User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation

How to Create User Accounts on another Partition or Disk During Windows 7 Installation ​

   Information

There are several methods to move user profiles to another disk or partition after you have installed Windows 7. The easiest way is to use Audit Mode and System Preparation Tool, both built-in Windows 7 features, to permanently move the location of the folder Users.

This tutorial shows how to relocate both Users and ProgramData to another disk or partition when doing a new, fresh and clean install of Windows 7. If you have already installed Seven, and you'd like to move those folders away from their default location in C: drive, please read first post number 22 in this thread. Follow the steps told in that post, and continue then from beginning of the page 4 in this tutorial.

When Windows 7 is installed, 5 or 6 system folders are created depending on chosen bit-version:

• PerfLogs (Performance Logs), where Windows stores performance and reliability logs
• Program Files, where applications and software are installed. Windows x86 (32-bit) stores all applications here, Windows x64 (64-bit) only native 64-bit applications
• Program Files (x86), only in Windows x64. All non-x64 applications are stored here
• Windows, which contains core operating system files and drivers
• ProgramData, where some applications store application and user specific settings and configuration files
• Users. This is the "home" of all user folders. When a new user account is created and this new user logs in first time, Windows creates a set of user specific folders Users\New_User

Moving Windows and Program Files folders is not recommend by Microsoft. However, moving both Users and ProgramData folders is safe and can save a lot of space on system disk. Pictures, mp3’s videos, documents and so on, a user folder with its subfolders can be tens, sometimes hundreds of gigabytes.

For instance, using this laptop of mine as an example, the total size of Users folder and subfolders is at the moment about 240 GB. The size of ProgramData folder is at the moment almost 18 GB. I simply could not have these folders stored in my system C: drive, there’s not enough space.

When installing Windows 7, I recommend using Windows System Preparation Tool (Sysprep) in so called Audit Mode to relocate Users and ProgramData, leaving C: drive only for Windows and applications.

   Warning

An upgraded Windows cannot be sysprepped. As this method is based in sysprepping, this tutorial is valid only for Windows setups which have not been upgraded.

This means that if you have for instance in-place upgraded Vista to Seven, you cannot sysprep. The same applies if you have upgraded from a lesser edition to a better edition, for instance from Windows 7 Home Premium to Professional.

Notice that a repair install is also an upgrade install, so if you have ever done a repair install (= in-place upgrade to same edition), you cannot sysprep.

In other words, when sysprepping an existing Windows setup it only works if the Windows was installed clean and has never been upgraded or repaired using repair install, or if it is the original pre-installed Windows.

Using this method causes Windows 7 to lose activation information, and it needs to be reactivated afterwards. If your Windows 7 is an OEM version, you might not be able to reactivate it, at least not without phone activation option.

   Warning

IE10 Users: Please read this article first: Sysprep Fatal Error With IE 10 (FIX) | System Administration

Complete tutorial as PDF: View attachment Relocate User folders during Windows 7 installation.pdf (1.22 MB)

Kari

Related Tutorials

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• How to Change the Default Location of a User Profile in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Change the Default Location of Windows 7 User Folders
• How to Restore the Default Location of Windows 7 User Folders
• How to Free Up and Recover Hard Drive Space in Windows 7
• How to Change the User Folder Name of a User Profile in Windows 7

 

[madindehead]

When re-installing, follow the tutorial to relocate Users already before you create the user accounts. Finalize installation, and then restore your data from backup.

Good luck!

Kari

Thanks mate.

I have just copied all the data onto the drive I will be using for the User data etc. If I do a fresh install, will I just be able to link to that right away? Or will get annoyed with there being data there already, and no data to really move?

 

[Kari]

For instance, this scenario works:

When Windows installation finally stops to ask user and computer names, enter Audit Mode as told in tutorial (page 2). Your backup is located in D:\backup. Using sysprep you relocate Users to the same D: drive. When installation is finally over, you copy files from D:\Backup to newly created D:\Users\Your_Username.

Kari

 

[madindehead]

Thank you very much for all the help! Excellent tutorial mate, I got there in the end! Thank you very much!

 

[Kari]

Good to know you got it working.

Kari

 

[madindehead]

Kari, a quick question for you. On my new install with the SSD, I have once again moved ProgramData and all is working. However, I installed one program (Virtual Clone Drive) and the Start Menu entry for it appeared in the C drive ProgramData, and not my E drive ProgramData (my new one). I fixed it by copying the entries over, but surely that shouldn't happen?

