User Folders - Change Default Location

How to Change the Default Location of User Folders in Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

This will show you how to change (move) the default location of your account's C:\Users\(user-name) folders to another location of your choice instead in Windows 7 and Windows 8, and still have access to the user folder from the Start Menu (Windows 7 only) location.

   Tip

If you are just wanting to save HDD space, then you might consider this below to be able to access the files from your libraries with the files actually located where you like instead. This way you will not have to worry about any potential issues that come with moving user folder locations. For example, whatever partition you move your user folders to will now be included in a system image in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

• Create a new folder at any location you want.
• Move any files you want into the new folder.
• Include the new folder into a library (Windows 7 or Windows 8) of your choice.
• If you like, you can also set the new folder to be the default save to location (Windows 7 or Windows 8) for the library as well.

   Warning

If you change the default location of your Favorites folder in Windows 8 or 8.1, your Favorites in Internet Explorer will no longer be available until you move your Favorites back to the default "C:\Users\(user-name)" location.

EXAMPLE: User Folders
NOTE: This is at the default C:\Users\(user-name) location.

OPTION ONE

To Change Main User Profile Folder Location

1. For how, see:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/87555-user-profile-change-default-location.html

OR

How to Relocate User Profiles to another Partition or Disk in Windows 8

OPTION TWO

To Change User Folders Location from within User Profile Folder

1. If you a part of a homegroup, then you will need to change the homegroup settings to no longer share the user folder (ex: My Music) that you want to move first by unchecking the folder and clicking on Save Changes. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This is so the user folder (ex: My Music) will not be shared on the homegroup anymore.

2. In Windows Explorer, navigate to where (ex: D: drive) you want to move the default user folder (ex: My Music) location to.

3. Create a New Folder by right clicking or press and hold on a empty space in the main window there, and click/tap on New and Folder. Name the new folder without spaces (ex: "Music" for My Music) for the user folder that you want to move there. (See screenshots below)
NOTE: The name that you type in for the new folder will be what you see as the user folder name in the Start Menu (shell:UsersFilesFolder) location when finished with all of these steps. It would be best to use the same name as the user folder to avoid confusion.




4. Close this window. (See screenshots above)

5. Press the Windows+R keys to open the Run dialog, type shell:UsersFilesFolder, and press enter.
NOTE: This will open your C:\Users\(user-name) folder.

6. Right click or press and hold on a user folder (ex: My Music, My Documents, My Pictures, etc.....) that you want to move the default location for, and click/tap on Properties. (See screenshot below)

7. Click/tap on the Location tab, and Move button. (See screenshot below)

8. Navigate to the same location as in step 2 and 3 above, then select the renamed new folder (ex: Music), and click/tap on the Select Folder button. (See screenshot below)

9. Click/tap on OK. (See screenshot below)

10. Click/tap on Yes. (See screenshot below)

11. After a few seconds when the location has been changed, the Properties window (screenshot under step 9) will then close.

12. Check back at the C:\Users\(user-name) location to make sure that the old user folder (ex: My Music) that you moved is no longer there. If it is, then make sure that the contents of the folder were moved to the new location, and delete it. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: If you are unable to delete the folder, then restart the computer and try again.

13. You will notice that the folder at the shell:UsersFilesFolder location and the new location (ex: D drive) you moved the user folder to, now has the default user folder (ex: My Music) icon. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: The Start Menu in Windows 7 now opens the user folder from the new location (ex: D: drive) that you moved the user folder to.

14. If you a part of a homegroup, then you can now change the homegroup settings back to share the user folder (ex: My Music) again if you like by checking the folder, and click/tap on Save Changes. (see screenshot below)

   Tip

If you wanted to restore the default location of the user folder, then see:

How to Restore the Default Location of User Folders in Windows 7 and Windows 8

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Customize Default User Profile in Audit Mode
• How to Restore the Default Location of User Folders in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Change the Default "Screenshots" Folder Location in Windows 8
• How to Change the Windows 7 Default User Folder Icons
• How to Pin Your User Files Folder to the Windows 7 Taskbar
• How to Create Your Own Special User Folder
• How to Restore Windows 7 Default User Folder Icons
• How to Add or Remove your User Folder from the Windows 7 Navigation Pane
• How to Allow or Prevent Users to Move their User Folders to a New Location
• How to Change the Default Location of a User Profile in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Change the Name of "My Documents" without Renaming the Folder
• User Folders - Moving User Folders by Modular Script
• 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

 

[Brink]

What are the benefits of using one method over the other? ...is what I meant.

*Thinking out loud here*: Option 1 does an all in one move, while with Option 2 one can pick and choose which folder(s) to move(?) Just wondering why one would choose to move everything off the system drive/partition and someone else would choose to move some folders out but keep the profile folder home.

Thanks

Edit in: Okay did more reading on these boards and hopefully answered my own question. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but here is what I got: The other difference between moving just folders and moving the whole profile folder to another drive/partition is that with the latter, it is now considered a system partition and will be included in a system image. While the folders only method allows you to make a much smaller system image with the ability to backup the folders separately.:huh:

Almost. Whether you move the main user profile folder or just one of the sub user folders, whatever drive/partition you move it to will be considered a system drive afterwards.

