[SOLVED] Windows directories on both C and D after redirecting Documents, etc. to D:? Help

[SimiGuy]

After setting up \user data (Documents, Music, Videos, Pictures, Desktop and Contacts) to D:, I ended up with Windows directories on both C and D? I did this via the Property settings and just entering the new patch. I my have set Documents from within MS Word. I can not recall. The last couple of items I did were Desktop and Contacts after doing a bit of research and I suspect this might be the culprit. I did not expect to see the Windows and Sub-Directories as well as Windows.old directory show up on the D: drive. This is a new system build and just a hand full of programs installed and in the process of setting up the directory structure before migrating data off of a Windows 7 machine manually directory by directory over the LAN. This is the first time I have ever separated my data to a separate drive and I am new to Windows 10, so I am not certain this is a problem, but pretty sure it is. Any help and direction would sure be appreciated.

 

[Colif]

type "restore" then open "create a restore point"
create a new Restore Point now for C-drive
then open the newest restore point that is prior to the problem happening (if you have one)

that should fix it.

how are you moving them? what folders?
most applications will need to be reinstalled to work in 10.

this is how to move user folders - https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1964-move-users-folder-location-windows-10-a.html (I have not done this myself)

 

[SimiGuy]

type "restore" then open "create a restore point"
create a new Restore Point now for C-drive
then open the newest restore point that is prior to the problem happening (if you have one)

that should fix it.

how are you moving them? what folders?
most applications will need to be reinstalled to work in 10.

this is how to move user folders - https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1964-move-users-folder-location-windows-10-a.html (I have not done this myself)

Unfortunately, I never got to setting a Restore Point. My Bad for sure. The system is running like a dream. I really hate to start over from scratch, but if that is what I need to do to make the system right, I certainly will do so and really appreciate your help and advice. I just wanted to doublecheck with you before I take that next step. I am providing a Snapshot Link below of my directory structure, both C & D. I have marked the items I redirected with Green arrows and the last two redirected in Yellow arrows.
The items I did not redirect and were unexpected and thought to be the problem are the items with the Red arrows.

C & D Directory Structure Snapshot

For the life of me, I could not figure out how to embed the picture, so I had to upload the picture to a site and provide the link. Sorry about that.

By the way, you mention above that you have not used that procedure yourself, but in the tutorial you mention "Personally, when installing Windows I always use Audit Mode to relocate Users folder, leaving system drive only for Windows and applications." This is exactly my goal. What process do you use to do this?

Thx Again....

 

[USAFRet]

Forcing redirection of the Libraries used to be a good idea. Years ago.
I even wrote a couple of tutorials on how to do it...Win 7&8, and 8.1& 10. Procedures were different.
Today, not so much.

Applications and Windows have gotten a LOT better at managing multiple drives.
There is little need to actually redirect those.

And moving the whole /Users/ folder was never a good idea.

 

[SimiGuy]

Unfortunately, I never got to setting a Restore Point. My Bad for sure. The system is running like a dream. I really hate to start over from scratch, but if that is what I need to do to make the system right, I certainly will do so and really appreciate your help and advice. I just wanted to doublecheck with you before I take that next step. I am providing a Snapshot Link below of my directory structure, both C & D. I have marked the items I redirected with Green arrows and the last two redirected in Yellow arrows.
The items I did not redirect and were unexpected and thought to be the problem are the items with the Red arrows.

C & D Directory Structure Snapshot

For the life of me, I could not figure out how to embed the picture, so I had to upload the picture to a site and provide the link. Sorry about that.

By the way, you mention above that you have not used that procedure yourself, but in the tutorial you mention "Personally, when installing Windows I always use Audit Mode to relocate Users folder, leaving system drive only for Windows and applications." This is exactly my goal. What process do you use to do this?

Thx Again....

By the way, to answer your question, I was going into the properties and changing the path rather than doing an actual move. That was advice found here in the forums. It was recommended to move just the Documents, Pictures, Music & Videos I believe, but further investigation led me to believe I could change the path of the Desktop and Contacts and I wonder if one of those two may have caused the problem. I have no idea. If I can do the entire User directory, that would be great. I have read so many conflicting things my head is spinning.
Thank you.

 

[USAFRet]

By the way, to answer your question, I was going into the properties and changing the path rather than doing an actual move. That was advice found here in the forums. It was recommended to move just the Documents, Pictures, Music & Videos I believe, but further investigation led me to believe I could change the path of the Desktop and Contacts and I wonder if one of those two may have caused the problem. I have no idea. If I can do the entire User directory, that would be great. I have read so many conflicting things my head is spinning.
Thank you.

Where did you change this path?
And what link led you to do this?

 

[USAFRet]

If I can do the entire User directory, that would be great.

Don't do that. Many things will break.

 

[SimiGuy]

Where did you change this path?
And what link led you to do this?

Here is a snapshot.
Properties

 

[USAFRet]

Here is a snapshot.
Properties

Andyou created that folder before you went into Locations?

 

[SimiGuy]

Here is a snapshot.
Properties

C & D Directory Structure Snapshot

 

[USAFRet]

What size is the C drive, and why were you wanting to redirect this stuff?

