How can I move My Videos folder to a new drive?

[Stan Hilliard]

My S: drive is getting full but I have plenty of room on H:
How can I move My Videos folder to H? I want the new location to stay
the default folder for Miro, Realplayer, WindowsMediaPlayer.

It is currently under Documents and Settings\myname\mydocuments\
I don't care if the files go outside of my identity area.

Stan Hilliard

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

My S: drive is getting full but I have plenty of room on H:
How can I move My Videos folder to H? I want the new location to stay
the default folder for Miro, Realplayer, WindowsMediaPlayer.

It is currently under Documents and Settings\myname\mydocuments\
I don't care if the files go outside of my identity area.

You can change the location of the folder in TweakUI, but some crap programs
may have the default location hard-wired into them. I have My Docs, Music,
Videos, Pictures and Desktop all moved to different locations and
partitions, and find that there are a few programs that still write to the
default positions.

So I have stopped using TweakUI to change the positions, and I moved the
default folder to the new positions, and make Junction Points in the
original locations, pointing to the new locations. You have to use the
LINKD command in the Resource Kit to make Junction Points in XP, whereas the
MKLINK command is standard in Vista.

You could also use NTFS Mount Points in Disk Management, but the new
location would have to be a full partition, which is what I used to do for
My Documents, before I learnt about making Junction Points manually, when I
started using Vista, which is more flexible.

ss.

 

[WindPipe]

My S: drive is getting full .....
....
Stan Hilliard

Hello Stan,

As Synapse Syndrome mentioned TweakUI just doesn't cut it, and found after a booting up my PC,
My Videos went right back to where it came from, and a few others.

Try this out, copy your 'My Videos' folder to where you want it to be, alter the registry key
for it, shown below with many others (and at your risk, shouldn't do any harm though);

Registry Key For User Special Folders
--------------------------------------

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

---- ---- -----
Name Type Value
---- ---- -----
AppData REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\Application Data
Cache REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
Cookies REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\Cookies
Desktop REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
Favorites REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\Favorites
History REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\History
Local AppData REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data
Local Settings REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings
My Music REG_SZ %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Music
My Pictures REG_SZ %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures

My Video REG_SZ %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Videos

NetHood REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\NetHood
Personal REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\My Documents
PrintHood REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\PrintHood
Programs REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs
SendTo REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\SendTo
Start Menu REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu
Startup REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Templates REG_EXPAND_SZ %USERPROFILE%\Templates

To change the location of these folders, change the %USERPROFILE% to point to the chosen folder.
Make sure the folder exists first.

Registry Key For AllUser Profile Special Folders
------------------------------------------------

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

---- ---- -----
Name Type Value
---- ---- -----
Common AppData REG_EXPAND_SZ %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data
Common Desktop REG_EXPAND_SZ %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Desktop
Common Documents REG_EXPAND_SZ %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Documents
Common Favorites REG_EXPAND_SZ %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Favorites
Common Programs REG_EXPAND_SZ %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs
Common Start Menu REG_EXPAND_SZ %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu
Common Startup REG_EXPAND_SZ %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Common Templates REG_EXPAND_SZ %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Templates

Create a REG_SZ value named CommonMusic and set the path
Create a REG_SZ value named CommonPictures and set the path
Create a REG_SZ value named CommonVideo and set the path

Reboot your PC, and delete the original my videos. Media Player will pick the new location up,
programs like QuickTime (well for me anyway), needed setting again.

- WindPipe