in your answer file. The most common mistake is if you are trying to use drive D: for the USers folder, Windows cannot find it. The reason is explained in this warning in tutorial (Method One, Step 2):

    warning   Warning
    If you intend to use drive D: as the location for the relocated Users folder, please read this before proceeding!

    Windows "likes" to set the the drive ID letters like this:
    • 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 might find that the D: is an optical drive and your intended drive D: is now E:, sysprep fails and you have to reinstall.

    To be sure you are 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 especially important for those wanting to use drive D: for relocated Users folder.


    You need to shutdown the PC and reinstall Windows. If you were doing this on an existing Windows installation, you need to restore an earlier system image.

    Kari
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 2
    Win1
       #558

    Ok. Thank you. But is it possible somehow to roll back this and not to change de dir and start the Windows?
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #559

    kegloadam said:
    Ok. Thank you. But is it possible somehow to roll back this and not to change de dir and start the Windows?
    No, it's not possible.
      My Computer


 

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