Is it just a weird Windows thing, whereby some items don't place themselves in the new ProgramData folder?

 

[Kari]

Kari, a quick question for you. On my new install with the SSD, I have once again moved ProgramData and all is working. However, I installed one program (Virtual Clone Drive) and the Start Menu entry for it appeared in the C drive ProgramData, and not my E drive ProgramData (my new one). I fixed it by copying the entries over, but surely that shouldn't happen?

Is it just a weird Windows thing, whereby some items don't place themselves in the new ProgramData folder?

This is completeley normal behaviour of some programs using absolute file locations instead of Windows environment variables. I would not move those files from C:\ProgramData, it might cause a non working application.

Read this post earlier in this thread: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ing-windows-7-installation-4.html#post1161672

Kari

 

[madindehead]

Kari, a quick question for you. On my new install with the SSD, I have once again moved ProgramData and all is working. However, I installed one program (Virtual Clone Drive) and the Start Menu entry for it appeared in the C drive ProgramData, and not my E drive ProgramData (my new one). I fixed it by copying the entries over, but surely that shouldn't happen?

Is it just a weird Windows thing, whereby some items don't place themselves in the new ProgramData folder?

This is completeley normal behaviour of some programs using absolute file locations instead of Windows environment variables. Read this post earlier in this thread: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ing-windows-7-installation-4.html#post1161672

Kari

Cool. Thanks again!

 

[Anevard]

Hi,

Great tutorial.

I was just wondering if the "processorArchitecture" should not rather be "IA64" than "amd64" for an I5 Intel processor.

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[webjockey]

Hi Kari, I just created my account to say you thanks for such a good tutorial. I have got everything working as it should on my test system. Before I implement this to my "under construction" machine, I have a few questions and I would really appreciate if you can take some time to answer these.

I dont wanna move my "ProgramData" folder from default location so do I just should not write "<ProgramData>d:\ProgramData</ProgramData>" line in script or should I write "<ProgramData>C:\ProgramData</ProgramData>"

Another question I am have is, I am creating 3 Windows 7 installs on the same Machine for some reason. I wanna setup different computer names for these but same username (webJockey). I wanna move all these accounts to D drive. What I wanna do is having one User Folder "webJockey" instead of three. I am just wondring if it is possible, if yes, how do I go about doing it.

My third question should be relatively easy. My "D Drive" is HDD with one NTFS partition and that has got data on it. So do have to do a formatting again or system will still go ahead with creating user folder even if there is data on it. I have got huge ammount of data that I dont wanna move but dont have any windows user folder on it its just my music and videos.

Once again thnaks for a great post.

 

[Kari]

@Anevard:
IA64 is to be used with Itanium x64 architecture. All "normal" x64 systems, Intel & AMD alike, should be sysprepped with processorArchitecture="adm64".

@Webjockey
- Just leave the line <ProgramData>C:\ProgramData</ProgramData> away. If the script is not told to move the ProgramData, it will not be moved.

- Windows don't "think" you have three different installations with the same user names. Instead, Windows "thinks" there's three different computers with different users. For Windows, user Computer1\Webjockey is not the same user than Computer2\Webjockey. Using the same Users folder is a sure way to get problems, please do not even consider it. Do not relocate Users (and / or ProgramData) from different installations / computers to the same location.

- No need to format or empty drive D: or any other target drive for relocation operation. It will not be formatted. Just take care there's enough space.

Kari

P.S. I have currently some extreme difficulties to post here or anywhere else, so please forgive me if / when my responses takes some time.

 

[webjockey]

thanks for quick reply Kari. I got it
I am not going to move ProgramData, but with 3 different users accounts can I relocate to same location if I have different user names and I give same name to computers. So it will be computer/webjockey1, computer/webjockey2.

Once again thank you so much for taking time to answer my Q.

 

[Kari]

@Webjockey:
The problem is not only usernames, it's the folder Users. It's a system folder. Because of several ownership and permission issues it should only be used by one computer / installation.

