Is it possible to change the location of the "Documents and Settings" folder in windows xp? I want to move the entire folder to it's own separate partition.
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Well, I gave up and used that registry hack, and it appears to have worked. The only thing is I don't care much for doing things like that, especially with having to edit that many registry keys, it makes me wonder if this will come back later to haunt me. I've used it for a couple days now, and windows hasn't recreated the original folder yet, so that's a good sign that it worked!
I followed the instructions in the article above (Q236621)
over two months ago for a system running Win2K. I have Win2K installed on the C: partition along with all of my other software. I created a separate partition (D:) to which I moved D&S so that in the event of OS failure I would not lose any of my data or settings. I have had zero problems with it and so far all of the software I have loaded has had no trouble finding "Documents and Settings" on the D: drive.
A friend has asked me to set up his computer with Windows XP and I was unable to find any articles at Microsoft addressing this same issue for XP. Has anyone tried it? Had any bad/good experiences?
I tried using the "entire folder" method for Windows XP but regedit didn't allow me to change some of the keys and values...I then tried the unattened setup method and it worked like a charm.
You might have better luck using a 3rd party Registry Editor, if you value your time and sanity, one with a search and replace function...I used one to do the same thing with my Program Files folder
heres the relevant part of the Winnt.sif (exactly the same as unattend.txt but for CD-ROM install)
;SetupMgrTag
[Data]
AutoPartition=1
MsDosInitiated="0"
UnattendedInstall="Yes"
[Unattended]
UnattendMode=FullUnattende
OemPreinstall=No
TargetPath=\WINDOWS
OemSkipEula=Yes
[GuiUnattended]
AdminPassword=*
EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
AutoLogon=Yes
AutoLogonCount=3
OEMSkipRegional=1
TimeZone=20
ProfilesDir="D:\Documents and Settings"
OemSkipWelcome=1
the Winnt32.bat(for installation withing Windows) file follows(install files copied to same directory as I want the Documents and Settings foler):
@rem SetupMgrTag
@echo off
rem
rem This is a SAMPLE batch script generated by Setup Manager.
rem If this script is moved from the location where it was generated, it may have to be modified.
rem
set AnswerFile=.\winnt.sif
set SetupFiles=D:\i386
D:\i386\winnt32 /s:%SetupFiles% /unattended:%AnswerFile%
--------------------------
for a fresh install from DOS (relevant partitions must be FAT32) heres the Winnt.bat file(used with custom Win XP bootdisk):
@rem SetupMgrTag
@echo off
rem
rem This is a SAMPLE batch script generated by Setup Manager.
rem If this script is moved from the location where it was generated, it may have to be modified.
rem
set AnswerFile=.\winnt.sif
set SetupFiles=S:\i386
S:\i386\winnt /s:%SetupFiles% /u:%AnswerFile%
--------------------------
if you have a mixture of FAT and NTFS partitions, DOS and Windows may recognize the drives in a different order, so they assign them different drive letters.
Any other questions about how I did it just ask...
I started using the "entire folder" method on my XP Professional system. When I started editing the registry entries containing "Documents and Settings" I found several situations which I was not sure how to handle properly. My intent was to move C:\Documents and Settings to D:\Documents and Settings
Examples:
1) There was one section that had:
HOMEDRIVE C:
HOMEPATH \Documents and Settings
Being grouped together, these seem to maybe be related but I was leary about just changing "C:" to "D:".
2) There was one section that had:
ProfileDirectory %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings
ProfileImagePath %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Local Service
The use of %SystemDrive% environment variable here made me wonder what I should do in this case, or if things would be handled correctly?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I started using the "entire folder" method on my XP Professional system. When I started editing the registry entries containing "Documents and Settings" I found several situations which I was not sure how to handle properly. My intent was to move C:\Documents and Settings to D:\Documents and Settings
Examples:
1) There was one section that had:
HOMEDRIVE C:
HOMEPATH \Documents and Settings
Being grouped together, these seem to maybe be related but I was leary about just changing "C:" to "D:".
