User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation

Today was the day I finally got around to setting up my new SSD. What a speed bump. Still working on all the reinstalls of programs, drivers, and the like. But the moving of the User and Programdata folders went as smooth as could be. I will report back later on exactly what I did and what I learned.

Thanks Kari!

I think it important for anyone attempting this tut to understand what Kari intends for it to accomplish. If you try to move other than the Users and Programdata folders you should consult another tut.

What you need:
Two hard drives (typically an SSD for the OS and a HDD for the folders you move and everything else). You can use one drive with multiple partitions, but this is less likely.
You will need a Windows 7 installation disk or USB (must include the install.wim file in the Sources folder). This is NOT an upgrade disk.
You will need access to the relocate.txt file which is linked in post #199 of this tut.

It is a good idea to insure your BIOS, chipset firmware, etc. is up to date before starting.
That said, here is what I did:

1. First I did redundant backups and system images on an external drive.

2. Having done my backups, and having both hard drives installed, I popped the bootable Win 7 OS installation disk into my DVD drive (insure BIOS boot order selects this drive first if necessary). My old HDD had all my files and the OS installed.

3. When I arrived at the install screen asking where to install the OS (steps 7 & 8 in this tut:
Clean Install Windows 7), I deleted all the partitions on both drives making them unallocated and selected the SSD as the drive to install the OS. (This wipes the HDD.)

4. At step 10 of the clean install tut, I went back to Kari's (this) tut. After entering Audit Mode but prior to running the relocate script, I entered Windows Disk Management through the Control Panel. Here I assigned the drive letters I wanted for drives and created a partition on the HDD that would be a target for the Users and Programdata folders. I noted the drive letters for the next step.

5. I had previously written to a USB stick a copy of the relocate.txt file and another text file that had the command for stopping the WMP Network Service and the two commands for running Sysprep to run the relocate script (also a bunch of support docs, the tut, drivers, etc.). I clicked on the relocate.txt file and it opens in Notebook. Here I made the required edits using the drive letters I noted in step #4, PROFESSIONAL for ULTIMATE, etc. Then I saved the file as a xml file to the root of the target drive (D drive for me).

6. Now I opened the command prompt and ran the commands to run the relocate script. It was nice to have the text file with the commands open in Notebook directly above the command prompt window to make copying easy.

7. Ran the script and all went exactly as planned.

Done.

There was only one surprise and it turned out to be a welcome one. I opted to allow the 100 MB System Reserved Partition to be created expecting this would be on the C drive, the SSD. However, the partition was created on the D drive, the HDD. This was great as it was one less thing to clutter the SSD.

Now I have copied my font files to Windows/Fonts on C and document folders, music and pictures back to the new users locations on D drive. I have installed most of the software I expect to install. Only 28.7 GB of space is used on the SSD (Full install of Windows 7 Professional). Probably should have left the Programdata file alone and am considering moving it back.

With a little planning this tutorial will do what it intends to do without a hiccup. When I open Windows Explorer, there are no surprises and all Libraries and folders are just as before. There is no way to really tell the files are on D without checking that drive. Works great but much faster with the SSD.

As an aside, I could have installed Windows 8. I understand that MS will be coming out with a retro update soon. However, as I read it, this update will not restore the Aero feature. I love the Aero feature and use it all the time to check an open window when working in another app.

Thanks again.