Moving user folders in windows 10. Transferring user folders. How to move standard user folders in Windows to another drive
In the operating room Windows system(in all its versions) there is a so-called user folder, which contains folders for storing the desktop, videos, documents, for downloading files from the Internet, for music, images, and others that are used less frequently. Since the folders are initially located on the system drive "C", over time this drive may become full. And if you bought yourself a small SSD drive, then, most likely, there will definitely not be enough space for the files stored in the user's folders. In this case, the location of these folders must be moved to another local disk, for example, "D" and I will talk about this in this article.
Now in more detail ... These user folders are primarily created for the convenience of the user, because they allow you to conveniently sort your information on your computer through the explorer, for example, videos, movies, etc. put in the "Video" folder, photos, pictures - in the "Images" folder, Well, what you place on the desktop is automatically placed in the "Desktop" folder. And even more so, the appearance of these folders is initially optimized in the system for certain data, videos, photos, music. And you don't need to create your own folders for all the good stuff that you have on your computer. In general, whether to use them or not is everyone's business.
If these folders are actively used for their intended purpose, then the information in them will clog a lot of disk space. As an example, my entire user folder is over 600 GB. What's wrong with that, you ask? Actually, there is nothing bad, but the problem will be when there is not enough space on your system disk. At the same time, increase or decrease the size system disk- this is a dangerous operation in which you can break Windows itself, i.e. it will stop starting.
For information about changing the size of local disks, you can read
And some users store most of their information, in general, on the desktop, which, accordingly, will also take up space on the C: drive.
It may be news to someone 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 user folder of the system under which you work, on drive C:
Or another option. Now many put under their system SSD drives, instead of the usual hard drives. And these SSD pleasures are very expensive, well, that is, they cost much more than HDDs (hard drives), 2 times, or even 3 times. Because they work many times faster and Windows generally works much faster with them. Since these disks are expensive, they are usually bought in such a volume that it is enough only for installing Windows and programs for it. This is approximately 120 GB, a size that is enough for most of these purposes. But these 120 GB are no longer enough to store all the information on the computer, especially in the user's folders, because it is initially located on the same local drive as Windows.
Here, above, I gave 2 examples, because of which you may need to change the location of the user's folders, especially the "Desktop" folder, and both of these examples are related to the lack of free space on the "C" drive.
Let's move on to practice...
How to migrate user folders to another local drive.
The user folder itself is standardly located at the following path in Windows: C:\Users\Vladimir
Instead of "Vladimir" you will have the name of your Windows account.
Sometimes the "Users" folder may be called "Users".
In your user folder, you will see something like the following picture:
All user folders are displayed here, such as Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc. There may also be other folders, such as in the image above, that are not circled in red. Such folders can be created by some programs, that is, this is normal.
In some cases, folders may be named in English:
- Downloads = Downloads
- Desktop = Desktop
- Favorites = Favorites
- Pictures = Pictures
- Contacts = Contacts
- Videos = My Videos (called "Videos" in newer versions of Windows)
- Documents = My Documents (called "Documents" on newer versions of Windows)
- Music = My Music (called "Music" in newer versions of Windows)
- Searches = Searches
- Saved Games = Saved Games
- Link = Links
To change the folder location, you need to click on desired folder right click mouse (hereinafter "RMB"), select "Properties". Go to the "Location" tab (1) and click "Move" (2).
Will open windows explorer, where you need to select the folder to which the current one will be moved. It is better for the target folder (to which you transfer the current one) to create a new one with the same name, but on a different local drive.
Example. Move the Downloads folder from the old location to the new one. The old location in the example is: C:\Users\Vladimir Create a folder on the 2nd local drive with the same name "Downloads". Accordingly, when moving the old folder, in the "Location" tab, select already new folder"Download" that you created.
After choosing a new location, click on the "Apply" window.
If you have any files in your Downloads folder, the system will prompt you to move them all to the new location you selected. Better files move. To do this, click "Yes" in the window.
