changing user folders location in Vista

[Shidewa]

I want to change the location of some of the user folders from
c:\users\%username%\... to d:\profiles\%username%\... The folders that I
want to change location is : Desktop, Documents and favorites. But I
don't want to transfer the whole profile just some folders. What I did
in Windows XP was the change some registry keys in Shell Folders and
User Shell Folders. After that change, I created a new user and log in
to be able to copy the administrator profile into the default user
profile. Each time that I created a new user, the Desktop folder and My
documents folder et favorites were automatically create in
D:\Profiles\%username%\... But now, in Vista, its only the Desktop
folder that is automatically created not the others. It seems that the
behavior is not that same as Windows XP. Can someone help me with that ?

Shidewa

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

I want to change the location of some of the user folders from
c:\users\%username%\... to d:\profiles\%username%\... The folders that I
want to change location is : Desktop, Documents and favorites. But I don't
want to transfer the whole profile just some folders. What I did in Windows
XP was the change some registry keys in Shell Folders and User Shell
Folders. After that change, I created a new user and log in to be able to
copy the administrator profile into the default user profile. Each time
that I created a new user, the Desktop folder and My documents folder et
favorites were automatically create in D:\Profiles\%username%\... But now,
in Vista, its only the Desktop folder that is automatically created not the
others. It seems that the behavior is not that same as Windows XP. Can
someone help me with that ?

I have done this with all the user folders, apart from Desktop, as I prefer
to have that on my fast RAID-0 array, which I have the C: drive on. The
other user shell folders have been moved to a RAID-1 array, the D: drive.

You can right click the folders you want to move and select Properties >
Location tab. Then you can move them with all contents.

I don't remember why I exactly did the next bit, but I think it might be
because programs still write to the old locations, or something. It just
makes the whole thing more complete.

Open Notepad and paste this into it (change the end locations to suite):

-----------------------------------------------
mklink /J Desktop D:\Desktop
mklink /J Documents D:\Documents
mklink /J Favorites D:\Favorites
-----------------------------------------------

Then save that as "mklink user shell folders.bat". Don't forget to include
the quotes in the Save dialogue, so that the .bat file extension is used.

Move the .bat file to your original User folder location and double click
it, to run it. It will make junction points to redirect any access to those
addresses to the new location.

ss.

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

I have done this with all the user folders, apart from Desktop, as I
prefer to have that on my fast RAID-0 array, which I have the C: drive on.
The other user shell folders have been moved to a RAID-1 array, the D:
drive.

You can right click the folders you want to move and select Properties >
Location tab. Then you can move them with all contents.

I don't remember why I exactly did the next bit, but I think it might be
because programs still write to the old locations, or something. It just
makes the whole thing more complete.

Open Notepad and paste this into it (change the end locations to suite):

-----------------------------------------------
mklink /J Desktop D:\Desktop
mklink /J Documents D:\Documents
mklink /J Favorites D:\Favorites
-----------------------------------------------

Then save that as "mklink user shell folders.bat". Don't forget to
include the quotes in the Save dialogue, so that the .bat file extension
is used.

Move the .bat file to your original User folder location and double click
it, to run it. It will make junction points to redirect any access to
those addresses to the new location.

I think I actually made that .bat file so that I can quickly make the new
connections for a new OS installation. In any case, try both steps.

ss.

 

[Shidewa]

Synapse Syndrome a écrit :

I think I actually made that .bat file so that I can quickly make the
new connections for a new OS installation. In any case, try both steps.

ss.

I tried just what you wrote and when I create a new user, the Desktop
folder is automaticly created where I want it to be (
D:\Profils\%username%\Desktop. But the other shell folders like
Documents are not automaticaly created. Any help ?

Thanks Synapse Syndrome for your quick response !

Shidewa

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

I tried just what you wrote and when I create a new user, the Desktop
folder is automaticly created where I want it to be (
D:\Profils\%username%\Desktop. But the other shell folders like Documents
are not automaticaly created. Any help ?

I think they might not be appearing until they are written to, or used. You
can always modify the batch file to make the folders with the MKDIR command.

ss.

 

[Shidewa]

Synapse Syndrome a écrit :

I think they might not be appearing until they are written to, or used.
You can always modify the batch file to make the folders with the MKDIR
command.

ss.

One thing a noticed is that if I click on the Windows button ( the old
Start button in XP ) and I click on Documents nothing happens. It's like
there is a link that is missing somewhere.

Thanks for helping me !

Shidewa

 

[Shidewa]

Synapse Syndrome a écrit :

I think they might not be appearing until they are written to, or used.
You can always modify the batch file to make the folders with the MKDIR
command.

ss.

One thing a noticed is that if I click on the Windows button ( the old
Start button in XP ) and I click on Documents nothing happens. It's like
there is a link that is missing somewhere.

Thanks for helping me !

Shidewa

 

[Shidewa]

Synapse Syndrome a écrit :

I think they might not be appearing until they are written to, or used.
You can always modify the batch file to make the folders with the MKDIR
command.

ss.

One thing a noticed is that if I click on the Windows button ( the old
Start button in XP ) and I click on Documents nothing happens. It's like
there is a link that is missing somewhere.

Thanks for helping me !

Shidewa

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

Synapse Syndrome a écrit :

One thing a noticed is that if I click on the Windows button ( the old
Start button in XP ) and I click on Documents nothing happens. It's like
there is a link that is missing somewhere.

Sorry, I don't know why this is happening for you. It works fine for me
when I do what I described in my first post to you.

ss.