2) There was one section that had:
ProfileDirectory %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings
ProfileImagePath %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Local Service
The use of %SystemDrive% environment variable here made me wonder what I should do in this case, or if things would be handled correctly?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I had the same confusion when I first did this, on the entries where it says "%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings" just change it to "D:\Documents and Settings" or whatever.
As for the HomeDrive and HomePath entries, I'm not positive, but it looks like you just need to change the HomeDrive setting to D:
If you have any more problems or questions, just ask...
And just to let you know, if you reload the page after you've posted something it will re-post your last comment. Just click the "Reload this question" link in the upper left corner of the page instead of reloading the page.
Thanks, one followup question. My registry also had several entries containing the substring "\Device\HarddiskVolume1\D
Settings\" for example "\Device\HarddiskVolume1\D
Settings\LocalService\NTUS
I'm wondering what these are used for and how to handle them. My system (a Sony Vaio laptop) has a single 60GB hard drive with C: and D: NTFS partitions.
Did you come acrosss any such entries when you did this? An excerpt from my registry containing such entries follows: Thanks
-------- registry excerpt follows ----------------
Key Name: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 5/14/2003 - 9:37 PM
Value 0
Name: \REGISTRY\MACHINE\HARDWARE
Type: REG_SZ
Data:
Value 1
Name: \REGISTRY\MACHINE\SECURITY
Type: REG_SZ
Data: \Device\HarddiskVolume1\WI
Value 2
Name: \REGISTRY\MACHINE\SOFTWARE
Type: REG_SZ
Data: \Device\HarddiskVolume1\WI
Value 3
Name: \REGISTRY\MACHINE\SYSTEM
Type: REG_SZ
Data: \Device\HarddiskVolume1\WI
Value 4
Name: \REGISTRY\USER\.DEFAULT
Type: REG_SZ
Data: \Device\HarddiskVolume1\WI
Value 5
Name: \REGISTRY\MACHINE\SAM
Type: REG_SZ
Data: \Device\HarddiskVolume1\WI
Value 6
Name: \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-20
Type: REG_SZ
Data: \Device\HarddiskVolume1\Do
Settings\NetworkService\NT
Value 7
Name: \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-20_Cl
Type: REG_SZ
Data: \Device\HarddiskVolume1\Do
Settings\NetworkService\Lo
Data\Microsoft\Windows\Usr
Value 8
Name: \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-19
Type: REG_SZ
Data: \Device\HarddiskVolume1\Do
Settings\LocalService\NTUS
Value 9
Name: \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-19_Cl
Type: REG_SZ
Data: \Device\HarddiskVolume1\Do
Settings\LocalService\Loca
Data\Microsoft\Windows\Usr
Value 10
Name:
\REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-33
Type: REG_SZ
Data: \Device\HarddiskVolume1\Do
Ruth\NTUSER.DAT
Value 11
Name:
\REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-33
Type: REG_SZ
Data: \Device\HarddiskVolume1\Do
Ruth\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\Usr
If I remember correctly, I changed those using the difference in drive letters. If you're moving the folder from C:\ to D:\, add one to that HardDiskVolume1.
ORIGINAL:
\Device\HarddiskVolume1\Do
Settings\LocalService\NTUS
CHANGE TO:
\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Do
Settings\LocalService\NTUS
If that doesn't work, try just changing the \Device\Harddiskvolume# to D:\ (or whatever), like you did everything else:
D:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\NTUS
What Crash2100's said about the volume number assignments only applies if your C and D drives are on the same physical disk. In my configuration, my drives were as follows, with the appropriate HardDiskVolume#:
C:\ Disk 0, Partition 1 -- HDV1
D:\ Disk 1, Partition 1 -- HDV2
E:\ Disk 0, Partition 2 -- HDV3
F:\ Disk 0&1, Partition ? -- HDV4
Not sure what partition F:\ was considered as it was a striped volume split between both disks.
That SID method only moves the single user, you have to use the "Entire Folder" method if you want all of your profiles and the documents and settings folder moved.
