Moving user profiles to another disk. Moving the user profile by standard Windows tools. How to Move Standard User Folders in Windows to another disk

But I consider it very useful, so place corrected and Augmented Copy.

The task of transferring user profile folder with system Disc On another logical or physical disk in OS. windows family It is very acute for a number of reasons:

  • The need to divide operational information (system) and archival data (user data) is due, for example, the need for storage system files On a high-speed, but less reliable RAID0 disk array.
  • No need for additional transfer of information when reinstalling the OS.
  • Compared to the transfer of a separate user profile, the USERS folder transfer is more preferable, since the profiles of all subsequent users of the computer will also be saved in the right place, and there will be no need to properly adopt the transfer procedure.
One of the most elegant and rational methods for carrying out such transfer is the ability to determine the location of the user profile folder at the system installation phase. Such an opportunity for Windows 7 is provided by Microsoft called Audit Mode. You can read more about this mode in the next article.

Now actually about the USERS folder transfer scenario:

  1. It should be made ordinary installing Windows 7 Any way convenient for you by staying in step, where the installer program will ask you to enter the name of the computer and the username.
  2. Being on the computer input screen and the username, press the Ctrl + Shift + F3 key combination. The computer will be rebooted and loaded already in Audit Mode mode. In this case, the system will be in this mode until you start the SYSPREP utility with the / Oobe key or select the appropriate item in the window version of this utility that starts in Audit Mode every time the system starts.

  3. Since at this moment you already have an installed, but not until the end of the customized Windows 7, before you assign a new location for the user profile folder, you must first prepare the disk subsystem, that is, create and format the partition that is planned to be used to place the Users folder .
  4. Now you need to form a configuration file to configure the location of the Users folder, here is its contents:

    Version for x86 (download):
    D: \\ Users D: \\ ProgramData
    Version for x64 (download):
    D: \\ Users D: \\ ProgramData
    Save it under any name, for example, Unattend.xml.

    Attention! The file must be saved in the UTF-8 encoding (and for those who understand UTF8 + BOM).

  5. Window with heading "System preparation program 3.14" needs to be closed. Otherwise, when performing the following commands, get an error: "Another copy of this application is already running."

    The file "unattend.xml" is better to save on a hard disk, and not on a flash drive, because when using this file, the flash drive is not yet connected and the system will report an error and will constantly reboot. The entire installation process will have to start first. Suppose that the unattend.xml file has been saved in the C root C, then the command for its application will look like this:

    C: \\ Windows \\ System32 \\ sysprep \\ sysprep.exe / Oobe / Reboot / Oobe / RebootTend.xml


    The computer will be rebooted.

    If the file is stored not in the UTF-8 encoding (as it was written above), then get next error: "There was a dismissed shell when executing the SYSPREP program on the computer."

  6. Returning to the computer name job window and the username, make the installation to the end.
  7. After downloading the computer, make sure that the D: \\ Users and D: \\ ProgramData folder exist and that the user folder whose name is set at the finish stage of the installation is in D: \\ users.

As a bonus, you can also take advantage of the advantages of the so-called errors related to the explicit indication of the previous paths of the user profile folders. To do this, create two symbolic links using the MKLink utility (execute the administrator's rights):

Mklink / J C: \\ Users D: \\ Users Mklink / J C: \\ ProgramData D: \\ ProgramData
Thus, even when handling for the same ways, any program will not notice the substitution and will work with folders on the C disk, although in fact they will be located in the location you need.

For compatibility of the work of some applications with Windows XP, I recommend to make the following symbolic link:
Mklink / J "C: \\ Documents and Settings" D: \\ Users
If the user folder already existed and you initial setting The operating system is set by the previous username, then another folder for the profile will be created, and the old will not remain touched. All files from the old folder should be transferred to a new manually (it is desirable to boot under a completely different user so that the files in the profile folder does not occur).


Therefore, I recommend after installing Windows and after creating user profiles (for this you need to enter each user once), create an image of a system on a C: disk. In case of a failure, you unfold the system from the image in which the user profiles are tied to their folders, and the problems described by paragraph will not be above.

Continuing the subject of conservation SSD discsToday we will consider how to transfer the user's profile entirely, including system folder APPDATA and all user folders, such as "Music", "Downloads", "Images" and "Documents". This will help reduce the number of recording operations on the system disk, which theoretically prolongs the life of the SSD drive. And most importantly, this significantly saves a precious place on the same SSD. The article with the second transfer method is already available - the presense of the USERS folder on time to install the operating system.

