Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10  


  1. Posts : 78
    Windows 10 Pro
       #600

    Thanks Kari.
    I just watched tutorials on how to do this and will do a system backup prior to changing these Environmental Variables. Then I'll see how it goes.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 9
    Windows 10
       #601

    Hi Kari!

    I'm having serious problems trying to move my Users folder. I'm trying to do this on a freshly installed Windows 10 Home, but for the last two evenings/nights, I haven't been able to achieve anything. Please check my .xml file for any errors. I'm trying to move my Users folder from C: to F:. My installation media is in D: drive which is Windows 10 installation DVD I used to install the OS. Everything should be right yes? However, everytime sysprep shows a fatal error and nothing gets done. Network cable isn't connected while installing OS. F: drive is empty and WMP network sharing service stopped. Really hoping to get some advice on this since I've wasted two nights fighting with this.

    Thanks in advance!

    <?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>F:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
    </FolderLocations>
    </component>
    </settings>
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:D:\sources\install.wim#Windows 10” xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
    </unattend>
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 3
    Windows 10
       #602

    Figured it out


    Kari,
    Just wanted to let you know I figured out my issue. It had something to do with the files and folders that were already on the drive I was moving the profiles to. I moved all of the data off of the drive and formatted it and then followed the steps again and everything worked perfect and no security warnings. I then moved my data back to the drive without any issues. Probably something to do with the owner and user accounts on the folders from the previous Windows 10 install. Thanks for the tutorial and support.


    86nymets said:
    Thanks for the reply. Yeah that is the only suggestion I could find on the web but have tried it multiple ways and it doesn't fix the issue. I also just noticed that every app I pin to the taskbar gives a similar error with different dialog window. Very frustrating. I have done the Windows install three times and each time I get the same results. Everything is great except for this warning dialog. I also included the yellow dialog screenshot just because I forgot it on my original post about the desktop Profile folder. Any ideas are appreciated.

    Attachment 82654 Attachment 82655
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #603

    Patti12 said:
    Hi Kari!

    I'm having serious problems trying to move my Users folder. I'm trying to do this on a freshly installed Windows 10 Home, but for the last two evenings/nights, I haven't been able to achieve anything. Please check my .xml file for any errors. I'm trying to move my Users folder from C: to F:. My installation media is in D: drive which is Windows 10 installation DVD I used to install the OS. Everything should be right yes? However, everytime sysprep shows a fatal error and nothing gets done. Network cable isn't connected while installing OS. F: drive is empty and WMP network sharing service stopped. Really hoping to get some advice on this since I've wasted two nights fighting with this.

    Thanks in advance!
    Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10-fin_small_transparent.png

    Moi Patti, mukava nähdä uusia suomalaisia täällä :)


    Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10-en-us_small_transparent.png

    Hi Patti, nice to see new fellow Finns here :)

    The answer file is correct, assuming that your Windows is a 64 bit version, optical (DVD) drive is D: and the F: drive exists and is a hard disk or SSD, not a removable drive like for instance a flash drive or SD card.

    My suggestion: once again, boot to Audit Mode, run Sysprep letting it fail. When it fails, copy the file C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Panther folder to your desktop. Right click it on desktop, select Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder:
    Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10-2016_06_11_09_13_531.png

    Attach the ZIP file in your next post. The Panther folder contains all possible Sysprep error logs to let us check them for the reason for Sysprep failing.

    Kari
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #604

    @ShezaEU, about the topic we discussed earlier, if the target drive should be empty or not.

    Just to keep this more logical to read, I quote our earlier conversation:

    Kari said:
    ShezaEU said:
    Secondly, is it actually necessary to have the target drive be completely empty? I have files on it that I don't want to remove, but are not critical (in case they get deleted somehow). But is it a necessity that the drive be totally empty? It would save me many, many hours re-downloading my Steam library, for example.


    Thanks in advance, I hope you can answer my queries!
    It is not absolutely necessary.

    I apologize now, I do not want to sound patronizing, just lazy , but the fact is that telling you geeks (some of you have never done anything like this) to be sure the target disk or partition is empty, I have saved a lot of unnecessary answering to posts with issues.

    In fact you can even have the user profiles from several Windows installations on the same target disk. I've had a triple boot Windows 7 / 8.1 / 10 system where the user profiles of all three operating systems have been relocated to same disk. It requires some tweaking but it can be done.