As for as benefits on why use one method over the other really just depends on the user's needs. Do they want to only move one or more sub user folders say due to a large collection of say music and pictures, or do they want to move the main user profile folder. The only real benefit with using either method would be to have the HDD space used by the folder(s) used on another drive/partition instead of the Windows 7 drive.

 

[mv808]

Thanks Brink. I'm sure glad I found this forum.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[1foxracing]

Brink is a incredible resource and I wish he was my next door neighbor.
Thanks for the Tutorial!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome 1foxracing. Thank you.

 

[SantaBJ]

Request

Thanks for a helpful guide - I've used this procedure myself ever since Windows 7 beta I believe but it's nice to have a tutorial to link friends to

Now, to my request. I've been looking through this thread and some others to see if I could find something that meets my needs. Let me explain.

I have the My Documents folder pointed directly at my Dropbox folder. Inside the Dropbox folder I also have the My Pictures folder (and at some point I'll probably move My Music in there as well). I also map my libraries to those folders (and those folders only; I do not use shared or public folders). This is all very handy, it keeps my documents and pictures/graphics in sync across all my devices. However, it's a bit tedious to do all the remapping manually every time I set up a new device (or reinstall windows on my main box, for that matter).

What I want is this - a batch script that changes the location of the My Documents folder to the folder in which the batch script is run from, and My Pictures to a specified folder within that folder. What I want is to be able to reinstall Windows, install Dropbox, go to my Dropbox folder, run the script and hey presto I'm all set.

I could probably figure out a way to do that myself but to be honest I don't really want to

 

[Brink]

Hello SantaBJ, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You might see if this may be able to help with what you are wanting.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/117308-user-folders-moving-user-folders-modular-script.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[SantaBJ]

Hello SantaBJ, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You might see if this may be able to help with what you are wanting.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/117308-user-folders-moving-user-folders-modular-script.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hey Brink,

yeah I saw that but while it accomplishes much of what I want it's a bit off procedurally

 

[arjfca]

Thanks for the info

I did not succeeded yet to move my folder

I want to move the entire c:\Users that contain 3 users + there appropriate files to f:\Users

c:\Users property look to be locked and I don't have the location option for it. I do have the location option for individual files.

Should I modify them separately or is there another solution?

My C: partition is nearly full and my F: drive, who reside on the same hard disk is empty. I need space badly....

Martin

 

[Brink]

Hello Martin,

To move your C:\Users\(user-name) user profile folder itself, you would want to use the tutorial below instead, and not move each individual folder in it. If you have, you will need to restore their default location first, then move your main user profile folder.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/87555-user-profile-change-default-location.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[josephb248]

Is it possible to change the defualt location of a user folder to an external hard drive or a network attached hard drive?

 

[Brink]

Hello Joseph, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I would strongly recommend to not even try it though to prevent some serious issues if something should go wrong.

Instead, I would recommend to use libraries for this. You could have a folder on the external drive, and include that folder in a library of your choice (ex: Music). This way you will be able to access every included folder at that single library location, and still have everything stored at the folder's location (ex: folder on external drive).

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/4617-libraries-include-network-folder.html

and

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/585-library-include-folder.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[josephb248]

Thanks that's great, I've sorted it now. Thanks for your help.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Joseph.

 

[R0adking]

I'm having great difficulty changing the location of folders. My Documents and Downloads work fine, but doing My Music, My Videos and My Pictures creates duplicate folders despite saying 'Yes'. These are without icons and can't be deleted as permission is denied. A System Restore gets things back to default, but how do I fix the problem?

 

[Brink]

Hello John,

Instead of moving the user folders, I would recommend to use libraries for this instead. You could have folders at any another location to have your files in, and include a folder in a library of your choice (ex: Music, Pictures, or Videos). You could even set any included folder to be the default library save to folder. This way you will be able to access every included folder in the library location, and still have everything stored at the folder's location.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[R0adking]

Hello John,

Instead of moving the user folders, I would recommend to use libraries for this instead. You could have folders at any another location to have your files in, and include a folder in a library of your choice (ex: Music, Pictures, or Videos). You could even set any included folder to be the default library save to folder. This way you will be able to access every included folder in the library location, and still have everything stored at the folder's location.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks for the quick reply, I'll consider this option. I have found a work round to get rid of the duplicate empty folders - I can delete them in Safe Mode in order to clean things up. Presume this is OK?

Cheers

John

 

[Brink]

Yep, that would be perfectly safe to do.

 

[Sarin69]

Followed Exactly Windows copied My Pics not moved

I followed the above instructions and when I hit the Yes button a box popped up stating that Windows is preparing to copy My Pics and it proceeded to copy the list of folders and then the pictures into my D drive instead of moving them into the designated drive. The Properties box for My Pics did not close after Windows started copying the My Pics folder it instead turned a blank gray.

Any advice?

Thanks

 

[whs]

Create empty folders on the designated drive - as many as you want to move. Call then F1, F2, etc. (or anything, it does not matter) and Move your folders to any of those predefined folders.