How to move installed programs to another drive?

[Jeffnwm]

I recently formatted an sas raid array and it's now empty, I'd like to move some installed programs on a different ide drive to the raid array hoping to speed things up just a little. How can programs and folders/files be moved to a different location and have all the registry information changed so it's all correct within Windows?

 

[Dzomlija]

I recently formatted an sas raid array and it's now empty, I'd like to move some installed programs on a different ide drive to the raid array hoping to speed things up just a little. How can programs and folders/files be moved to a different location and have all the registry information changed so it's all correct within Windows?

To make a long story short: You Can't.

User folder, such as Documents, Pictures, Music, Downloads, etc are easily movable. If you want the programs moved to another location, uninstall them first, then re-install, specifying a different target location.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Yes, that's about the only way that will work without issue.

 

[RugbyHoe]

I recently formatted an sas raid array and it's now empty, I'd like to move some installed programs on a different ide drive to the raid array hoping to speed things up just a little. How can programs and folders/files be moved to a different location and have all the registry information changed so it's all correct within Windows?

As others mentioned, you can't really move apps to another drive without uninstall/reinstall steps, but you can change the default installation path so that all future apps will end up in the desired location. Please see the following tutorial on this site - it's a simple registry mod.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/39689-program-files-directory-change-default-installs.html

 

[captnorm]

TweakUI

I've been using tweakui133.exe for years with XP. It lets you change locations for My Documents, Favorites, Desktop, Program Files and lots of other locations. TweakUI actually does quite a bit more, but I am mostly interested in locations. It works perfectly on my Win7 Pro.

I installed it on a few Win7 Home Premium systems and it installs fine, but does not have the My Computer tab that changes these locations. Has anyone come across this or found a similar way to change where the above mentioned locations are stored?

 

[mrgcav]

Moving Apps to another drive

Yes it is poaaible to move Your apps off the C drive to another drive.
I have done it in Vista and Win 7 is not too different in this respect.
Real question is... Is it worth doing ?
If you have 10 apps or less then just uninstalland reinstall.
Moving the apps requires a registry editor and XXcopy.
Its a lot of work to move the Program files Folder after it has been used for a while.
Not to hard if you have recentaly done a clean install.
I am not going into details on how to do it because their are plenty of info on this alrerady.
So you decide if it is worth it.

 

[Kakkoii]

There is a very easy solution.

(I realize this thread is somewhat old, but I came across it just now, and would like to leave the solution I found for anyone else who stumbles upon this thread.)

There is a free program call Steam Mover that can move all the programs files and change it's associated registry settings. Life Hacker has a good guide and review of it:
Steam Mover Relocates Applications to Free Up Space on Your Primary Drive

Enjoy

 

[gregrocker]

This is the Forums' tutorial on moving User files to another location: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html

It is not recommended to separate programs from the System Partition as they write registry keys which integrate them into the OS.

I would also not use Tweaking programs on Win7 as it is already as lean and optimized as an OS can be.

This is not XP so please get to know Win7 before applying XPired tools and methods to it. They will almost always come back to bite you.

 

[thenoo]

Moving Applications to Another Drive

I have been using an App which does exactly this - its called "Application Mover" and you can d/l it from here free :- Application Mover - Funduc Software.

It changes all Registry references as well as all files - works perfectly for me.

 

[vsrawat]

This is the Forums' tutorial on moving User files to another location: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html

It is not recommended to separate programs from the System Partition as they write registry keys which integrate them into the OS.

I would also not use Tweaking programs on Win7 as it is already as lean and optimized as an OS can be.

This is not XP so please get to know Win7 before applying XPired tools and methods to it. They will almost always come back to bite you.

quote from the link
Steam Mover Relocates Applications to Free Up Space on Your Primary Drive
"Steam Mover is a free download for Windows 7 and Vista. XP is not supported."

So, the program and method is designed for w7 only, why bring XP in between as if it was a lesse mortal? it doesn't even work on xp.

 

[vsrawat]

I have been using an App which does exactly this - its called "Application Mover" and you can d/l it from here free :- Application Mover - Funduc Software.

It changes all Registry references as well as all files - works perfectly for me.

What "free"? they do have a "purchase information and pricing." page. not even telling which versions are free for which purpose.

 

[GHB15]

I recently formatted an sas raid array and it's now empty, I'd like to move some installed programs on a different ide drive to the raid array hoping to speed things up just a little. How can programs and folders/files be moved to a different location and have all the registry information changed so it's all correct within Windows?

As others mentioned, you can't really move apps to another drive without uninstall/reinstall steps, but you can change the default installation path so that all future apps will end up in the desired location. Please see the following tutorial on this site - it's a simple registry mod.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/39689-program-files-directory-change-default-installs.html

I am interested in learning this procedure but cannot access it. Has it been removed or don't I have the necessary authority?

 

[optprime]

In general this isn´t possilble because of the registry entries.
But for "simple" programs you can edit the location path in the registry.
On the other hand there are programs which don´t require registry entries, do it works for them.

 

[ventanazsiete]

I registered just for this following reply:

LOL!

 

[toddbailey]

1. I wish the morons who say that you absolutely can't do something would stop and take a little time and research the task.

steam mover and app mover both work and do exactly what some say you can't