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#11
What @NavyLCDR described does not require Sysprep because it only relocates a single user profile folder, like for instance Documents. It is done after the installation or in an existing installation from folder properties. Here's a tutorial for that: Documents Folder - Move Location in Windows 10 | Tutorials
The difference with that method and relocating the whole Users folder is, that in above mentioned method, you have to manually change the location of each user profile one by one, and repeat this for other user accounts if / when required.
The Sysprep method relocates the whole Users folder to another partition or drive. it moves all existing and all future user profiles and each and every folder in those user profiles at once. For instance, on this laptop I am using to write this, my Documents folder is E:\Users\Kari\Documents, my AppData folder is E:\Users\Kari\AppData, my Temp folder is E:\Users\Kari\AppData\Local\Temp, and so on. I have no need to manually relocate individual folders.
If I now create a new user JohnDoe, its profile folder will be automatically created on E: drive, being E:\Users\JohnDoe.
Kari
It depends on how many users you have on your computer. I only have myself on the computer, so it's no big deal to move each individual folder once after a clean install.
Just to clarify:
I am in no way against the method you have chosen, nor am I criticizing it. For some users, it's all they need.
In my case, I have on this laptop a 128 GB SSD and 1 TB HDD. For me, keeping Users folder on C: on SSD would be outright stupid. Currently, my user profile folder is over 300 GB, there's no way I could have it on C: drive.
My solution is to use SSD, the C: drive only for Windows. All software (at the moment over 70 GB) is and will be installed on the 1 TB HDD, partition D:. The same with Users folder (Currently over 300 GB), which is completely relocated to HDD to partition E:
This makes it possible to have a well working system with lots of software and user data on a system with only a 128 GB system disk (SSD). At the moment it has 64 GB free, although it contains a parent VHD for my Hyper-V differencing disks (11.4 GB), and Windows.old folder (25.2 GB, 18.1 GB on disk) because I have not yet deleted it after last Insider build upgrade a few days ago.
Deleting Windows.old would give me over 80 GB free on 128 GB system SSD, even when installed software and user data are using close to 400 GB.
Kari
@therealsimpsons,
@Kari actually posted a link to the tutorial describing how to relocate the library folders under your user folder:
Documents Folder - Move Location in Windows 10 | Tutorials
Before I started, I created a system image, and a recovery boot disk.
Something went wrong. Most assuredly on my end. I followed this tutorial to the letter. I selected my F drive as the destination folder to move the files. When I checked, the files from C drive were all in each folder that I created on F. However, the files were also still in the folders on C drive, where I expected them to be empty. When I tried to restore defaults for each folder, I got a message that said those folders; C:\user\documents, etc. no longer exist. I checked the properties on each folder (which still contained the files..it seems they were only copied, not moved) and the properties showed this: F:\documents, etc.
Where did I go wrong? I right clicked on the folder in C..selected properties..clicked location...clicked move..clicked ok...browsed to F drive and selected the folder I created..clicked ok and then yes when asked if I wanted to move all of the files.
How are you checking your C: drive? Open Explorer, on the left click on This PC. On the right double click the C: drive icon. Then Users, then your user name. If you just click on Documents or Downloads on the left side of Explorer, you are viewing the library, not the actual folder on the drive, and you library pointer should be set to your F: drive folders.
I did it! I did it! Thank you so much to the posters who contributed. I used the tutorial from Brink, and the help from NavyLCDR to accomplish my goal. I can't say enough how much I appreciate the help. It works perfectly, and my C:\ drive went down to 84GB!
I'm a happy computer user!!
I would like to add some information for future users intending to move their "C:\Users" folder to a different drive.
Firstly, I woould like to say that I have done this for years on XP and Windows 7. I did this on my Windows 10 laptop over two years ago and have had no issues at all since.
Secondly, I did come across a small problem today that had me going for a while before I figured it out, so this information is for others who may experiance the issue.
I finally decided it was time to upgrade the drive that I had the user profiles stored on (D:). I plugged in my new SSD and assigned it a drive letter (E:) in Drive Manager. All looked OK.
I used an Acronis boot USB to clone my existing hard disk to a new solid state drive. I then simply replaced the old drive with the new one, expecting it to work immediately. When I booted Windows, it asked for my password as usual, but then came up with an error message "Windows cannot find the profile" before returning to the login screen.
The solution is to refit your old HDD, reboot and go into Drive Manager. There you assign a new drive letter to the old HDD (F:) and then assign the correct letter to the new SSD (D:). Ignore all the warnings that come up, Shutdown when done, and remove the old HDD. Reboot and everything works fine.
So, it seems that my problem was simply caused by me initially plugging the drive in and assigning a drive letter. However, it occurs to me that you may still need to go through this procedure when you replace the profiles drive even if this step is missed out. I'm guessing that Windows uses the GUID (Globally Unique IDentifier) of the drive to identify which drive to assign the C:, D:, etc., letters to during boot.
HTH :)