If this is a new windows installation, look at using the unattended installation to move the documents and settings folder. PreciousRoi posted some good information on how to do that.
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: CrazyOnePosted on 2002-01-10 at 13:26:22ID: 6724909
Take a look at this
Cannot Move or Rename the Documents and Settings Folder (Q236621)
--------------------------
The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows 2000 , Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 , Datacenter Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 , Professional
Microsoft Windows 2000 , Server
--------------------------
IMPORTANT : This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.
SYMPTOMS
If you try to move or rename the "Documents and Settings" folder in Windows, you receive the following error message:
"Documents and Settings is a Windows system folder and is required for Windows to run properly. It cannot be moved or renamed."
CAUSE
This behavior is by design.
RESOLUTION
To specify a different folder for the "Documents and Settings" folder during installation, follow these steps:
Use the /UNATTEND switch with Winnt.exe or Winnt32.exe and insert the following entry into the Unattend.txt file, where z:\foldername is the path and folder name you want:
[GuiUNattended]
ProfilesDir = z:\foldername
Install Windows. The path you included in the Unattend.txt file is used instead of the default "Documents and Settings" folder.
For additional information about unattended setup of Windows 2000, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q183245 Windows 2000 Unattended Setup Parameters
MORE INFORMATION
NOTE : The following section provides information about a configuration that Microsoft does not support. We provide this information for informational purposes only; Microsoft makes no guarantee that this configuration functions properly.
WARNING : Microsoft strongly recommends against renaming any system folder. Catastrophic system failure or an unstable computer could result if you rename system folders. If implemented, a backup should be made of the system before attempting this procedure.
To rename or move the "Documents and Settings" folder, use the appropriate method.
User-specific
WARNING : Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT or Windows 2000, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).
NOTE : This method does not relocate key Windows components. Use this method if you require only user-specific data to be moved.
To specify a different folder for the "Documents and Settings" folder after you install Windows for a particular user, follow these steps:
Identify the user's profile path. There are two methods to identify the profile path. Either by user path settings or user SID. The user SID method is preferred.
User SID method
Use the GETSID tool from the Windows Server Resource Kit to obtain the SID. Use syntax similar to the following example:
GETSID \\SERVER1 UserName \\SERVER1 UserName
Once you obtain the SID, use Regedit.exe or Regedt32.exe to select the user's SID under the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWAR
User path setting
Log on to the computer as the user, and then type SET at a command prompt. Note the setting for USERPROFILE, and then close the command prompt window.
Log on as an administrator of the computer.
Use Registry Editor to add the USERPROFILE setting to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWAR
Click the registry key, and then click Find on the Edit menu.
In the Find box, type the value of the USERPROFILE setting, and then click Find Next .
Change the ProfileImagePath value to use the new path you want in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWAR
Close Registry Editor, and then log on as the user. Type SET at the command prompt to verify the path has changed.
Entire Folder
NOTE : This method relocates key Windows components. Use this method only if you require the "Documents and Settings" folder to be moved or renamed and you cannot use the Unattend.txt file to change the name during installation.
To specify a different folder for the entire "Documents and Settings" folder, including key system components, follow these steps:
Log on to the computer as an administrator.
Create a new folder.
Open the current "Documents and Settings" folder.
On the Tools menu, click Folder Options , and then click the View tab.
Under Advanced settings click Show hidden files and folders , and then click to clear the Hide file extensions for known file types and Hide protected operating system files check boxes.
Click OK .
Click and drag to copy all the folders to the new folder, except for the currently logged on users folder.
In Control Panel, double-click System , and then click the User Profiles tab.
Copy the current user's profile to the new folder.
Click OK , close Control Panel, and then log off and log on to the computer as an administrator again.
In Registry Editor, click Find on the Edit menu.
Type documents and settings , and then click Find .
Replace the value data or rename the value or registry key to the new path for each and every registry key and value that contains the original path.
NOTE : You must complete this change for every instance in the registry or your computer may not start. It is imperative that you update all registry keys and values with the new path.
Restart the computer.
You can now safely remove the original "Documents and Settings" folder.
The Crazy One