Relocate *Program Files* folder in new partition?
-
LIVE: AVSForum Tech Talk Podcast with Scott Wilkinson, Episode 5 Click here for details.
-
Enter to be our Home Theater of the Month Click here for details.
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
I'm not sure I understand what are you trying to do. If you reformatted HDD and need to bring all the settings from older drive then you can use transfer wizard, if you need to move folders from one partition to other My Documents is easy, it's just the folder and you can either change it's location in Environment Variables or redirect pointers in each program that uses it. Program file folder is more tricky, there are a lot of registry entries pointing to the programs there and for example all the program associations will no longer work and you'll need to rebuild that from scratch. I'm not sure if there is global redirect pointer for program files folder since most of the time the link is hardcoded (c:\\program files). I don't see much benefit of doing this, especially that some programs don't like to install anywhere but C: partition but that's another story.
To accomplish this, I would be looking for a way to tell Windows to relocate "Program Files" at the beginning of the install, not after. There are so many dependencies between the OS and "program Files" that it might be very tricky. Not sure there is a way actually.
Have you considered the following partitioning?
C: OS & Program Files (20GB)
D: My Doc (50GB)
Z: Virtual Memory (6GB)
You might want to alocate more on C: and less on D: depending of the estimated size of "Program Files".
This partiioning has worked well for me. I allocated 4GB for OS and prgram files, that's enough for me (HTPC use).
Good luck.
Y.
Have you considered the following partitioning?
C: OS & Program Files (20GB)
D: My Doc (50GB)
Z: Virtual Memory (6GB)
You might want to alocate more on C: and less on D: depending of the estimated size of "Program Files".
This partiioning has worked well for me. I allocated 4GB for OS and prgram files, that's enough for me (HTPC use).
Good luck.
Y.
To relocate the "My Documents" folder, the easiest way is to use a program called TweakUI, one of Microsoft's Powertools. I don't think there is an easy way to move the program files folder, and it really won't be all that helpful since most programs add files all over the place. The best bet is to separate your data from the OS and programs.
Thanks for the info.
You guys are probably right. Moving the Program Files to a different partition is tricky. However, I've heard about people using a different partition to install games and space-intensive softwares without tempering with the original Program Files folder in C:.
Otherwise, the TweakUI sounds great for My Doc, etc... Does anyone used it? How did you go about moving the My Doc files within Tweak UI? I tried it but I think I didn't exactly moved anything, or it didn't do the expected result...
Thanks. Greg.
You guys are probably right. Moving the Program Files to a different partition is tricky. However, I've heard about people using a different partition to install games and space-intensive softwares without tempering with the original Program Files folder in C:.
Otherwise, the TweakUI sounds great for My Doc, etc... Does anyone used it? How did you go about moving the My Doc files within Tweak UI? I tried it but I think I didn't exactly moved anything, or it didn't do the expected result...
Thanks. Greg.
Moving my docs is pretty simple, I don't think you need TweakUI... I am pretty sure you can do this from within windows... http://www.techsupportalert.com/how_..._documents.htm
You can also do some regedits and it will change the location windows refers to my documents...
As for the programs folder... There really isn't much to moving it... Just create a folder on another partition and when asked during an install where to install it... Just browse to the new folder...
Honestly I would not really suggest it though, some applications are written poorly and though you can select to install it in a different place the programming has static code referring to the standard Programs Folder location.
If the thought is you want to be able to reinstall windows but not the apps, you may run into problems if the program creates needed registry entries. On the new windows installation the registry entries would not be there and then you get errors. This would be solved by reinstalling the application but then your partition drive idea is moot.
Though many games do not create complex nor needed reg entries so many of them will work on a new windows installation even if the installer wasn't run on that particular windows install...
Honestly creating images and using sysprep for those images will be a lot easier then making tons of partitions and installing apps to them and finding out through trial and error what works and what doesn't.
I personally like reinstalling windows about once a year, lets me clean out old games that I don't need to play or other crap... sort of like a fresh start. I have found that my images get old... I still have to update them etc etc... By doing a standard reinstall forces me to keep backups of applications and also reevaluate software installed on my system. I find that 30-40% of installed software is really not needed or I moved on to something else...
