Moving program

[John]

How do I move a program from My Documents to Program files?
Thanks
John

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

How do I move a program from My Documents to Program files?

You can't. That option isn't available to morons who don't provide
proper information.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

How do I move a program from My Documents to Program files?

.... and know it will still function?

Uninstall it.
Install it again from the proper media - being sure to specify where you
would like it to install to.

I only say this because - without knowing the program in question - one
cannot tell you what registry entries this program might have, what
registered DLLs, etc. Just moving the folder most likely would not
accomplish what it is you are truly attempting.

 

[John]

From Help:
Dragging a program to a new location creates a shortcut to that program.
To move a program, right-click and then drag the program to the new
location. You must be logged on as an administrator to move a program.

Is Cut and paste safe??

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

You can't. That option isn't available to morons who don't provide
proper information.

Don't be rude. If you can't play nicely with the other kids, go back in the
classroom and clean the chalkboards.

 

[Elmo]

From Help:
Dragging a program to a new location creates a shortcut to that program.
To move a program, right-click and then drag the program to the new
location. You must be logged on as an administrator to move a program.

Is Cut and paste safe??

I prefer Copy/Paste, then return and delete the original copy. This
helps prevent a loss of a file if there's a problem during the transfer.

Of course, as previously mentioned, this won't work if the program was
installed and has registry entries, dll's associated with it, etc.

 

[Daniel Schaffer]

How do I move a program from My Documents to Program files?
Thanks
John

John,

You can't move programs around the way you can move data files, or at least
not if you want the programs to work. That's why there's a place in Control
Panel for Deleting or Adding Programs. If you delete the program from Add or
Delete programs, the computer will delete registry entries which you can't
see, but which are important. Then you can reinstall the program. It will
probably say that it's installing itself in the Program Files folder. That's
fine. Or you can choose another place to install it to, by pressing the
"Browse" button. Keeping all your program files in one folder is probably
the best solution.

Good
luck, Dan S

 

[DL]

And what Help would that be?; it certainly wouldnt be windows help

Only the very simplest Programs can be moved in this way & certainly none
that write changes to the registry for locations

 

[John]

And what Help would that be?; it certainly wouldnt be windows help

Only the very simplest Programs can be moved in this way & certainly none
that write changes to the registry for locations

That is what it says in "Compaq Windows XP Home Edition" Help and
Support Center ... on side Bar.

I downloaded "Process Explorer" and perhaps I wasn't taking care, but it
went into "my Documents".
I see it isn't in add/remove programs

[Process Explorer
Copyright © 1996-2007 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com


Process Explorer does not require administrative privileges to run and
works on Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, ...]

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

From Help:
Dragging a program to a new location creates a shortcut to that program.
To move a program, right-click and then drag the program to the new
location. You must be logged on as an administrator to move a program.

However, with very rare exceptions, moving a program from one place to
another will cause it to no longer work.

The reason is that all installed programs except a very occasional
small self-contained one, have many references and pointers to where
it's located, primarily in the registry , but sometimes elsewhere too.
If you move it, all those references will be wrong, and it will no
longer work.

There are some third-party programs that purport to seek out and
change all those references, but in my experience, even the best of
these work only some of the time. The only reliable way to do this is
to uninstall and reinstall the program where you want it.

 

[WaIIy]

I downloaded "Process Explorer" and perhaps I wasn't taking care, but it
went into "my Documents".
I see it isn't in add/remove programs

It ended up in My Documents because you weren't paying attention to
where you unzipped it to.

Process Explorer is a stand alone program and runs from procexp.exe
wherever that might be located.

It wouldn't be in the add\remove programs, since it really isn't
"installed".

 

[WaIIy]

And what Help would that be?; it certainly wouldnt be windows help

Only the very simplest Programs can be moved in this way & certainly none
that write changes to the registry for locations

That is what it says in "Compaq Windows XP Home Edition" Help and
Support Center ... on side Bar.

I downloaded "Process Explorer" and perhaps I wasn't taking care, but it
went into "my Documents".
I see it isn't in add/remove programs

[Process Explorer
Copyright © 1996-2007 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com


Process Explorer does not require administrative privileges to run and
works on Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, ...]

Ps
Process Explorer is special because it is stand alone. If you try to
move 99.99999% of installed programs by just dragging it somewhere, that
falls under the subject of "Very Bad Ideas".

Do this -

Create a folder under Program Files called ProcessExplorer.

Move procexp.exe into that folder.

Move procexp.chp (the help file) into that folder.

Make a shortcut to C:\Program Files\ProcessExplorer\procexp.exe

Done and you're happy.

 

[WaIIy]

That is what it says in "Compaq Windows XP Home Edition" Help and
Support Center ... on side Bar.

Pss - If that's the exact quote, you had better quit using that help
file. Whoever wrote that must have been -

A- High
B- Stupid
C- Mixed up that day
D- In the second grade
E- Working for Apple
F-Mad at Compaq
G-Forgot to take his medication that day

 

[John]

The full quote is :
To move files by dragging
Open Windows Explorer.
Find the file or folder you want to move.
Make sure the destination for the file or folder you want to move is
visible. For example, if you are moving a file from the My Documents
folder to the desktop, you might need to resize Windows Explorer so the
desktop is visible.
Drag the file or folder to the destination.
Notes

To open Windows Explorer, click Start, point to Programs, point to
Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.
If you drag an item while pressing the right mouse button, you can move,
copy, or create a shortcut to the file in its new location.
To copy the item instead of moving it, press and hold down CTRL while
dragging.
If you drag an item to another disk, it is copied, not moved. To move
the item, press and hold down SHIFT while dragging.
Dragging a program to a new location creates a shortcut to that program.
To move a program, right-click and then drag the program to the new
location. You must be logged on as an administrator to move a program.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

One of the reasons I asked the question was there used to be a file
moving facility in Windows 95... (I think) I thought, perhaps it could
move a program.

 

[WaIIy]

Dragging a program to a new location creates a shortcut to that program.
To move a program, right-click and then drag the program to the new
location. You must be logged on as an administrator to move a program.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

They should perhaps warn of the peril involved in trying to move a
program.

One of the reasons I asked the question was there used to be a file
moving facility in Windows 95... (I think) I thought, perhaps it could
move a program.

Win95 and XP aren't any different in the program moving department.

Good question though, it would be nice if you could.