We do the same with all other folders that are in your user folder. That is, we first create a folder with the same name in another local drive, then transfer the old folder to it.
Of course, you don’t have to transfer all the folders directly, but it’s better to do it anyway, so that nothing takes up extra space on your “C” drive. And for those who like to store a lot of files right on the desktop (I sometimes do it myself), I strongly recommend moving the Desktop folder! :)
In order to transfer user data and settings from one computer to another, you can use various paid programs, but why, if there is a built-in solution Windows-Tool data transfer (Windows Easy Transfer). It is worth noting right away that this tool is already built into Windows7 and Windows8, for Windows XP and Windows Vista, it must be installed in order to transfer files and settings to Winsdows 7 here link to distribution . The installation procedure is very simple and comes down to a few clicks of the button next and acceptance license agreement. This tool must be installed on both the computer from which the profile is copied and to which the profile is copied.
With Windows Easy Transfer, you can transfer your profile regardless of Windows versions(Home Basic, Professional...), but there are limitations:
Transfer Tool Windows Data does not move files from 64-bit Windows to 32-bit Windows.
Transfer Tool Windows doesn't move programs, only user settings and files.
In order to run the Data Transfer Tool (Windows Easy Transfer) you need to:
In Windows XP, Windows Vista, after installation, go to "Start" - "All Programs" - "Windows 7 Easy Transfer";
Login to Windows 7 "Start" - "All Programs" - "Accessories" - "Utilities" - "Windows Easy Transfer";
In Windows 8, in the search bar type Data Transfer Tool.
The Windows Easy Transfer window opens. Press " Further".
After that, a window for choosing a method for transferring a profile will open.
Easy Transfer Cable. This is a special cable with USB connectors, which can be purchased from vendors. hardware. One end of the cable connects to the source computer, the other end to the destination computer. Both computers must be on during the migration and must be running Windows Easy Transfer. With this method, you can only transfer side-by-side data.
Net. To perform a network transfer, you need two computers that are running Windows Easy Transfer and connected to the same network. Both computers must be turned on during data transfer. In this way, only side-by-side data transfer can be performed. When transferring data over a network, a password is set on the source computer, which then must be entered on the destination computer.
external drive or USB device flash memory. It is possible to connect an external hard drive or USB flash drive, you can also use an internal hard drive or shared folder online. In this way, both side-by-side and wipe-and-restore migrations can be performed. Your data is protected by entering a password on the source computer, which must then be entered before importing the data on the destination computer.
AT this example I will be using a USB flash drive, so I choose- External hard disk or USB flash drive.
After that, select the account whose profile you want to move. If you press " Setting" you can add or remove files and folders to transfer to another computer.
Then you need to enter a password to protect the profile.
The next step is to choose where we will save the profile, in this case it will be USB flash drive. Please note that the USB flash drive must be larger than the user profile.
After that, the process of saving files will begin. It can take several minutes, it all depends on the volume of the profile.
After that, an information window will open, read, click " Further".
After that press " close".
As a result, we have a file Windows Easy Transfer - items from your old PC.MIG on a USB flash drive.
We go to the second computer where you want to transfer the profile, run the Data Transfer Tool (Windows Easy Transfer), Click in the first window " Further", then select External HDD or USB flash drive. In the next window select "This is my new computer".
Selecting portable profiles. If you press the button " Setting", you can manually select which files are worth transferring and which are not.
In case of an error Windows Easy Transfer failed to sign in with a domain account
Read the article on how to fix this error.
After a few minutes of waiting (depending on the size of the profile), you will receive a message that the transfer operation was successfully completed.
Now, if you log in to the new computer as the user that you transferred, you will need to change the password when logging in with the account of the transferred user, after that you will see all the settings that were on the old computer, including files on the desktop, in documents, etc. ..
Good day, one of the first articles I wrote on this site was an article about p. The instruction was written for those who already have the operating system installed, although it is desirable to do this on a freshly installed system, it was still possible to transfer the profile even on a system that has been used for quite some time. Today we will consider another, not a very bad way out - this is a profile transfer at the installation stage operating system. All you need is to install the system in the normal mode, but it will stop at the user creation screen and continue to follow the instructions:
1) Press the keyboard shortcut Shift+F10, a command prompt window will open.
