Relocation of the Users and the ProgramData directories to a drive other than the drive that has the Windows directory

This article describes the changes in policy for the relocation of the Users directory and the ProgramData directory to a drive other than the %systemdrive% drive in Windows operating systems.

Original product version: В Windows 10 — all editions, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2
Original KB number: В 949977

Using the ProgramData setting to redirect folders to a drive other than the system volume will block your ability to upgrade to future versions of Windows.

By changing the default location of the user profile directories or program data folders to a volume other than the system volume, you cannot service your Windows installation. Any updates, fixes, or service packs cannot be applied to the installation. We recommend that you do not change the location of the user profile directories or program data folders.

Beginning with Windows 10, OS upgrades are supported even if user profiles are redirected to another drive. For example, if you are using Windows 8.1 with ProfilesDirectory set to D:\, you can upgrade to Windows 10.

More information

%systemdrive% is defined as the drive that contains the Windows directory. There are various reasons why you may want to relocate the Users directory or the ProgramData directory to other drives.

For Windows, the most common reasons are as follows:

• It is easier to back up data from a single drive and from a drive that contains only user files.
• It is easier to rebuild the operating system drive on a user’s computer if user data is located on a separate volume. In this case, the drive that contains the Windows directory can be formatted, and Windows can be reinstalled without having to worry about how to remove user data.

For Windows Server, the most common reason is as follows:

• There are performance improvements when you relocate the Users directory and the ProgramData directory to a drive other than the operating system drive.

For information about how to use the answer file setting, see Answer Files Overview.

If you use the FolderLocations unattend setting to move user data to a location other than the %systemdrive% drive, some servicing components may not be installed. These components may include critical updates, security updates, hotfixes, and service packs.

Information that is documented in the current release of the Windows AIK and the Windows OPK

The Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) and the Windows OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK) for Windows and Windows Server contain documentation warnings that are related to the usage of the Profile Directory and ProgramData unattend settings. These are the settings that let you relocate the Users directory and the ProgramData directory to locations other than their default locations. This includes other drives.

These warnings were included before the servicing stack update (update 937287) was available. This update addresses the issue that is discussed in the warning text. Windows AIK and the Windows OPK documentation reads as follows. You cannot upgrade such installations to the next version of Windows.

Setting information from the Windows AIK and Windows OPK documentation:

The Profiles Directory setting

The Profiles Directory setting specifies the path of the user profile folder.

Use this setting to move the user profile folder (typically %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Users) to another location during Setup or Sysprep. The destination path can be on a volume other than the system drive, as long as it meets the following requirements:

• It must be on an NTFS volume.
• It must not be the path of another operating system user profile folder.
• It must not contain any serviceable components.

This setting can be used to keep system data separate from user data. If Windows is reinstalled on the system volume, a user who has administrative rights can manually recover data from this location.

Using ProfilesDirectory to redirect folders to a drive other than the system volume blocks upgrades. Using ProfilesDirectory to point to a directory that is not the system volume will block SKU upgrades and upgrades to future versions of Windows. For example, if you use Windows 8 together with ProfilesDirectory set to D:\, you cannot upgrade to Windows 8 Pro or to the next version of Windows. The servicing stack does not handle cross-volume transactions, and it blocks upgrades.

The ProgramData setting

The ProgramData setting specifies the path of the program data folder.

These settings should be used only in a test environment. By changing the default location of the user profile directories or program data folders to a volume other than the System volume, you cannot service your Windows installation. Any updates, fixes, or service packs cannot be applied to the installation. Microsoft recommends that you do not change the location of the user profile directories or program data folders. This is especially true for Microsoft Store apps. Changing the location of %programdata% will cause errors when you install, uninstall, or update these apps.

If you use the unattend settings to set up the operating systems that are listed in this article, we will provide commercially reasonable efforts to support your scenario.

How to change the download location in Windows 10, 8, 7

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Has it ever happened to you that when trying to download a file, folder or perhaps a program in Windows 8, Windows 7 or Windows 10, you didn’t had enough free disk space to do so ?Well, this is mainly because Windows 8, 7 and Windows 10, like any other Microsoft operating systems, have the default download location folder set in your C:/ drive where you also have your operating system. This is the reason why, most probably, you won’t have that much space available.

Tn the tutorial below, you’ll learn how easy it is to change the download location in Windows 8, 7 or Windows 10 in only five minutes of your time. Also, you can change the download location folder even when the message pops up saying that you don’t have enough free disk space on the partition. So, without wasting any more time, let’s begin the tutorial and set our new directory for our downloaded items.

