Heads up: Users cannot upgrade to 8.1 Pro if 7 User Profile was moved?

That Ed Bott article is incorrect. Kari will be able to explain a lot better than I can.

gregrocker said:

I got two cases on this today. It was the subject of an Ed Bott article a year ago though I hadn't heard anything until now. It seems some users wanting to upgrade to 8.1 Pro have been stranded and are blaming moving User profile based on Ed Bott's article Don't move your Windows user profiles folder to another drive | ZDNet. The latest case used Kari's tutorial for User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation.

I don't yet fully know the irreversibility of this and whether it might also apply to User Profile - Change Default Location. Will Method Two to Restore User Profile to Defaults suffice for either method of moving?

I've never recommended moving the entire User Profile but only the active User folders, mainly because of the thicket of file associations involved in AppData.

Kari and Shawn may be needed to help in UNrelocate User Profile Prior to Upgrading and another thread I'll find the link for.

I will response in a more detailed way within next hours but in the mean time I want you to read this post of mine in one of my tutorials: User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation

Although the post handles Windows 8, the same methods and procedures apply to Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Kari

gregrocker said:

Thanks, Kari. Whatever you post will be word, and linked.

OK, here we go. A bit long post but I tried to keep it as short as possible:

This quote is from quite beginning of the referred article:

What about this error?

"Sorry, it looks like this PC can't run Windows 8.1. This might be because the Users or Program Files folder is being redirected to another partition."

As all geeks, including the writer of that article certainly know that error message like that or anything similar does not exist. I repeat: that is invalid information. I can only guess why it was included in the article.

Later on the article the writer refers to a Microsoft TechNet support article, written when Vista was still in beta; since those days both Windows and its native tool Sysprep have evolved. A native Microsoft tool Windows® Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows® 7, free to download makes relocating the Users and / or PrograData folders really easy by automating the creation of an unattended answer file needed to give instructions to Sysprep when it is run.

Below a screenshot showing how this feature is included in Windows System Image Manager, a key component of the Windows AIK:

(Screenshot from the Seven Forums tutorial Windows 7 Image - Customize in Audit Mode with Sysprep, Part 9. Creating an Answer File)

The same tool is also available for Windows 8 with a bit different name: Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows® 8

A bit logics now: Microsoft has included a semi-automated tool Sysprep in Windows, the tool which can be used for customizing the Windows image as you wish including for relocating two system folders in question (Users and ProgramData, only system folders which can be relocated without issues). Why does Microsoft create a special tool for a special procedure if using it would ruin your system? A native Microsoft application named Automated Installation Kit, which is used to create instructions for a built-in Windows tool Sysprep in form of a so called unattended answer file has a built-in feature which when used destroys your Windows installation? I do not buy it.

Anyway, here are some indisputable facts:

• Updates work totally normally on a sysprepped system with relocated folders
• A sysprepped Windows with relocated Users and / or ProgramData folders can be upgraded
• If upgraded by clean install, a later version of Windows completely replacing the current version and no settings, installed apps and user data kept, it's straight forward:
  
  • Boot the PC with the upgrade version, select Custom install, wipe the C: drive and install.
  • When done, move the user data in profile folders of the previous installation to C:\Users
  • BTW, this is one of the reasons why relocating by Sysprep is so practical; in this example user could let his Users folder with all profiles and data sit on the drive he had relocated it in previous OS version, then after clean install just copy files over.
• If user wants to do an in-place upgrade on a sysprepped system with relocated Users and / or ProgramData:
  
  • Simply relocate said folders back to C: by following the procedure told in this tutorial, only changing the FolderLocations variables to point the C: drive.
  • Now do the in-place upgrade
  • When done, if you want to sysprep your newly upgraded Windows to relocate the Users back to another drive, you will get an error telling you cannot sysprep an upgraded Windows. A minute of registry editing solves this:
    
    • Remove the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > Setup > Upgrade
    • Change the value of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM > Setup > Status > SysprepStatus > CleanupState to value 7
    • Run command slmgr /dli on an elevated Command Prompt
    • You can now run Sysprep

That's it. This whole "issue" and article used to confirm it is a non-issue, it does not exist. Feeling a bit "poetic" now, I could finish with the name of a play by William Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing!

gregrocker said:

The solution Kari offers to create a new Answer file applies to his tutorial to move User profile, but how about User Profile - Change Default Location which doesn't involve SysPrep? Does it avoid these issues? Would restoring default location work for both?

Whatever method is used to move / relocate the main profile folder Users, parts of it or any other system folders, the same method must be used to move / relocate said folders back to C: for an in-place upgrade or repair install to work.

Additional reading about this subject, two posts in the tutorial thread:
User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation
User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation

Kari


EDIT:

Just for posterity, here's a screenshot to show how valid fact the "relocated Users folder causes Windows Updates to fail" is, as the referred article and some other sources claim. Screenshot shows that my Windows 8.1 main profile folder is located on E: drive and not a single failed update. Click to enlarge and zoom in:

That is scary smart Kari :)

ThrashZone said:

That is scary smart Kari :)

Thats why we keep him in a box and only let him out on Thursdays and Fridays.