Move "Program Files" to new drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gus Sterneman
  • Start date Start date
G

Gus Sterneman

I'm running XP Home and just installed a new hard drive
and want to move my Program Files directory from the
current C: (FAT32) to the new D: (NTFS) without having to
re-install all of my applications leaving my Windows dir
on C:. Is there a find/replace I can do in the registry
or somthing like that, or am I stuck with the complete re-
install?

Ciao,
Gus
 
One cannot move programs from one drive or partition to another.
They must be reinstalled using the original installation media.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


| I'm running XP Home and just installed a new hard drive
| and want to move my Program Files directory from the
| current C: (FAT32) to the new D: (NTFS) without having to
| re-install all of my applications leaving my Windows dir
| on C:. Is there a find/replace I can do in the registry
| or somthing like that, or am I stuck with the complete re-
| install?
|
| Ciao,
| Gus
|
 
Well, you are using NTFS for the current boot drive,
so this is not an option. However, if it were converted
to NTFS then you could mount a new partition at the
C:\Program Files location
For this to do what you want you would first need to
get all content from C:\Program Files over onto the
new partition (using a drive letter temporarily assigned
to it). Then the tricky part is to remove all content from
within the existing C:\Program Files before you mount
the new partition to that path. This step is not necessary
unless you want to recover the space (which I assume you
do). Before you take this last step, after you have copied
to the new partition all that is within C:\Program Files
(but not the folder Program Files node itself) you should
test that all is ok by mounting it at the path C:\Program Files.
If all works, unmount it, clean the existing C:\Program Files
and then remount it. It likely will not be possible to remove
everything from within existing C:\Program Files even if
you carefully shut down things that are running.
 
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