Changing Documents and Settings Locations
In response to my post “Windows Install - Simple, Easy and Quick“, Will has asked a good question:
Is there an option in Windows to save Documents and Settings to a different partition during install?
In Ubuntu Linux, I can have a separate /home partition. This lets me reinstall without losing *any* files or settings from a user point of view. (Also, it’s nice having all my wireless passwords work from install to install).
The answer, Will, is yes, there is a way to change the location of the Documents and Settings location in Windows. By default, a user’s configuration files are stored in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>. This location is created the first time the user logs into the system and their default settings are taken from C:\Documents and Settings\Default User.
But, it can be really useful to redirect the location of this folder. For example, I have redirected user’s My Documents from the default C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents to \\server\users$\<username>. This way, users were storing their My Documents on the network and not locally so that if a workstation blew up, then all of their documents would be safe on the network.
To allow this example to work, simply perform the following:
- Open Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) and navigate to: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders]
- In the right-pane, look for the entry “Common Documents” and double-click it.
- The value which present there by default is “%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Documents”.
- Change the value to the redirected folder (e.g. “\server\users$\%USERNAME%”)
That should do it for you!
10 Responses to “Changing Documents and Settings Locations”
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Brian Says:
May 30th, 2008 at 7:11 pmOr you could use TweakUI to do it, which will also allow you to change the location of the program files folder among other things.
This is handy if you want to move them to a second HD to speed up your machine.
- B
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Isaac Says:
May 31st, 2008 at 8:20 amGlad to see you back in action Tim! And, if I may say, great cup of tech.
Have you ever tried the user folder move AFTER the installation and several weeks worth of use? Would doing such a move, and a manual move of the current directories/settings from the original folder, cause undesirable results?
I’m guessing it would be an application dependent. I suppose that it could be possible that during the install the application read the content of that reg key and created it’s own setting to match.
I’m curious if you or the other readers had a more definitive answer, or other thoughts.
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Nick Nielsen Says:
May 31st, 2008 at 10:00 amThe post provided a solution, but did not answer the question.
Is there an option in Windows to save Documents and Settings to a different partition during install? (my emphasis)
The answer to that question is “No, there is not. You can only change the location of this folder after installing Windows.”
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Jason Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:14 amYou can also do this in Active Directory using Group Policy to redirect your users My Documents to a share. The policy resides at:
User Configuration\Windows Settings\Folder Redirection\My Documents
You can also redirect their desktops, Application Data and the Start Menu.
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Tim Fehlman Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:46 pmOne of the issues I’ve run into using Group Policy is that often these settings are unavailable, especially if using the local policy on a system that is not a part of Active Directory.
Tim
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Nick Nielsen Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:00 pmIsaac,
I’ve done this several times with no problems. Create the new folder, make the registry change, move the data (remembering, of course, to back it up first), and reboot. You should be good.
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Gonazar Says:
June 9th, 2008 at 2:43 pmIs there a way to do something similar to your program files directory? Or alternatively could you automatically log which programs you install? I hate having my computer crash and i have to try and figure out what was installed and re-install them. It would be much easier with a check list.
Thanks
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Jason Says:
June 11th, 2008 at 8:49 amYou can indeed change the location of the Program Files directory. Microsoft does not support doing it but you can.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933700
Typically I just install my applications to another drive. Most installations allow you to specify where you want it installed.
As far as knowing what applications you have installed download Belarc Advisor
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
This will give you a complete Audit of your PC. Of course as you install and uninstall applications you will have to do a new audit so it is up to date.
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Svein Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:38 amNick Nielsen:
Yes, there is. It involves creating a little file and starting up the install with this file after booting from a floppy. You can read more about it here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/236621
It is actually the only supported way of doing this. BUT - the page also describes an UNsupported way of moving it after install. I am VERY tempted to do this myself to avoid having to install all programs again when upgrading to a new harddrive now… If I knew about this, I would have put it on D: while installing!
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Gioko Says:
January 1st, 2010 at 1:59 amI lost my work in document and setting/giokoa
How do I recover the files
They just dissapered from my documents and when I checked from documents and settings I saw them.
When I switched it off and on again it come with my users account. But I could not trace the files.