Robocopy "C:\Users" "D:\Users" /E /COPYALL /XJ
Upon successful completion, the console will indicate the end date and time.
3) Delete the old folder and create a symbolic link to link the new folder to the old location (just in case;). To do this, enter two commands in turn:
rmdir "C:\Users" /S /Q mklink /J "C:\Users" "D:\Users"
The first command is for deleting folders, the second for .
4) Now enter the command regedit, in order to get into the registry editor.
5) In the window that opens, go to the branch:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
And change the parameter ProfilesDirectory to the path to our profiles folder. I change to folder D:\Users.
Close the Registry Editor window.
6) Now restart the computer, for this in command line write the following command:
Shutdown -r -f -t 00
7) After restarting, create a profile, all profile folders will be saved in the location you specified.
Update : Site visitor Boont Off in the comments suggested not a bad option. In order not to manually write all the commands, you can use the file .bat To do this, create a users.bat file and put it in the root of any drive (but not C, of course). Open it with notepad and copy the following into it:
Robocopy "C:\Users" "d:\Users" /E /COPYALL /XJ rmdir "C:\Users" /S /Q mklink /J "c:\Users" "d:\Users" REG ADD "HKLM\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList" /f /v "ProfilesDirectory" /t REG_EXPAND_SZ /d "d:\Users" Shutdown -r -f -t 00
If necessary, change the path "D:\Users" to your own. And now, when executing the instruction, immediately after the first paragraph, it is enough to enter the following on the command line:
D:\users.bat
The script will run the sequence of actions specified in this article. It will create and copy the users folder itself, delete the old folder and create a symbolic link in its place, and also make a change to the registry, then the computer will restart and you can continue installing the system. If you reinstall your system quite often, you can also add a line at the beginning of the file containing the following (adjusted for your path):
Move /Y "d:\Users" "d:\Users_OLD"
After that, the old Users folder will be renamed to Users_OLD.
Thank you for this .bat boontoff. Ready files can be downloaded: and .
That's all. I hope this article was useful to you, click one of the buttons below to tell your friends about it. Also subscribe to site updates by entering your e-mail in the field on the right.
Continuing the theme of conservation SSD drives, today we will look at how to transfer the entire user profile, including system folder appdata and all user folders such as Music, Downloads, Pictures and Documents. This will help reduce the number of write operations to the system disk, which theoretically extends the life of the SSD. And most importantly, it significantly saves precious space on the same SSD. An article with the second transfer method is already available - transferring the Users folder during the installation of the operating system.
For some reason Microsoft removed the ability to migrate the profile for client versions of their operating systems, starting with Windows Vista. I don't know what it is connected with, but when you go to the "User Profiles" menu, you will see that the copy profile button is disabled.
But like many other restrictions imposed Microsoft, this can also be bypassed, do everything according to the instructions and you will succeed perfectly;)
This article is suitable for Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1. So in order:
1) Login with your administrator account.
2) Create a new folder to store your accounts; in my case it will look like this: 
3) Next, you need to create a new user with administrator rights. To do this, go to "Control Panel" → "User Accounts" → "Adding and Removing User Accounts" → "Creating account". Enter any name, select "Administrator" and click "Create an account":
4. We restart the computer and log in under our new user:
5. Copy the folder with the profile of our main account. To do this, go to the path: C:\Users and copy the folder with the required username to our new folder.
6. Next, go to the properties of both folders and go to the "Security" tab. Here we need to create in the folder on drive D all the same user groups as in the folder on drive C, and also give them the same access rights.
As you can see, you need to delete the "Authenticated" and "Users" groups, you also need to add the Skesov.ru user and the "HomeUsers" group.
To add or remove a user or group, click the "Edit" button. In the window that opens, select a user or group and click the "Delete" button, or simply click the "Add" button to add a new group.
