Moving users folder on Windows Vista/7 to another partition

Moving users folder on Windows Vista/7 to another partition When I format the computer and reinstall Windows, my first step is move the My Documents folder to another partition. In Windows XP it wasn't enough because the desktop folder and another user folders was in the primary partition.
Asked by: Guest \| Views: 401

Total answers/comments: 5

Comments display order:

Guest [Entry]

"mklink /d myuser d:\moved\myuser

On modern versions of NTFS, junction points which you used on XP are replaced with directory symlinks.

Though, I don't really recommend doing this... you're not likely to see any performance benefit."

Guest [Entry]

"There is a similar question on serverfault, you should check that out.

But I have had serious second thoughts about this being a good idea."

Guest [Entry]

"The best way to achive this, is using symlinks ... it worked for me:

First create the profile you want to use
From another administrator account, move the profile folder to another partition.
create the symlink in c:\Users with the name of the account pointing to the profile location.

mklink c:\Users\Mario d:\Mario

And that's all, enjoy!"

Guest [Entry]

"I've recently had the same issue. I wanted to use Microsoft's SteadyState program on a machine with pre-existing user accounts on C:\USERS that I wanted to move on D:. I followed these steps:

I imaged the hard disk to be able to recover from the disaster I expected to experience.
I used Windows Easy Transfer to copy these accounts to an external hard drive.
I deleted the accounts.
I installed Windows SteadyState (works on XP and Vista), and used it to create accounts with exactly the same name as the one I deleted. I created each one on the D:\ partition (SteadyState allows you to choose!)
I started Windows Easy Transfer to restore the previously saved accounts, telling it to copy over the accounts of the same name. It finds them all on D:\ and that is where it puts the copy! Success.

Hope this helps."

Guest [Entry]

"Using sysprep is the easiest way to create user profiles in a different location. All the other, unofficial ways, such as messing around with junctions and copying or moving files around, gave me ""The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded."" profile error.

Windows 8:

How to Relocate User Profiles to another Partition or Disk in Windows 8:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4275-user-profiles-relocate-another-partition-disk.html

Windows 7:

How to Create User Accounts on another Partition or Disk During Windows 7 Installation:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/124198-user-profiles-create-move-during-windows-7-installation.html"