? moving Temp. Files Folder to different logical drive

I am loading NWN2 onto my HDD. Evidently, NWN2 "makes use of My Documents and Windows Temp File Directories to store saved games, hak files, exported character files, and temp files needed during game play, updates and more," according to the moderator of NWN2's technical self-help forum.

My HDD is devided into three logical drives: C is the OS and main applications excepting office programs and is 63.4GB; D is for games and is 244GB; and E is for documents, photos, videos, office suite, etc. and is 157GB.

I've already moved my My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos folders to drive E. This is is the additional advice given for changing the temporary files folder from the sticky at the NWN2 self-help forum:

" You should be able change the temporary files folder by changing the TEMP and TMP system environment variables.


1. Create a folder at the root of the local drive and name it TEMP.
2. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
3. In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
4. Click Environment Variables.

5. Repeat the following steps for both the TEMP and the TMP User variables:
a. In the User variables list, select the TEMP variable, and then click Edit.
b. In the Variable value box, type %drive%\TEMP, and then click OK.
c. Repeat steps a and b for the TMP variable.

6. Repeat the following steps for both the TEMP and the TMP System variables:
a. In the System variables list, select the TEMP variable, and then click Edit.
b. In the Variable value box, type %drive%\TEMP, and then click OK.
c. Repeat steps a and b for the TMP variable.

7. Click OK two times to close the System Properties dialog box.

Note %drive% is the local drive where you created the folder in step 1."

That advice comes from no later than August of 2007, so while it may be good advice for Windows XP or Vista--or it may not, that is one of the reasons I am opening this thread--I need to know if it is good advice that is applicable to the Windows 7 OS.

In the Environmental Variables under the Advanced tab in my System Properties, the values for TEMP and TMP in the User Variable field are identical:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp

In the System Variables field, the values for TEMP and TMP are also identical:

C:\Windows\TEMP

So, if I wanted to move my temporary files folder to my D drive, could I follow the above advice and have success, simply creating a TEMP folder at the root of D and following his editing advice?

If it is good advice, would the specific substitute for the "drive" portion of %drive%
in my case be %D:\TEMP% , %D:% , or something else?

If not, is there some solution somebody could provide?

Doing the above is beyond my knowledge, especially considering the advice offered may not apply to Windows 7 if the OS mechanics are different regarding temporary file folders. I assume that there are any number of experts on this forum who can confirm this advice would work or can offer a Windows 7 method that would work.

Moving the TEMP files away from the OS has its purposes.

IMO, the only reason to move TEMP is if its a SSD your trying to limit writes to, save space etc.

For 1 physical spinning drive/ partitioned I really do not think there would be much benefit. Having Games, USER folders (Music,Pictures etc) on other partitions or drives can be a benefit though.

But the method you listed will work fine if you choose to move it.

Well, I suppose that if, at some time, I come across the problem they mentioned in the self-help sticky, then I could move the TEMP folder. Thank you very much for your help.