Windows can you move docu and settings

Im runnin XP pro and when i update my pc i want to seperate where everything is saved without having a huge list of drives letters, does anyone no if its possible to change where the documents and settings folder is saved.

What i want to do partition my HDD to about 5-6 partions, then instead of using drive letters im goin to name them using mounted volumes. With the 'Program files' folder i was able to copy its contents to another folder (I just called it Program file). then i changed the registry to look at program file folder instead of program files. next i deleted the contents of the program files folder and created my mounted volume as Program files on my c drive. Then all i had to do was re-edit the registry back to how it was and bobs ya uncle its all sorted.

I know i can change where an individual users profile is saved but i want to move the whole thing to its own partition.

 

Yeah, check out zapwizards site, and look for the super-partitioning guide. i've done it on mine, got the my documents and program files on separate partitions Pretty much the same method as what you describe there actually.

 

is it just your my documents folder or the whole of the documents and settings folder you moved

 

Just the my documents folder, but I think the same method could be used for the whole documents&settings folder.

 

thats what i thought but i cant find any reference to the folder in the registry

 

I also used TweakUI and XSetup ( for them) as Zap did in the super partitioning guide. TweakUI will let you move parts of the documents&settings folder, like the desktop and favourites, but not the whole folder it seems. Don't have XSetup installed atm so cant check wha thatll do.

 

yeah i tried Tweak ui at work on one of my test pc's. Was just as easy to hack the registry though. ill prob end up movin my profile instead of teh whole folder

 

i tried zap's guide and couldnt get it to work on XP pro ... not for the whole docs&settings folder anyway. heres how i did do it though:


i just made a partition and assign it a drive letter, and make the volume label docs, or documents, or smething similar.

made sure the my docs icon is on the desktop.
right clickd it.
on target tab, hit the move button, and pointed it to my g: drive.

then i made a folder in it called downloads, and mounted another partition there ... no drive letter.
now my windows/apps partition can go 2 months without a defrag, and only takes about 20 minutes at worst.

i really wanted to do the monster partitioning like zap did ... but i couldnt get some files in the docs/settings and program files folders to copy properly.

 

After a lot of searchin in the registry ive fould where you can specify the documents and settings folder, if any ones interested how to do it ill post it up when i get back from work.

 

Right this is just a quick guide, ill make a proper guide later when I got some time.

Create 2 new partitions say E and F giving them volume names program files and documents respectively.

Create a directory called ‘Program File’.
Copy the entire contents of the ‘Program Files’ folder to the root of the E drive and to the newly created ‘Program File’ folder.

Everything should copy over no problem, if it doesn’t then you probably have some programs open that need to be closed down.

Open up regedit and browse to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTARE \ Windows \ currentVersion

In here there are 3 things you need to change

ProgramFilesDir
ProgramFilesPath
CommonFilesDir

Edit them so that were it says ’Program Files’ it now says ‘Program File’. Basically just delete the ‘s’.

Now reboot you computer.

Once its back up it should be using the Program File folder so you can delete the Contents of the Program Files folder. If you cant you may need to use attrib to change the attributes of the folder at the command prompt so it’s not read only. Once the contents are deleted you can use Disk management to assign a path to your E drive. Assign it as c:\program files. You should be able to just click the existing Program files folder.

Now re-edit the registry back so that where before you changed it to program file, you now put it back to program files.

Reboot again and you should now be using the mounted drive as you program files folder. Delete the Program file folder now and remove the E drive association from the hard drive. You will once again need to reboot.

Now the only way you can access the hard drive is through the program files folder and you have success fully separated it from you system partition.

The document and settings folder is a little harder to do as you will need to keep logging off and on to copy the contents of the folder.

First create a new folder on the root of drive C called ‘Document and setting’. Like previously I’ve simply removed the ‘s’. Now copy them all but the current logged on users account across to the F drive and to the document and settings folder. Now log off and log on as a different user and copy over the final folder you couldn’t move before. Now open up regedit again and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTARE \ Windows NT \ currentVersion \ ProfileList.

Change the ProfilesDirectory setting to your Document and Setting folder by simply deleting the ‘s’.

Now expand the Profile list. Now the amount of folders in here depends on the amount of user accounts setup on your pc, you just need to remove the ‘s’ from the end of document and settings for each of the ProfileImagePath items.

Now reboot your pc.

You should boot back up no problem, now delete the contents of the Documents and settings folder. You should be able to do this know problem as your pc will now be using the other folder. Now go into disk management and like before mount the F drive to the Document and settings folder.

Now go back into regedit and change back all the changes you just made by putting all the s’s back. Reboot again delete the document and setting folder and your almost done. Remove the F drive association from the hard drive and reboot for the final time.

Now you can sit back and rest with the knowledge that your System partition is on its own, and know longer getting as fragmented.

To further improve on this you can create another partition to hold all the temp files and windows update temp files. Any why not a few more for games downloads and anything else you might have knocking around.

 

thats pretty much how i did mine following zaps super widows partioning

had a few problems change the system enviroment to show E:\Program Files

also had problems getting it to change C:\Program Files\Common files to the e:\ drive but all is good

the only thing i did differnt then zap was he had all his mounted to the orig. loc. i didnt do that in this setup

and it works great


NOTE: Thanks Zap