What currently does not work?

 

[SimiGuy]

What size is the C drive, and why were you wanting to redirect this stuff?

What currently does not work?

This is a new AMD 5600G system build migrating away from Windows 7 ages old system and even much older data recovered over and over again system to system. I decided to start from scratch and move only things that needed to come over and build a directory structure that made sense from the beginning and I could recover from easily and backup easily. From all research I had read, it appeared that keeping the OS separate from Data was the current thing to do. So, I put a 256GB SSD in as C: for OS / Applications and 1TB SSD in as D: for Data and a couple of Hard disks in for extra measure for alternative Archiving and local family Plex Server purposes.
The system is running beautifully, but after I got the last couple of paths entered and checked the d: directory structure, all of a sudden, I saw all the extra Windows related directories showing up and I was pretty sure I was not supposed to have redirected the Desktop, Contacts or something like that, thus my reach out for help and advice. I just want to know things are correct going forward and if not, know how to correct it.

See hard disk management snapshot below.
Disk Management Structure

Thank you.

 

[USAFRet]

Redirecting those libs to a different drive does not necessarily remove those entries from the C drive.

Keeping the OS on one drive and data on others is fine.
But we don't need to do all that redirection any more.

Applications have gotten really good at doing that on their own.

Save something off on some other drive.
The next time you use that application, it will prompt for that same 'other drive and folder'.

Browser downloads? That setting is directly in each browser.
Mine are set to save to a whole different system on the LAN. All house systems save downloads through the browser to that common location on the NAS.

In your case, I would see If you can return those Locations back to the default.

Then, just start to save things off on whatever drive you choose.

My system has 6x drives, each for their own purpose.
My main CAD application saves to the G drive, photo (Adobe Lightroom) saves to the H, etc.

 

[SimiGuy]

Redirecting those libs to a different drive does not necessarily remove those entries from the C drive.

Keeping the OS on one drive and data on others is fine.
But we don't need to do all that redirection any more.

Applications have gotten really good at doing that on their own.

Save something off on some other drive.
The next time you use that application, it will prompt for that same 'other drive and folder'.

Browser downloads? That setting is directly in each browser.
Mine are set to save to a whole different system on the LAN. All house systems save downloads through the browser to that common location on the NAS.

In your case, I would see If you can return those Locations back to the default.

Then, just start to save things off on whatever drive you choose.

My system has 6x drives, each for their own purpose.
My main CAD application saves to the G drive, photo (Adobe Lightroom) saves to the H, etc.

OK. I have put things back to the C: drive. I restarted the computer and checked drive d: and all of the Windows directory related files are still in place. Everything I changed the path to has moved just fine.
Thinking back, since the D: drive did not originally have any folders on it when I originally started the redirection process and I had changed the path to d: and all of those items are in the User directory, does this somehow bring all of those other Windows related directories over as well for some reason? Those directories are a problem, correct and should not be there? I assume they will cause some type of problem and are related to some type of registry entries that may mess things up in the future?
Here is a snapshot of D: drive as it stands now.
D Drive
The Documents directory appears to be a virtual as it is in both C and D and can not be changed in Properties. I had changed it to D: in MS Word 2019, but it is somehow back to C:
Once I know what to do about all the extra directories on the D drive, I will know my next steps forward.
Thank you.

 

[USAFRet]

Once I know what to do about all the extra directories on the D drive, I will know my next steps forward.

Currently, what else is on the D drive?

If nothing really, I'd consider formatting that whole drive and starting over.

 

[SimiGuy]

Currently, what else is on the D drive?

If nothing really, I'd consider formatting that whole drive and starting over.

Once I figure out what to do about the virtual Document directory and undoing that, I have everything backed up and only the Documents are the possible data items and they are few. What about the Windows installation on the C: drive and how will formatting the D: drive impact the registry, etc. Won't that louse things up? Or, are you suggesting reload Windows on C: too.?

 

[USAFRet]

Once I figure out what to do about the virtual Document directory and undoing that, I have everything backed up and only the Documents are the possible data items and they are few. What about the Windows installation on the C: drive and how will formatting the D: drive impact the registry, etc. Won't that louse things up? Or, are you suggesting reload Windows on C: too.?

No, leave the OS on the C drive alone.

As a test, to simulate formatting the D, disconnect the D drive.
Does everything still work OK?

 

[SimiGuy]

No, leave the OS on the C drive alone.

As a test, to simulate formatting the D, disconnect the D drive.
Does everything still work OK?

That step will take me a while. I will need to get back to you. D: is an SSD and will need to be removed from the motherboard for that test. Thx.

 

[SimiGuy]

That step will take me a while. I will need to get back to you. D: is an SSD and will need to be removed from the motherboard for that test. Thx.

After pulling the SSD and testing the system out everything ran well. I did have to clean up a couple of items that were on the desktop that were short cuts etc. but very minor that were directing to the D Dr. that I noticed in the recent folder. But that took care of everything. I reinstalled the SSD formatted and everything was clean at that point and moving forward from there. Thanks for your help. Much appreciated.