For some reason Microsoft. Refused the possibility of transferring a profile for client versions of its operating systems, starting with Windows Vista.. What this is connected I do not know, but by going to the "User Profiles" menu you will see that the profile copy button is disabled.

But also as many other restrictions imposed Microsoft.This can also be circumvented, do everything according to the instructions and everything will be fine with you;)

This article is suitable for Windows Vista., Windows 7., Windows 8., Windows 8.1.. So in order:

1) go under its administrator account.

2) Create new folder for storing their accounts; In my case it will look like this:

3) Next, you need to create a new user with administrator rights. To do this, we go to the "Control Panel" → "User Accounts" → "Adding and deleting user accounts" → "Create an account". Enter any name, select "Administrator" and click "Create an Account":

4. Reboot the computer and come from under our new user:

5. Copy the folder with the profile of our main account. To do this, go along the way: C: \\ users and copy the folder with the necessary username in our new folder.

6. Next, go to the properties of both folders and go to the Safety tab. Here we need to create in the folder on disk D all the same groups of users as in the folder on the C drive, as well as to ask them the same access rights.

As you can see, you need to delete the groups "Past Check" and "Users", you also need to add the user Skesov.ru and the group "HomeUsers".

In order to add or delete a user or group, you must click the "Edit" button. In the window that opens, select the user or group and click the "Delete" button or just click the "Add" button to add a new group.

The user and group selection window opens:

Click the "Advanced" button and in the new window on the right button "Search":

Select the desired group and click OK until only the "Permissions for the Group" window remains.

As a result, you must get a full copy of the rights of the child folder:

If everything matches, click the ok key to apply the change and go to the next item.

7. When you try to delete / add a user, the system can show the following window:

We need to get around it, so you need to disable the rights inheritance for this folder. To do this, in the properties of the folder in the "Security" section, click the "Advanced" button:

In this window, click the "Change Permissions" button and remove the checkbox from the item "Add permissions inherited from parent objects":

Click ok and to the question windows security We answer "Delete" (although you can "add" - it will simply save the current groups and users, but will also allow them to change "):

We also press the OK button in the Additional security parameters window.

8. Open the registry. To do this, press the combination of the Win + R keys and in the "Run" write the REGEDIT window that opens and click OK. (You can also use the start-up menu on Windows 7 or Vista writingReGedit)

Transferring the user profile folders from the system disk to another disk is needed to be released, relatively small, system disk (for example, SSD).
Operation is unsafe and controversial - who does not know how and why it is not worth doing.

Extras will be required. XXCOPY utility. Requires Pro version. She, though paid, but for our task it is quite enough for its official trial period for 60 days.
So:

  1. Install XxCopy.
  2. Create a new temporary user with a name, for example, "TU", which will be used to work the data transfer operation and give it administrator rights.
  3. Reboot (to eliminate locks on the files used) and enter the new user ("TU").
  4. Run command line Windows in admin mode. To copy the folder from the disk C: D: Run the command:
    xXCOPY C: \\ Users D: \\ Users / E / H / K / SC / OE1
    If you have the letters of disks others - substitute your own. As a result, the folder will be copied properly. For errors, if they are, you can not pay special attention.
  5. Next, run the command regedit.. In her we find the registry branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\ SOFTWARE \\ Microsoft \\ Windows NT \\ Currentversion \\ PROFILELIST. In this branch, change the keys:
    • Default. On "D: \\ Users \\ Default"
    • ProfilesDirectory. On "D: \\ Users"
    • Public On "D: \\ Users \\ Public"
  6. In the same branch, branches are located with the parameters of users' profiles of already registered in the system (branches with long names they are) - for each user you need to change the key value " ProfileImagePath»On the directory on the portable disk.
  7. The temporary user is no longer needed - everything that was required of it - completed. At the same time, while nothing irreversible was done - all data in reality was copied, and not transferred. Therefore, in the case of "something went wrong ..." you can always return the status quo. Now reload and enter the real administrator.
  8. We are convinced that the entry takes place correctly and the system is loaded without any questions. Now you can proceed to further steps.
  9. Run a team again windows string In the administrator mode and execute commands:
    • rD "C: \\ Documents and Settings" - Deleting a symbolic link to the old USERS folder
    • rD "C: \\ Users" / s - Removing the oldest USERS folder
    • mklink / d "C: \\ Documents and Settings" "D: \\ Users"
    • mklink / d "C: \\ users" "D: \\ Users"

Now in your system, the USERS user profile folder is on the desired disk And, moreover, there are symbolic links to a new folder that protect the system from improper treatment to the old address.