You can also do some regedits and it will change the location windows refers to my documents...
As for the programs folder... There really isn't much to moving it... Just create a folder on another partition and when asked during an install where to install it... Just browse to the new folder...
Honestly I would not really suggest it though, some applications are written poorly and though you can select to install it in a different place the programming has static code referring to the standard Programs Folder location.
If the thought is you want to be able to reinstall windows but not the apps, you may run into problems if the program creates needed registry entries. On the new windows installation the registry entries would not be there and then you get errors. This would be solved by reinstalling the application but then your partition drive idea is moot.
Though many games do not create complex nor needed reg entries so many of them will work on a new windows installation even if the installer wasn't run on that particular windows install...
Honestly creating images and using sysprep for those images will be a lot easier then making tons of partitions and installing apps to them and finding out through trial and error what works and what doesn't.
I personally like reinstalling windows about once a year, lets me clean out old games that I don't need to play or other crap... sort of like a fresh start. I have found that my images get old... I still have to update them etc etc... By doing a standard reinstall forces me to keep backups of applications and also reevaluate software installed on my system. I find that 30-40% of installed software is really not needed or I moved on to something else...
I used to do that, now I use GHOST to make image backups of my C: drive (only programs on C:, all data are on D
![]()
. It takes ~15mn to backup and verify, 5mn to restore when I need it.
Huge time saver! And best uninstall method for program that leave something behind even after running their uninstall...
I think some free backup programs are available now.
Y.
I used to do that, now I use GHOST to make image backups of my C: drive (only programs on C:, all data are on D
Huge time saver! And best uninstall method for program that leave something behind even after running their uninstall...
I think some free backup programs are available now.
Y.
Joined
·
320 Posts
I bookmarked this article awhile ago:
Planning Your Partitions:
http://aumha.org/a/parts.htm
Under - Separate Program Partition, he uses TweakUI to ressign the location of Window's "Program Files".
![]()
Planning Your Partitions:
http://aumha.org/a/parts.htm
Under - Separate Program Partition, he uses TweakUI to ressign the location of Window's "Program Files".
Thanks for all the info and reco.
Here's what I ended up doing:
OS in 20GB partition with drivers, etc... (Didn't mess around with relocating the entire Program Files: less trouble...)
Applications, My Doc, temp folders and other Shell Folders in 50GB partitions. (Most of the Shell Folders are easy to relocate by right-drag, drop in other partition and "move to" left-click).
Paging File in dedicated 6GB partition.
Things are working like a Suisse clock! No alert/error messages at any points.
Stopped unnecessary services and startups, removed Windows and bios login screens, etc...
...And bonus, I cold-boot in about 25-30 seconds! Happy!
In addition I found (a bit too late!) an interesting site on how to assign the Program Folder wherever you want. It is a really through site that guides you through the entire process on how to do this (and more) as part of an unattended OS installation. Thanks to Gronk for giving this info on an other forum:
"Windows looks for a file called "winnt.sif" with information on how you'd like things set up": http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/19/
This site is also worth exploring entirely.
Here's what I ended up doing:
OS in 20GB partition with drivers, etc... (Didn't mess around with relocating the entire Program Files: less trouble...)
Applications, My Doc, temp folders and other Shell Folders in 50GB partitions. (Most of the Shell Folders are easy to relocate by right-drag, drop in other partition and "move to" left-click).
Paging File in dedicated 6GB partition.
Things are working like a Suisse clock! No alert/error messages at any points.
Stopped unnecessary services and startups, removed Windows and bios login screens, etc...
...And bonus, I cold-boot in about 25-30 seconds! Happy!
In addition I found (a bit too late!) an interesting site on how to assign the Program Folder wherever you want. It is a really through site that guides you through the entire process on how to do this (and more) as part of an unattended OS installation. Thanks to Gronk for giving this info on an other forum:
"Windows looks for a file called "winnt.sif" with information on how you'd like things set up": http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/19/
This site is also worth exploring entirely.
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
