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Moving Documents and Settings folder to another driveMicrosoft Knowledge Base Article 236621 indicates a solution for moving the Documents and Settings (D&S) Folder. However, this only applies to MS Windows Server 2000, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Professional, and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server.
If you are using Windows XP, here are the steps which you could follow. The following is based on KB236621 but has been revised so it would fully work for Windows XP.
Note: By executing the steps indicated below, you are doing so at your own risk. I can't guarantee that this is going to work, although it has always worked perfectly on my machine, each time I would reinstall Windows XP.
To move The D&S Folder from one drive (C) to another (D):
- Open Windows Explorer.
- Create a folder called "Documents and Settings" (without the quotes) in drive D.
- Show all files and folders [Tools > Folder Options > View tab > Choose "Show hidden files and folders" > Uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" > Ok.]
- Create a profile with administrative permission and call it "mover" (without the quotes) [Open Control Panel > Open User Accounts applet > Create a new account > type "mover" without the quotes > Click on Next Button > Choose Computer administrator > Click "Create Account" button.]
- Logout of Windows XP and use the "mover" account.
- Go to your current D&S folder (C:\Documents and Settings). You should be able to see all the folders there, including the ones used by the system. If this is not the case, please execute step 3.
- Copy all the Folders inside C:\Documents and Settings except the LocalService, NetworkService, and mover folders to the new location (D:\Documents and Settings). Notice that you cannot copy the LocalService, NetworkService, and mover Folders because they are in use. If you happen to copy these by mistake, just delete them. (The LocalService and NetworkService folders, which cannot be copied, will be created automatically at the new location after all the steps in this document has been executed.)
- Open RegEdit [Start > Run > regedit].
- Change all instances of C:\Documents and Settings to D:\Documents and Settings. ***Make sure that you backup your registry first before changing anything. Messing up with the Registry can be dangerous to your computer.*** (You may use F3 to search for every instance of D&S.)
- Change any entry which points to Documents and Settings to D:\Documents and Settings\... including, but not limited to, "\Device\HarddiskVolume1\Documents and Settings\...", "%SystemRoot%\Documents and Settings\...", and "%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\..." to "D:\Documents and Settings\...."
- Change also all instances of C:\Docume~1 to D:\Docume~1 as "Docume~1" is the 8.3 representation of "Documents and Settings"
- Double check all the changes you have made before closing RegEdit.
- Do a cold boot of your computer. [Shutdown your computer and turn it back on].
- Use the "mover" account again.
- Go through processes 8 until 11.
- Reboot your computer and use your original account.
- Your D&S setting should already be in drive D. Try renaming the "Documents and Settings" folder in drive C to, let's say OLDD&S. If the rename was successful, you have successfully moved your D&S folder from drive C to drive D.
- Congratulations!
- Restore the settings of your Windows Explorer by reversing the choices you made in step 3.
- Oh, and don't forget to remove the mover account you have created before if everything is working fine now.
[Thanks to Kasper from Copenhagen and Noel from Seattle, Washington for the feedbacks, and the guys discussing this document at Experts-Exchange.com.]
Last revised 15 November 2004 02.17 +0800
Easy, ain't it? Good luck!
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