IN operating system Windows (in all its versions) is the so-called user folder in which folders are located for storing the desktop, video, documents, to download files from the Internet, for music, images, and others used less often. Since the folders are initially located on the system disk "C", then over time this disk can be crowded. And if you bought yourself a SSD SSD disk, then most likely, for the files stored in the user folders definitely not enough. In this case, the location of these folders needs to be transferred to another local disk, for example, "D" and I will tell about this in this article.

Now in more detail ... These user folders are primarily created for the convenience of the user, because it allows you to conveniently sort through the conductor your information on your computer, for example, video, movies and other folding in the video folder, pictures, pictures - in the image folder, Well, what is placed on the desktop automata is placed in the folder "Desktop". Moreover, the type of these folders is initially optimized in the system under certain data, video, pictures, music. And you do not need to create some of your folders for all the good that you have on the computer. In general, use them or not - this is the case of everyone.

If these folders are actively used for their intended purpose, then the information in them will score a lot of space on the disk. As an example, my user folder takes more than 600 GB. What's wrong with this, ask? Poor, actually nothing, but the problem will be when the places on your system disk will not be enough. In this case, increase or decrease the size of the system disk is a dangerous operation at which you can break the Windows itself, that is, it will stop running.

You can read information about changing the size of local disks.

And some users store most of their information, in general, on the desktop, that, accordingly, will also take place on the disk from:.

Maybe for someone this news that the desktop in Windows is also a folder. Yes, that is right. The folder is called "Desktop" (or Desktop) and it is located in the system of the system of the system, under which you work, on the disk from:

Or another option. Now many put under their system SSD discs, instead of familiar hard disks. And these SSD pleasure is very expensive, well, they cost much more expensive than HDD (hard drives), 2 times, and even at 3. Because they work many times faster and with them Windows as a whole works much faster. Since these expensive discs, usually buy them with this volume, just enough to install Windows and the program for it. This is about 120 GB, the size that most under these goals is sufficient. But these 120 GB are already not enough to store all the information on the computer, especially in user folders, because it is located initially on the same local diskWhere Windows.

Here, above, I brought 2 examples, because of which you may need to change the location of the user folders, especially the folder "Desk" and both of these examples are associated with a lack of free space on the "C" disk.

Go to practice ...

How to transfer user folders to another local disk.

The user folder itself is standardly located on the next path in Windows: C: \\ Users \\ Vladimir

Instead of "Vladimir" you will have the name of your account In Windows.

Sometimes the "Users" folder may be called "Users".

In the folder of your user, you will see about the following picture:

It displays all user folders, such as "desktop", "Documents", "Downloads", etc. Here, there may also be other folders, for example, as in the image above that are not circled in red. Such folders can be created by any programs, i.e. it is normal.

In some cases, folders can be called in English:

  • Downloads \u003d download
  • Desktop \u003d desktop
  • Favorites \u003d Favorites
  • Pictures \u003d Images
  • Contacts \u003d Contacts
  • Videos \u003d My videos (in new windows versions called "video")
  • Documents \u003d My Documents (in new versions of Windows called "Documents")
  • Music \u003d My music (in new versions of Windows called "Music")
  • Searches \u003d Searches
  • Saved Games \u003d Saved Games
  • Link \u003d Links.

To change the location of the folder, you need to click on the desired folder right-click Mice (hereinafter referred to as "PCM"), choose "Properties". Go to the "Location" tab (1) and click "Move" (2).

Opens windows Explorerwhere you need to choose the folder to which the current will be moved. It is better for the target folder (which transfers the current one) to create a new one with the same name, but on another local disk.

Example. We carry the "Downloads" folder from the old location to the new one. An old location in the example is: C: \\ Users \\ Vladimir Create a folder with the same name "Download" on the 2nd Local disk. Accordingly, when you move the old folder, in the "Location" tab, select the new "download" folder, which was created.

After selecting a new location, click the "Apply" window.

If you have some files in the "Downloads" folder, then the system will propose to move them all to the new location you have chosen. Better files Move. To do this, click "Yes" in the window.

Similarly, we do with all other folders that are in the folder of your user. That is, I create first folder with the same name in another local disk, then transfer to it an old folder.

Of course, you can not transfer all the folders directly, but it's better to do it so that you exactly have anything to do anything on the disk "C". And for lovers to store a lot of files right on the desktop (so sometimes I do), I strongly recommend moving the folder "Desktop"! :)