Move windows profile folder to a new location after first install
Original of this guide exist in
http://joshmouch.wordpress.com/2007/04/07/change-user-profile-folder-location-in-vista/.
I have changed some parts and omitted others to suit my purpose.
[...]
I wanted my actual user profile folder to be moved to a seperate
partition/volume, including registry settings. I discovered that it is
not actually that hard, provided you're comfortable with mass replacing
registry keys and values.
Here is how to move profile location. Please note that following will
move /all/ of the profiles, included Public and Default, so some of
these steps can be skipped if you do not want that (Please follow these
steps right after a new installation. If you have been using windows for
a while, moving existing profiles can be *PITA*!):
1. Make sure you have a complete backup of your system! Again, right
after installing windows, and all the other software that you use
regularly (Office programs, web browsers, email clients,
archiever, etc.), take an image of the harddrive.
2. Copy the original Default Profile directory to the new location
(e.g. from *C:\Users\Default* to *D:\Users\Default*).
3. Copy the original Public Profile directory to the new location
(e.g. from *C:\Users\Public* to *D:\Users\Public*).
4. Go to registry editor (win + R key and type regedit.exe) and
navigate to *
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList*.
5. Change the value of the *Default* key to the new user profile
location (e.g. *D:\Users\Default*).
6. Change the value of the *Public* key to the new user profile
location (e.g. *D:\Users\Public*).
7. Change the value of the *ProfilesDirectory* to the new user
profile location (e.g. *D:\Users*).
8. Now create a new administrator account here, make it admin or sth
to make sure that you will remember when loggin in after the next
step.
9. *R**estart *and log back in as the admin user you created in
previous step.
10. After logging in for the first time with the new user account, you
will see "Creating Desktop" and other things like that while
Windows is creating your profile. Note that the new profile should
be created in the new location. Check this to make sure everything
is working properly. Now create a standard user (I strongly
suggest you do this as it is a good security measure) that will be
the one account you will be using your computer with.
11. Now logout of the admin account and login with the newly created
standard user.
12. All the programs should be running now. Try each and every program
that you would use Firefox, Thunderbird, Office, ...
13. After making sure eveything is working, may I suggest you create
another image of the system disk, as things are now different
(profile location is different from the first image). Now whenever
you have problems with the OS, I am sure loading this second image
would clear the problems out (I have never tried this yet, but I
think it should work properly).
http://joshmouch.wordpress.com/2007/04/07/change-user-profile-folder-location-in-vista/.
I have changed some parts and omitted others to suit my purpose.
[...]
I wanted my actual user profile folder to be moved to a seperate
partition/volume, including registry settings. I discovered that it is
not actually that hard, provided you're comfortable with mass replacing
registry keys and values.
Here is how to move profile location. Please note that following will
move /all/ of the profiles, included Public and Default, so some of
these steps can be skipped if you do not want that (Please follow these
steps right after a new installation. If you have been using windows for
a while, moving existing profiles can be *PITA*!):
1. Make sure you have a complete backup of your system! Again, right
after installing windows, and all the other software that you use
regularly (Office programs, web browsers, email clients,
archiever, etc.), take an image of the harddrive.
2. Copy the original Default Profile directory to the new location
(e.g. from *C:\Users\Default* to *D:\Users\Default*).
3. Copy the original Public Profile directory to the new location
(e.g. from *C:\Users\Public* to *D:\Users\Public*).
4. Go to registry editor (win + R key and type regedit.exe) and
navigate to *
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList*.
5. Change the value of the *Default* key to the new user profile
location (e.g. *D:\Users\Default*).
6. Change the value of the *Public* key to the new user profile
location (e.g. *D:\Users\Public*).
7. Change the value of the *ProfilesDirectory* to the new user
profile location (e.g. *D:\Users*).
8. Now create a new administrator account here, make it admin or sth
to make sure that you will remember when loggin in after the next
step.
9. *R**estart *and log back in as the admin user you created in
previous step.
10. After logging in for the first time with the new user account, you
will see "Creating Desktop" and other things like that while
Windows is creating your profile. Note that the new profile should
be created in the new location. Check this to make sure everything
is working properly. Now create a standard user (I strongly
suggest you do this as it is a good security measure) that will be
the one account you will be using your computer with.
11. Now logout of the admin account and login with the newly created
standard user.
12. All the programs should be running now. Try each and every program
that you would use Firefox, Thunderbird, Office, ...
13. After making sure eveything is working, may I suggest you create
another image of the system disk, as things are now different
(profile location is different from the first image). Now whenever
you have problems with the OS, I am sure loading this second image
would clear the problems out (I have never tried this yet, but I
think it should work properly).
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