A window for selecting users and groups will open:
Click the "Advanced" button and in the new window on the right, the "Search" button:
Choose desired group and click OK until only the "Group Permissions" window remains.
As a result, you should get full copy rights of the child folder:
If everything matches, press the OK key to apply the change and proceed to the next step.
7. When trying to delete/add a user, the system may show the following window:
We need to get around this, so we need to disable permission inheritance for this folder. To do this, in the folder properties in the "Security" section, click the "Advanced" button:
In this window, click the "Change permissions" button and uncheck the "Add permissions inherited from parent objects" checkbox:
Click OK and the question Windows Security we answer "Delete" (although you can also "Add" - this will simply save the current groups and users, but also allow you to change them"):
Also, click the OK button in the advanced security settings window.
8. Open the registry. To do this, press the key combination Win + R and in the Run window that opens, write regedit and click OK. (You can also search the Start menu in Windows 7 or Vista by typing regedit)
But I think it is very useful, so I post corrected and enlarged copy.
The task of transferring the user profile folder from the system drive to another logical or physical disk in OS Windows families It's very important for a number of reasons:
- The need to separate operational information (system) and archival data (user data) due, for example, to the need to store 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 transferring a single user profile, moving the Users folder is 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 go through the transfer procedure again.
Now about the scenario of transferring the Users folder:
- Should be produced normal installation Windows 7 in any way convenient for you, stopping at the step where the installer will ask you to enter the computer name and username.
- From the computer name and username input screen, press CTRL + SHIFT + F3. The computer will restart and boot into Audit Mode. In this case, the system will be in this mode until you run the sysprep utility with the /oobe key or select the appropriate item in the window version of this utility, which starts in Audit Mode every time the system starts.
- Since at this point you will already have Windows 7 installed, but not fully configured, before assigning a new location for the user profiles folder, you must first prepare the disk subsystem, that is, create and format the partition that you plan to use to place the Users folder .
- Now you need to create a configuration file to set the location of the Users folder, here are its contents:
x86 version (download):
D:\Users D:\ProgramData
x64 version (download):
D:\Users D:\ProgramData
Save it with any name, such as unattend.xml.Attention! The file must be saved in UTF-8 encoding (and for those who understand UTF8 + BOM).
- The window titled "System Preparation Program 3.14" must be closed. Otherwise, when you run the following command, you will receive an error: "Another copy of this application is already running."
It is better to save the "unattend.xml" file on the hard drive, and not on the flash drive, because when using this file, the next time you reboot, the flash drive will not be connected yet and the system will report an error and will constantly reboot. The entire installation process will have to start over. Suppose the unattend.xml file has been saved in the root of the C drive, then the command to apply it would be:
C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /reboot /unattend:C:\unattend.xml
The computer will restart.If the file is NOT saved in UTF-8 encoding (as described above), then you will get following error: "A fatal error occurred while running Sysprep on the computer."
- Returning to the window for setting the computer name and username, complete the installation.
- After booting the computer, make sure that the D:\Users and D:\ProgramData folders exist and that the user folder whose name you specified at the end of the installation is located in D:\Users.
mklink /J C:\Users D:\Users mklink /J C:\ProgramData D:\ProgramData
Thus, now, even when accessing the old paths, any program will not notice the substitution and will work with folders on drive C, although in fact they will be located in the location you configured.
For the compatibility of some applications with Windows XP, I recommend making the following symbolic link:
mklink /J "C:\Documents and Settings" D:\Users
If the user folder already existed and you initial setup operating system, you set the previous username, then another folder for the profile will be created, and the old one will remain untouched. All files from the old folder should be transferred to the new one manually (it is advisable to boot under a completely different user so that files in the profile folder do not get blocked).
Therefore, I recommend after Windows installation and after creating user profiles (for this you need to log in interactively once for each user), create a system image on the C: drive. In case of failure, you are deploying a system from an image in which user profiles are linked to their folders, and the problem described in the paragraph above will not be.