User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation

Hwky said:

Hey guys I was just wondering if anyone has upgraded to 8.1 windows with their system configured this way and was there any problems?

Without wading right back through the thread Hwky I upgraded my laptop and Sandy Bridge to 8 then downloaded the 8. for free.

Mind yo booth of my machines I set to start up in 7 start up style using Stardock8 (by mistake) on one and Classic Shell on the other. If you like that then see this. Start Menu - Restore in Windows 8

John, he was asking if a system installed as a split system per Kari's tut can be upgraded. I don't know the answer.

Hwky said:

Hey guys I was just wondering if anyone has upgraded to 8.1 windows with their system configured this way and was there any problems?

ICit2lol said:

Without wading right back through the thread Hwky I upgraded my laptop and Sandy Bridge to 8 then downloaded the 8. for free.

Mind yo booth of my machines I set to start up in 7 start up style using Stardock8 (by mistake) on one and Classic Shell on the other. If you like that then see this. Start Menu - Restore in Windows 8

Britton30 said:

John, he was asking if a system installed as a split system per Kari's tut can be upgraded. I don't know the answer.

Short answer to Hwky's question is yes and no :).

The long answer will really be long; I am quite preoccupied just now but composing an answer before going to bed, which hopefully will be soon enough; it's already 4:30 AM here and I need at least half an hour more for work stuff, then this answer with screenshots .

Hwky said:

Hey guys I was just wondering if anyone has upgraded to 8.1 windows with their system configured this way and was there any problems?

OK, now the long answer.

Option 1: Upgrading with clean install

If the Users folder is on another drive than C:, you cannot in-place upgrade install, clean install being the only option. If this is OK to you and you accept the only given option Keep nothing (clean install) when upgrading 7 to 8 / 8.1 or 8 to 8.1, you are good to go.

Windows 8 / 8.1 installs on C:, your old user folders on your old data drive (let's say X:) stay intact and you can copy them afterwards from X: to the new 8 / 8.1 Users folder on C:.

Whereas a cleanly installed Windows can be sysprepped, an in-place upgraded Windows cannot, meaning this method to relocate Users folder only works on a cleanly installed Windows 7 or 8.

However, as you selected Keep nothing as described above, your new Windows 8 or 8.1 installation is clean so now you can sysprep 8 / 8.1 to relocate the Users folder and all existing and future user profiles back to that X: drive.

Please keep in your mind that the Users folder cannot be relocated to another drive than C: if the target drive already contains folder Users from another installation, so in this case you need to copy the contents of the X:\Users folder to C:\Users (or an external backup), wipe the drive X:, then sysprep 8 / 8.1 and relocate the Users back to X:.

Relocating Users on 8 and 8.1: User Profiles - Relocate to another Partition or Disk

   Warning

Do not relocate PrograData folder on 8 and 8.1! See the above mentioned Windows 8 tutorial for more information.

Option 2: Upgrading in-place
If you want in-place upgrade (keep your installed software and settings), you need first to relocate Users and possible ProgramData folders back to C:. It's quite easy procedure, simply run the sysprep with the answer file as told in this tutorial again, this time changing the folder location values in between the FolderLocations tabs to point to original locations on C:

Code:

<FolderLocations>
     <ProfilesDirectory>C:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
     <ProgramData>C:\ProgramData</ProgramData>
</FolderLocations>

After booting back to OOBE the folders are back on C: and you can in-place upgrade keeping all your installed software, Windows 8 or 8.1 install dialog now offereing the option to keep your installed software:

See these instructions at our sister site the Ten Forums: Users Folder - Move Location in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Kari

Britton30 said:

John, he was asking if a system installed as a split system per Kari's tut can be upgraded. I don't know the answer.

Ok Gary like I said I didn't wade back so point taken mate:)

Hi Weardalered, welcome to the Seven Forums.

First line in your error log tells clearly the reason:

2014-01-09 18:51:55, Error [0x0f0082] SYSPRP LaunchDll:Failure occurred while executing 'drmv2clt.dll,Sysprep', returned error code -2147024864[gle=0x00000020]

The dynamic link library file drmv2clt.dll is for Digital Rights Management in Windows Media Player. As mentioned at the bottom of the last page in the tutorial, and several times in various posts in this thread, sysprep does not like WMP Network Sharing Service, causing sysprep fatal error.

I recommend reading the whole tutorial before starting. By doing so you had known to stop the WMP Network Sharing Service before sysprepping, and this fatal error had not occured.

Kari

Don't feel bad, I did read it and till forgot to stop the WMP Network Sharing Service.

Britton30 said:

Don't feel bad, I did read it and till forgot to stop the WMP Network Sharing Service.

My post came out too harsh, maybe, but I wanted to make my point clear. Here's this piece of information for future readers of this thread one more time:

   Note

If sysprep gives a fatal error and the error logs show the reason being the drmv2clt.dll, it always means you have not shut down the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service prior to sysprepping. This applies to all sysprep scenarios, not only to relocating the main profile folder Users as per this tutorial.

Sysprep will not work if this service is running.

To stop Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service, open an elevated command prompt and give the following command:

Code:

net stop WMPNetworkSvc

Now you should be able to use sysprep.

Kari