Documents and Settings\{UserID]}: Pointing XP to another drive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter (PeteCresswell)
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(PeteCresswell)

Seems like there ought tb a way to tell XP to keep "Documents and
Settings\{MyUserID} somewhere else besides C: - which seems to me tb an
inherently bad idea if one wants to separate "Data" and "System" stuff against
the day that a system might have tb restored from an earlier image.

Probably a registry entry but there are sooooooo many entries that explicitly
spell out "C:\Documents and Settings\..." that I've got to wonder if such a
change wouldn't have tb made at the beginning of a new system build.

Anybody know?
 
Peter,

When you say move the user ID. Are you talking about a standalone machine or
one on the network? There is a way, but what if that disc or partition goes
down?
 
If by "earlier image" you mean a complete image of the C drive/partition, then
what's the point of moving these folders? If one restores an image, both system
and data files are restored to their previous state.

Or maybe I just didn't understand your question.

FWIW, I use Acronis True Image, monthly, to backup all of my drives/partitions
to a 160 GB drive mounted in an external USB enclosure. These backups are sector
by sector copies of each drive/partition. They are not simply file copies. Any
of these backups can be easily restored, even in the case of a failed drive.

Naturally, there are other backups performed more frequently, such as MS Money
(daily), MS Outlook (daily), the Registry (daily - by day of week), My Documents
folder (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), etc. These are accomplished using other
tools and they are simply file copies or compressed files.

| Seems like there ought tb a way to tell XP to keep "Documents and
| Settings\{MyUserID} somewhere else besides C: - which seems to me tb an
| inherently bad idea if one wants to separate "Data" and "System" stuff against
| the day that a system might have tb restored from an earlier image.
|
| Probably a registry entry but there are sooooooo many entries that explicitly
| spell out "C:\Documents and Settings\..." that I've got to wonder if such a
| change wouldn't have tb made at the beginning of a new system build.
|
| Anybody know?
| --
| PeteCresswell
 
Per Newbie Coder:
When you say move the user ID. Are you talking about a standalone machine or
one on the network? There is a way, but what if that disc or partition goes
down?
Click to expand...

Standalone machine. Moving the UserID's stuff to another physical or logical
drive besides the system (C:) drive.

The idea being that various applications store data in "Documents and Settings"
and if the system gets corrupted - by malware or whatever - I'd like to be able
to restore system image that taken before the sys went bad..... but without
losing whatever data is in C:\Documents and Settings... and without having to
restore "C:\Documents and Settings" same from backup. Just kick off the
re-image, go eat dinner or something, come back, and be ready to work again.

Right now, I've got a simple backup utility running every hour or so - copying
the contents of C:\Documents and Settings to a backup location. That should
work in a recovery situation, but it's more the principle of the thing: I don't
want data kept on the system drive.
 
Hi Pete,

It depends ......will offer you two options:

1. How to Relocate "Document and Settings" 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.

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, then click the View tab.
Under Advanced settings click Show hidden files and folders, then click to
clear the Hide file extensions for known file types and Hide protected
operating system files check boxes.

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, Advanced/User Profiles/Settings. Copy
the current user's profile to the new folder.

Click OK, close and then log off and log back on to the computer as an
administrator again.

Then go to Start/Run/Regedit. Edit/Find and type in:
Documents and Settings. Find.

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

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\DocFolderPaths

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

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.

~~~

2. First, create the new user whose profile defaults to "C:\Documents and
Settings\New User." Next, in Control Panel/System/Advanced/User
Profiles/Settings, copy the new user's profile to the desired location on
a separate data partition (something like F:\Documents and Settings\New
User).

Then in "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList,"
edit "ProfileImagePath" to the new location. The next time you log on to
New
User, all of the new user's settings are re-directed to the new location on
the data partition

Right click the My Computer icon on your Desktop/Properties/Advanced/User
Profiles/Settings/Copy To (new location). Then go to Start/Run/Regedit and
navigate to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
(Find the profile in question) and alter the ProfileImagePath.

~~~

Added info:

Cannot Move or Rename the Documents and Settings Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q236/6/21.asp

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm
 
Per David Webb:
If one restores an image, both system
and data files are restored to their previous state.
Click to expand...

That's the problem. There's data in there that's then lost.

A few settings getting backdated, I can live with.... but losing data isn't so
good. The obvious workaround would be to go to each application that stores
data there and change the path to another drive - but there's an issue of
identifying applications and also some apps just don't let the user make such a
change.
 
Comments in line...

| Per David Webb:
| >If one restores an image, both system
| >and data files are restored to their previous state.
|
| That's the problem. There's data in there that's then lost.
| A few settings getting backdated, I can live with.... but losing data isn't so
| good.

I still don't see the problem. If you have a backup, it's not lost.

I'm aware that there are updates to data that are not as current as the last
image taken, but if you read my comments regarding how I supplement these
backups, you'll see that there is no problem. At least, I've never had any
problems using this method.

The DOS days of doing separate backups for system, programs, and data are long
gone. MS Windows use of the registry and common DLL files makes this previous
approach unrealistic if not impossible.

| The obvious workaround would be to go to each application that stores
| data there and change the path to another drive - but there's an issue of
| identifying applications and also some apps just don't let the user make such
a
| change.

For the data items and settings that you're referring to, there's no need to
move the folders. The use of NTbackup will suffice, and it can be scheduled as a
daily backup. This can then be used to supplement the restoration done via the
imaging utility.
 
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