Change default download location on PC

1. After you power up the Windows 7, 8 or Windows 10 PC, you will have to left click on the desktop icon you will have in the start screen.
2. Now after you get to your desktop feature right click on the “Windows Explorer” icon presented in the lower left side of the screen.
3. Now from the menu that pops up you will need to left click on the “Desktop” icon.
   Note: You can also access the “Desktop” by double clicking (left clicking) on My Computer or This PC (depending on your OS version) and after the window with “My Computer” is opened you can left click on the “Desktop” icon in the left side of the screen.
4. Now, after you selected the “Desktop”, some icons will be shown in the right side of the window and you will need to double click (left click) on the folder with the name of your account.
5. In the folder you opened that had your account name, you will have to right click on “Downloads” folder presented there.
6. After you right clicked the “Downloads” folder you will need to left click on “Properties”.
7. Now that the “Properties” window is open, you will need to left click on the “Location” tab presented in the upper side of that window.
8. Now that you have selected the “Location” tab you can see the path where the download items are going .
9. Left click on the “Move…” button you have under the specified path.
10. Now after you left clicked on “Move…” you will have to write there yourself the drive where you want your items to be downloaded and also in which folder.
    Note: If the folder you have written does not exist after you left click on the “Apply” button situated in the lower right side of the screen you will be asked if you want to create that download folder and you will left click on “OK” to confirm.
11. Another “Move folder” window will appear which it will show you the old and the new location where you will have to left click on the “Yes” button situated in the lower right side of the screen.
12. Now, you will have to left click on the “OK” button in the “Download Properties” window.
13. Go to your new location where you selected to download your files and check if Windows 7, 8 or Windows 10 system has made a “Downloads” folder there.
    Note: Reboot your Windows 7, 8 or Windows 10 device if it hasn’t created the “Downloads” folder to the new directory and check again after power up.

• RELATED: Can’t rename folders in Windows 10 [Fix]

How do I change the default save location in Windows 10?

If Windows 10 is your OS of choice, you can also change the download folder save location from the Settings page:

1. Go to Settings > System > select Storage
2. Now, click on the option ‘Change where new content is saved’
3. Set your preferred download location for each item category.

Run a System Scan to discover potential errors

So, now you can go and download your files or programs in Windows 7, 8 or Windows 10 without having to worry about the download location. Share your thoughts on this article in the comments below and feel free to list your suggestions on what we can do to help you further in your Windows 7, 8 or Windows 10 computer.

Also, the location where a Windows 10 update is saved on your computer is tricky, but for that, you can check this fresh guide here on where’s the default download folder for the Windows 10 versions.

RELATED STORIES TO CHECK OUT:

How do you change the default Installation Directory in Windows 7 64bit?

Just installed Windows 7 64bit Home Edition, can’t seem to change the default installation directory with regedit successfully. Did this no problem in XP. I have Window installed on a small SSD drive with a second hard drive to use for progams e.g. F:/Program Files.

Any one done this successfully?

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

Welcome to Microsoft Answers Community Forum!

In order to change the default installation directory, please change the following in the registry.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To change the registry, follow these steps:

1. Start Registry Editor by entering “Regedit” in the search All programs.

2. Locate the following:

3. Right click on the value named ProgramFilesDir & change the default value C:\Program Files to the path you want to install all your programs in.

4. Click OK and Exit.

Windows, by default, will now install your programs in the new drive or path.

Hope this helps!

Supreeth — Microsoft Support.
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General profile settings in Windows Terminal

The settings listed below are specific to each unique profile. If you’d like a setting to apply to all of your profiles, you can add it to the defaults section above the list of profiles in your settings.json file.

This is the name of the profile that will be displayed in the dropdown menu. This value is also used as the «title» to pass to the shell on startup. Some shells (like bash ) may choose to ignore this initial value, while others ( Command Prompt , PowerShell ) may use this value over the lifetime of the application. This «title» behavior can be overridden by using tabTitle .

Property name: name

Necessity: Required

Accepts: String

Command line

This is the executable used in the profile.

Property name: commandline

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: Executable file name as a string

Default value: «cmd.exe»

Starting directory

This is the directory the shell starts in when it is loaded.

Property name: startingDirectory

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: Folder location as a string

Default value: «%USERPROFILE%»

Example: Start the PowerShell profile in the GitHubRepos folder of your Documents directory by finding the powershell.exe profile and adding «startingDirectory»: «%USERPROFILE%/Documents/GitHubRepos»,

Example with WSL: When setting the starting directory for a Linux distribution installed via WSL, use the format: «startingDirectory»: «\\\\wsl$\\DISTRO NAME\\home\\USERNAME» , replacing with the placeholders with the proper names of your distribution. For example, «startingDirectory»: «\\\\wsl$\\Ubuntu-20.04\\home\\user1» .

Default behavior: When the startingDirectory value is not specified, you will get different results depending on where you launch Terminal:

• If you run Windows Terminal from the Start menu: C:\windows\system32
• If you run wt.exe from the Start menu: C:\windows\system32
• If you run wt.exe from Win+R: %USERPROFILE%
• If you run wt.exe from the explorer address bar: whatever folder you were looking at.

Backslashes need to be escaped. For example, C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents should be entered as C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\Documents .

This sets the icon that displays within the tab, dropdown menu, jumplist, and tab switcher.

Property name: icon

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: File location as a string, or an emoji

Example: By placing the icon image ubuntu.ico in the folder located at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\RoamingState , you can display the icon by adding this line to the profile in your settings.json: «icon»: «ms-appdata:///roaming/ubuntu.ico» .

Tab title

If set, this will replace the name as the title to pass to the shell on startup. Some shells (like bash ) may choose to ignore this initial value, while others ( Command Prompt , PowerShell ) may use this value over the lifetime of the application. If you’d like to learn how to have the shell set your title, visit the tab title tutorial.

Property name: tabTitle

Necessity: Optional

Accepts: String

Hide profile from dropdown

If hidden is set to true , the profile will not appear in the list of profiles. This can be used to hide default profiles and dynamically generated profiles, while leaving them in your settings file. To learn more about dynamic profiles, visit the Dynamic profiles page.