To put it short:
- All user accounts (profiles) on one computer and one Windows installation can and will be stored under Users. This is OK, you can have as many user accounts as you need. Using the script in this tutorial takes care of that, all future user account folders will be automatically created to this new location of Users.
- Users should only include account profiles of one computer or installation. When more Windows installations exist on the same computer (dual / triple whatever boot), the Users folder (as well as all other system folders) should always be located on the system drive of that installation, or be relocated on a drive that does not have any system folders from any other Windows installation.

To put it even shorter:
- Don't do that.

Kari

 

[webjockey]

Thanks Kari.
SO I WONT create users on from different installs on to the same drive. what i have planned now is I will relocate Computer1's users on to D but will leave users of Computer2 and computer3 on their install drive. Then from all three Installs I will relocate just the Favourite folder to E Drive (or wherever) using "the old famous right click>location tab method" so that all my installs have same favorites. I have used "this way" of sharing favorites in the past and it works flawlessly.
The whole idea of moving the complete users directory came into picture when I could not relocate hotmail's ost created by Outlook 2010 with outlook connector. Its a big file and I am using SSD so I have to move it for numerous reasons. But as I am setting up Outlook only on one machine so I dont have any problems as pretty much everything else I can setup application to behave in a way that it downloads to a specifc folder.

Thanks Kari you are a real genius

 

[Jackal5]

This guide is just what I need. I just made a new build and I have a 64gb ssd for the OS and programs but Win7 was eating up space. I've been using some optimization guides to regain some space but I want to move as much as possible to the E: drive. This guide should do the trick. There isn't really much on the C: drive other than Win7, mobo and hardware drives, Mozilla, stuff like that. I want to keep the ssd drive as uncluttered as possible. I'll gather all the info from this guide here on my laptop, read and re-read it and then give it a try. Thanks very much, Kari and everyone else. I'll keep you all posted of my progress.

 

[madindehead]

This guide from Kari is indeed excellent. However, I found that moving AppData and ProgramData off my SSD was slowing down the system boot FAR too much!

I have since reinstalled Windows, and left all my AppData and ProgramData in place and it's running a lot faster. Not to say this isn't a good guide, just the drive I moved all the data to was much slower, and was noticeably slowing down the booting.

 

[Jackal5]

I already have Win 7 installed and I want to get this done but when I try to run the sysprep.exe I get a "A fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine." message.

I chose "Run as Administrator" for the command prompt but I see, "C:\Users\Me>" Is that ok?

 

[dwbarnett]

Kari, confused a little wanted to verify.

Hello Kari, Thank You for this tut. OK, I understand most of everything. I'm going with the moving AFTER win 7 already installed. I get the script thing and all.

Question, I'm confused on if the win 7 disc needs to be in the WIM(?) CD/DVD drive; before excuting the script? As you have suggested, I created the xml file in notepad; have it in my D: drive root. Am I good to go? Just not sure if any modification is needed, on the script.

Also, a few posts down from post 22, you mentioned this:

I am going to do some serious testing in a next few days. I think moving existing accounts (profiles), you need to first copy the folders of that account to an external drive, then delete the profile, move users using the script told in this tutorial, and then copy the files and folders back.

It seems sysprep is too "clever"; it does not let it to be fooled with renamed user folders but "hijacks" those, causing double user profile name, with the ".ComputerName" extension on the new profile.

Kari

Is this something I need to be concorned with on this procedure? Don't want to screw anything up; so double-checking.

Thank You for any assistance.
David

 

[Jackal5]

This just isn't working for me at all. I guess I'll have to do a fresh install or try another method. But thanks for the guide.

 

[Jackal5]

I finally got it done!

I did a fresh install and moved things over but I forgot to unplug the extra hdds and things got messy. Some how I lost the Boot manager. So I started over and unplugged the extra drives until it was time to run the script in Audit mode. Now ever thing is fine. And then I went through some SSD optimization guides, removed the "Window.old" folders, removed some Windows programs that I wouldn't be using (games, DVD maker, etc) and I reclaimed a LOT of space.

Now I just have to set up the video capture RAID and then it's time to install Programs. Thanks a lot Kari and everyone else.

 

[Miranova23]

After following this tutorial & loving the setup, I'm now trying to plot out my backup plans. But D, now 350GB, is considered a system disk. Kari, do you advise anything in the way of how to take an image of this kind of setup? This is definitely a big drawback, and I'm thinking about trying to figure out a different setup that will allow for an image of only the OS+apps as I have other backups of the data.