Do Windows 7 user settings get "aliased" after an upgrade?

[OneTwoThree]

I recently installed an SSD in my PC, and did a fresh install of Windows 7 in the process. I unplugged the HD with the existing install of Windows 7 during the installation process, and plugged it back in after.

Now I'm trying to retrieve some settings for an app I had on my previous installation. But when I go to my old Windows 7 boot drive (now D: ) and try to access the AppData folder, it seems to be showing me the contents of my current AppData folder on C: instead.

Is this what Windows does? If so, is there any way around it, so I can retrieve the application data that I'm after?

 

[TwoCables]

I recently installed an SSD in my PC, and did a fresh install of Windows 7 in the process. I unplugged the HD with the existing install of Windows 7 during the installation process, and plugged it back in after.

Now I'm trying to retrieve some settings for an app I had on my previous installation. But when I go to my old Windows 7 boot drive (now D: ) and try to access the AppData folder, it seems to be showing me the contents of my current AppData folder on C: instead.

Is this what Windows does? If so, is there any way around it, so I can retrieve the application data that I'm after?

What are the exact steps that you're taking to access it from start to finish?

 

[OneTwoThree]

Thanks, I think I've found a workaround now.

I was looking in D:\Documents and Settings\[username]\AppData\Roaming. When I do this, I see the contents of the AppData folder on my C: drive instead.

But if I look in D:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming, this shows me the AppData folder on the D: drive (from my old Windows install), which is the behaviour I was wanting and expecting.

I can only assume that the symlink set up by my old install of Win7 has now come to point at the new install of Win7, by virtue of it having the same path name. Damn, that's confusing!

 

[TwoCables]

I've never seen that happen before. Did you do make any changes, like changing the location of the folders inside of C:\Users\You?

 

[OneTwoThree]

I've never seen that happen before either, although I've only done a similar upgrade on Win7 once before.

No, I didn't change the location of any of the folders, or do anything particularly advanced with the file system for that matter - it was just a vanilla install of Win7 on a single drive, until I added the SSD and did the reinstall.

 

[TwoCables]

I hate to ask this, but at what point did you unplug the hard drive? I don't want to doubt your intelligence or anything, but I'm just hoping that you turned the computer off, disconnected it, turned the system back on, and installed Windows onto the solid state drive. I'm also hoping that when you got to the Desktop, you shut down, reconnected the hard drive, and turned the system back on.

 

[OneTwoThree]

Yes, I powered down, unplugged the drive, turned back on and installed Win7. Then I installed some motherboard drivers and a couple of apps, used the system for an hour or two, then powered down again, reconnected the original hard drive, and booted back into Windows.

This was a few days ago, and I hadn't looked at my AppData folder until yesterday, so I don't know if the weirdness occurred directly after the install or happened later on.

 

[TwoCables]

Wow. This makes me curious again, and I apologize for doing something that can test a person's patience. I'm just dumbfounded:

What's the exact way that you tried to access "D:\Documents and Settings\[username]\AppData\Roaming"? Did you just type this into the address bar? Did you open up the D: drive and open each folder until you arrived at Roaming? How did you do it?

Here's the big one: it still said "D" and not "C"?

 

[OneTwoThree]

No problem, I'm as curious as you are! (Although it's no longer urgent, now I've retrieved the data I wanted).

I originally navigated there folder-by-folder in Explorer. I tried just now by typing the path into the address bar, and I get exactly the same result. As for the big one: yes, the address bar still reads "D:\Documents and Settings\[username]\AppData\Roaming", while it's actually showing me the contents of that directory on my C: drive.

 

[TwoCables]

Well, at least you got your data.

Do the Properties of these folders and their contents match those on C:, including dates and times for creation, last accessed, last modified, etc.?

 

[OneTwoThree]

Yup, all the properties are identical. And if I get the properties of the "Roaming" directory in each location, there's exactly 119,784,271 bytes in each.

 

[TwoCables]

Even the dates and times?

 

[OneTwoThree]

Yes, I checked several files in different folders, every single one has identical Created, Modified and Accessed dates between the two locations. There's no doubt in my mind that Explorer is showing me the folder on C: when I direct it at the folder on D:. The only question is why?

 

[TwoCables]

When you installed Windows 7 onto the SSD, was it a fresh and clean install? Or, was it a reinstall where no format was performed? I asked because you recently called it a "reinstall", so I'm curious now.

 

[OneTwoThree]

It was a completely fresh install onto a previously unused SSD. Sorry if the word "reinstall" was misleading, I just meant that I was installing Win7 from scratch, rather than ghosting over the image of my old Win7 install.

 

[TwoCables]

Wow. Windows 7 baffles me in 2 different ways now where it used to be just 1 way. The first way is the whole reason for keeping other drives disconnected during an installation, and now this. lol

I love this OS, but wow. That's probably the weirdest thing I've ever seen Windows 7 do, but that's not saying much.

 

[OneTwoThree]

I couldn't agree more! I always thought the whole reason for keeping other drives disconnected during an installation was to avoid things like this happening...

 

[TwoCables]

I couldn't agree more! I always thought the whole reason for keeping other drives disconnected during an installation was to avoid things like this happening...

Oh, no it's just to avoid having one of the other drives become required in order to boot even though Windows 7 is not installed to it. I think it puts the boot sector onto one of the other drives if they are connected. So after that point, their presence is always required in order to start Windows. lol

 

[OneTwoThree]

Oh I realise that. I just meant that I'd put that in the general category of "crazy, unwanted links between the old install of Windows and the new" - like my current issue.

 

[TwoCables]

lol

This makes me wonder if I'd have a similar craziness if I tried the exact same thing. The closest I've ever come to doing what you did is "upgrading" from XP where I turned my XP drive into my D: drive. So hmm....