Correct way of moving Users to new partition

[rakoth]

I just finished a new build and installed Windows 7 RC. On my 500GB drive I created two partitions, one 125GB for the OS and programs, and the other one for user data.

I want to move the entire Users directory to the large partition. I've done some searching on the topic but am unsure of the correct way of doing this, i.e., some people imply that a registry change is required as part of the move. Can someone explain how to do this or point me to a good set of instructions. Thanks.

 

[slo]

In windows 7 they are called libraries.
Right click on the library (eg. documents)
click on include folder
Select a folder on the larger partition
select in and click on set save location
remove the folder that is in the OS partition

This will not move the folders. It will change where the documents music movies etc are saved but will not affect where user specific aplication files are stored (am not sure whether that is possible).
Doing this means all the data is saved in the second partition but there is a folder called Appdata that has data from applications installed that cannot be changed.

 

[sminlal]

I want to move the entire Users directory to the large partition. I've done some searching on the topic but am unsure of the correct way of doing this, i.e., some people imply that a registry change is required as part of the move. Can someone explain how to do this or point me to a good set of instructions. Thanks.

Here's what I do:

- Run RegEdit
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
- Change the value of ProfilesDirectory from "%SystemDrive%\..." to "D:\Users" (or whatever drive\folder you want)

This will NOT move existing users. I make this change after the initial install, so the initial administrative account remains under "C:\Users", while all subsequently created users go onto the configured drive.

I prefer it this way because as long as the system is bootable I can log on to the administrative account and do things even if the data drives die.

 

[rakoth]

Thanks. I found you can do an equivalent operation by right-clicking on the folder (e.g. My Music), selecting the Location tab and using the Move command. The only folders for which this cannot be done are AppData, Contacts and Desktop. I had hoped to keep email on the new partition too but I may need to live with this setup.

What I'm not sure about - and will explore shortly - is whether the permissions are maintained.

Do you know if there is any way to set the defaults so new users will have their Documents, Music, etc folders on the new partition. My guess is there is a registry setting for this.

 

[rakoth]

Here's what I do:

- Run RegEdit
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
- Change the value of ProfilesDirectory from "%SystemDrive%\..." to "D:\Users" (or whatever drive\folder you want)

This will NOT move existing users. I make this change after the initial install, so the initial administrative account remains under "C:\Users", while all subsequently created users go onto the configured drive.

I prefer it this way because as long as the system is bootable I can log on to the administrative account and do things even if the data drives die.

Excellent. Thanks.