    Based on the above, this is "the official statement", the scenario I promise to work and promise to support and give assistance when something does not work as expected:

    • Be sure to backup all your personal, important data from the target disk to a safe location and finally make the disk empty
    • If the above is not possible, be sure move all files from the root of the disk to folders (when opened in Explorer, the disk should only show folders, no files)
    • Be sure the target disk does not contain any system files and folders from any other Windows installation
    • Be sure the target disk has enough space free for your Users folder

    What the above means: If you have no external storage to backup the disk and make it empty, you proceed at your own risk. It will work, though, in most cases, this is just me being cautious. If (unlikely) something happens, I will not accept responsibility, being accused of your lost Steam library :)
    Now another member posted this:


    86nymets said:
    Just wanted to let you know I figured out my issue. It had something to do with the files and folders that were already on the drive I was moving the profiles to. I moved all of the data off of the drive and formatted it and then followed the steps again and everything worked perfect and no security warnings. I then moved my data back to the drive without any issues. Probably something to do with the owner and user accounts on the folders from the previous Windows 10 install. Thanks for the tutorial and support.
    @86nymets, thanks for posting your solution. It confirms what I have repeatedly told in this thread.

    Kari
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 2
    Windows Se7en
       #605

    So ... can anybody help me with my question from last week?

    TIA!

    brett
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #606

    brettjv said:
    So ... can anybody help me with my question from last week?

    TIA!

    brett
    Yes, you can upgrade even if Windows 7 Users folder is located to another drive and yes, of course that drive must be connected when upgrading.

    If the ProgramData is also relocated, which is possible in Windows 7, it must be moved back to C: before upgrading.

    Make a system image before starting the upgrade, in case something goes unexpected. This is most unlikely, but if something unlikely happens and your next post is "It didn't work", I will ask you to post the log files to check what was wrong, ask you to restore the system image and try again when we have first fixed the issue that prevented upgrade :)
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1
    windows 10
       #607

    hi Kari,
    thank you so much for your topic. I do follow and get successful on windows 10. But I want to change the default installation location too. You used to point that programs must be installed on its default drive C: .Can we change by adding the text location in relocate.xml? thank you very much.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #608

    thanhgiay said:
    hi Kari,
    thank you so much for your topic. I do follow and get successful on windows 10. But I want to change the default installation location too. You used to point that programs must be installed on its default drive C: .Can we change by adding the text location in relocate.xml? thank you very much.
    No. Only the Users folder can be relocated with Sysprep process. It is not recommended to move any other system folders.

    Kari
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 10
    Windows 10
       #609

    Hello Kari, my laptop is stuck booting into the Admin ID. But at least the user files are no longer on the C-drive. Here is the background…

    I am preparing my Acer laptop for a new msata SSD. The laptop has a 24GB SSD expresscache today. I want to use a 120GB SSD for the Windows 10 Home system and have the user files on the 500GB HD. I already have the C-drive partition down to 100GB. And I already worked my way through your tutorials for “Move Users Profile Folder to another Location in Windows 10”. Since the laptop originally had Windows 8 on it, I used your instructions to delete the “upgrade” references from the registry. I already had install.wim for recovery purposes on a small E: partition. I created a D: partition to take the user files. There is no DVD drive.

    I got Sysprep underway with relocate.xml as described in your Method Two video. The hard disk was busy for a while. But eventually it brought me to the screen to enter the Windows product key. I had already used “showkeyplus” to get the installed upgrade key in case I needed it. But first, like you did, I tried clicking only that I would enter the details later. But no matter what I tried… not entering the key… entering the key… Windows kept bringing me back to the screen to enter the product key.

    Eventually, I hit Ctrl-Shift-F3 and booted into the Admin ID. From there, I reactivated the user accounts, signed out of Admin, and into the main user account. From there I deactivated the Admin account.

    The user account mostly looked good. The only AppData info left on on the C-drive was for Windows store apps. Though, when I opened Outlook 2016, is started filling up OST files on the C-drive. At least OneDrive took to the D-drive well enough, though I had to reinstall it.

    I never went through or got to the whole temporary account process.

    And when I rebooted, I was brought back into the Admin ID. So, using your EightForums tutorial for “Computer Keeps Booting Into SysPrep”, I changed “cleanupstate” from 2 to 7. But I had no joy. The laptop kept booting into Admin… Eventually, at 3am, I called it quits for the evening.

    Can you help? Any advice? Thanks much.
      My Computer


 

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