Linux Server Tech (provided by Daily Data, Inc)

Place User Directory in another location on Windows 7

Finally figured out how to move a Windows user to another directory. I like to do this so the data remains the same when I have to reformat the c: drive because Windows has bombed once again.

Microsoft never thinks about placing users files on separate partitions and/or drives, so they make it difficult, but it can be done. NOTE: I have a systemrescuecd (Linux based, see http://www.sysresccd.org/) that I use at one point, however you can also use robocopy and a remove instead. It is just cleaner with a Linux mv command. If you have not used systemrescuecd, you should try it out as it really helps recover Windows issues sometimes.

  1. Create the user, then log in as the user. This will create the users data files under c:\users\username. Do not do anything else to the user at this point.
  2. Move the users files to the new location. I'll assume you are putting it on d:\Users, though it can be anyplace.
    1. With SystemRescueCD
      1. reboot into SystemResuceCD
      2. mount the c: drive and the d: drive in two locations under /mnt (SystemRescueCD requires it not be mounted on /mnt, but under a subdirectory). I'm using /mnt/windows for c: and /mnt/backup for d:
      3. Move the files with mv /mnt/windows/Users/username /mnt/backup/Users
      4. Reboot back into Windoze
      5. Log in as a system administrator (not the user you are fixing)
      6. open a command prompt as administrator, ie find the command prompt icon, right click, select Run As Administrator
    2. Without SystemRescueCD
      1. Log in as a user with administrative user (not the user you are fixing)
      2. open a command prompt as administrator, ie find the command prompt icon, right click, select Run As Administrator
      3. cd c:\Users
      4. robocopy /MIR c:\Users\username d:\Users
      5. del /s /q c:\Users\username
  3. Create a link c:\Users\username pointing to d:\Users\username, mklink /J c:\Users/username d:\Users\username Note: the command is "backwards" as far as I'm concerned; the name of the link is first, and the target is second.
  4. Log out and log in as the user. All should work as normal.

 

Last update:
2015-05-28 06:28
Author:
Rod
Revision:
1.1
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Average rating:0 (0 Votes)

You cannot comment on this entry

Chuck Norris has counted to infinity. Twice.