W7 Everything on D except Progs\W7

mick4545

mick4545

mick4545

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On my new build for W7 I will have a small SSD for windows and programs. Ideally I would like the whole Owner profile and all data on HD D:. If possible I want no activity on C: except reading windows and program files. Is this possible?

I've investigated this on Vista and am hoping its going to be easier on W7.

Mick
 
It is possible. But the technicalities illude me at the moment.

Basically you create a logon account that you dont intend on using, then you go into the registry and change a jey that points user accounts at C:\Users to D:\whatever and then you create your own user account. Log off, log on as you, then delete the first account. This will then put your profile and the profiles of everyone else you setup on folders on the D drive.

But I cant for the life of me remember the key.
 
I would be very much interested in finding out on this as well if anyone has anymore information.

in the past I have just created folders on the 2nd drive and had to manually remember to change installation paths to install programs there etc, if Windows could do it automatically that would be ace.
 
It seems you want to do things differently to me, I want all of my programs on C and all data and other files on D. It don't look as though its going to be easy. I was hoping W7 would make things easier, as it knows that SSD exist.
 
Sorry i gave a bad example, I would like the same as you, so that if I goto my documents it accesses drive D, same as my music, pictures, downloads etc. Would like to just have my SSD's for windows and installed apps and games.
 
I remember looking into trying to do this in Vista when I first upgraded (OS, Program Files etc on C:\ and all my documents on D:\) but I remember that it isn't as simple as you would think. I would be really interested if someone manages to do it in W7!
 
m4cc45 said:
Rather than me explaining it's easier to post a link:

http://www.starkeith.net/coredump/2009/05/18/how-to-move-your-windows-user-profile-to-another-drive/



M.
Click to expand...

That looks promising, and extremely simple as well. I'm guessing this would basically make your Desktop run from D:\ (or whatever drive you're using) as well?

Might do it myself if that's the case - I tend to put the stuff I'm 'working with' on the desktop and move it to it's proper location on my data drive when necessary, however that's no good if my RAID array was to fail before I copied it over. My data drive also gets backed up every night, I wouldn't mind my desktop and entire profile being included in that backup.

I'm guessing it'd be possible using a live Linux/Window disc instead of making a whole new account? Saying that, it's probably just easier to make the new account and do it as described in the link.
 
Last edited:
Just finished doing this on my Vista build, and it's working perfectly.

There are some things you need to remember though, else it won't work.

There are a few files that only show up when you uncheck "Hide protected operating system files". If these files don't get copied across then your profile won't work. The guide that m4cc45 posted only mentions that you need to unhide files, I didn't see anything mentioned on unhiding protected operating system files.

Also, I wasn't able to move my AppData folder to the temporary location while booted in 'normal mode' under the Temp account. I had to boot into safe mode, and into my Temp account to move the AppData folder.

Other than those deviations it all worked really smoothly, I personally did it in this order:

  1. Create the temporary account
  2. Boot into safe mode and log into the temporary account
  3. Rename C:\Users\Craig to C:\Users\Craig-Temp
  4. Copy all files from C:\Users\Craig-Temp into D:\Craig-Temp
  5. Create D:\Craig (do not create C:\Users\Craig - mklink will do that for you)
  6. Start > Run > cmd > mklink /J C:\Users\Craig D:\Craig
  7. Move all files from D:\Craig-Temp to D:\Craig - this should be pretty much instant as it's to/from the same drive
  8. Boot back into normal mode, delete the Temp account

Doing it this way you still have a copy of your profile on the C:\ drive - if anything goes wrong boot back into safe mode, delete C:\Users\Craig and rename C:\Users\Craig-Temp back to C:\Users\Craig
 
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