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

 

[richierein]

Hi Brink,

Today I received an email saying that 'nancybikburn8' had responded to this thread. When I clicked on the link, I was brought here. But there seems to be no response from her and your last response was two weeks ago.

 

[Parman]

The post could have been deleted.

 

[Brink]

Hi Brink,

Today I received an email saying that 'nancybikburn8' had responded to this thread. When I clicked on the link, I was brought here. But there seems to be no response from her and your last response was two weeks ago.

It was just a spammer that got banned, and all posts removed.

 

[rovopio]

dear brink, hello.. i have a question, regarding moving user folder location with using 2 drive on 1 laptop.

previously my laptop has C and D as primary, and 2 extended partition. I've used your tutorials since 1-1/2 years ago, and I set Downloads on D, and other stuffs (docs musics and pics) on the extended partition. It went smoothly without a hitch.
I just now decide to move to SSD. So now my laptop has 2 drive, drive 1 is C the SSD, and drive 2 is the old HDD, (im formatting the old HDD atm).

I'd like to ask, i want to make C (SSD) the drive for windows (which i've done), but i'd like to move downloads to D primary (the old hdd), and the other user folders (music pics and videos), to extended partition of the old HDD...

is it possible to move Docs, Pics, Musics, and Downloads to different disk, and is it a good idea to do it...?

===
it's not about saving the SSD space really, i would like to do it just because i like it organized, but i'd like to ask here first because i don't want to reinstall and format stuff in case something goes wrong due to moving the user folder to different disk along the way...
===


i hope my question make sense, sorry for the long post,

cheers,

KP

 

[Brink]

Hello KP,

Sure you could move each user folder to any internal hard drive or partition location you like using Option Two.

However, you might consider doing the yellow tip box for libraries at the top of the tutorial instead. This way you will still get the same effect with a new folder included a library, and is safer to use.

Either way will work.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[rovopio]

Hello KP,

Sure you could move each user folder to any internal hard drive or partition location you like using Option Two.

However, you might consider doing the yellow tip box for libraries at the top of the tutorial instead. This way you will still get the same effect with a new folder included a library, and is safer to use.

Either way will work.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

dear Brink, tq for the response. I've just finished installing the OS on the SSD and formatting the HDD

i hv a follow-up question, normally, i only move music picts downloads and documents, i know from my own experience that it's save enough to move the above,, but then i read another thread of yours http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18583-user-folders-restore-default-location.html

1) my Q is.. does Desktop, Favorites, and Contacts movable from SSD C drive to the HDD D/E drive...?
is it as simple as moving music and picts or does moving Desktop Favorites and Contacts warrants extra precaution and is better to be left alone..?

(i saved many stuff on the desktop so moving it to the HDD D drive would make it more organized really.)
because, i've read another thread as well long time ago regarding moving user profiles to another partition, which... i've decide not to do from a long time ago, moving user folders is enough.


2) I've just finished installing all my drivers and win updates, so the laptop is still empty at this point. My laptop bluetooth driver create some bluetooth folder on My Docs (which now sits on HDD drive), if for example, i want to move the My Docs to its default C:\Users location, is it only possible to be done when it's empty or can i move it when I already use the laptop at any point later on.

For example now, the bluetooth driver created a folder on My Docs, idk a lot abt registry but i assume the bluetooth driver pointed the installation and linked some registry to the direction of My Docs user folder, can i move it back to C without a hitch if i decide to do so in the future?


again, not an english native.. so, apologies for the long not-concise Qs.


cheers and hv a great weekend,

KP

 

[Brink]

KP,

You can move or restore your user folders when they are empty or have files in them. It doesn't matter. However, if you do have files in them, it's always better to make a backup of them first just to be safe.

While it's safe to move your uses folders, I just personally prefer to use libraries instead as mentioned in the yellow tip box at the top of the tutorial. This way you do not have to worry about whatever drive you moved the user folders to being included in system images and cannot be unselected. You also do not have to worry about some older program still trying to save something to the old location despite you moving the user folder to another location.

 

[rovopio]

thanks again Brink for the exp. regarding possible future complications of moving user folders

cheers,

KP

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome KP.

 

[fourthofjuly]

Hi Shawn,

Is this the same as right clicking at the original library folder location from C drive (ex. Documents) and then going to the properties >>> "Remove" original folder location>>> then "Include a folder..." which is the new folder I created in another drive? This method is a lot faster to do but is this ok?

Here's a snapshot of what I am talking about (showing original folder location at c drive):

 

[Brink]

Hello Ganie,

You're snapshot doesn't work.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html
If you mean to add a new folder to a library, then you don't need to remove any of the old one's unless you just wanted to or moved one of them. Otherwise, you could just include the new one to add it.

Hope this helps for now.

 

[fourthofjuly]

Hello Ganie,

You're snapshot doesn't work.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html
If you mean to add a new folder to a library, then you don't need to remove any of the old one's unless you just wanted to or moved one of them. Otherwise, you could just include the new one to add it.

Hope this helps for now.

My purpose is to direct all user files to another physical drive. That is why I removed the default location and added a new location on the drive location I want. It also works that way. But yeah, I guess I didn't have to remove the default folder, but I just don't wanna see those folders there anymore as I am not using them. Let me try again that snapshot here (I followed the tutorial before about uploading snapshots):

 

[Brink]

Ganie,

If you used the method on the yellow tip box at the top of the tutorial, then I would recommend to go ahead and leave the default folders included in the library and just include any new folders.

This way if a program saves anything into the default locations, you'll be able to see them in the library.

 

[fourthofjuly]

Ganie,

If you used the method on the yellow tip box at the top of the tutorial, then I would recommend to go ahead and leave the default folders included in the library and just include any new folders.

This way if a program saves anything into the default locations, you'll be able to see them in the library.

Thanks a lot Shawn... I will bring back the default location folder. Cheers!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[MatthewCarter]

What is UsersFilesFolder in shell:UsersFilesFolder in Setp 3.? I thought it is Favorites when I wanted to relocate this folder but it does not seems to be so.

The shell:UsersFilesFolder is the system identifier for the user folder which appers as the user name in the start menu or explorer.

My question is what the UsersFilesFolder is. Whereas your answer is shell:UsersFilesFolder is ........ Please provide what goes in place of UsersFilesFolder by a spcific example.

'UsersFilesFolder' Does not exist

 

[UsernameIssues]

Welcome to the Seven Forums, Matthew.

When you paste shell:UsersFilesFolder into the Start Menu search field and press enter, what do you see?

 

[Kari]

The shell:UsersFilesFolder is the system identifier for the user folder which appers as the user name in the start menu or explorer.

My question is what the UsersFilesFolder is. Whereas your answer is shell:UsersFilesFolder is ........ Please provide what goes in place of UsersFilesFolder by a spcific example.

'UsersFilesFolder' Does not exist

Very strange first post from a new member. The fact that you do not know something does not automatically mean it does not exist.

Welcome to the Seven Forums, Matthew.

When you paste shell:UsersFilesFolder into the Start Menu search field and press enter, what do you see?

Or simply type or copy & paste shell:UsersFilesFolder to Explorer addressbar and hit Enter.

 

[MatthewCarter]

Welcome to the Seven Forums, Matthew.

When you paste shell:UsersFilesFolder into the Start Menu search field and press enter, what do you see?

Sure, shell:UsersFilesFolder works, but not UsersFilesFolder

 

[UsernameIssues]

UsersFilesFolder is an OS variable.

Option 2, step #3 of this tutorial thread that you are posting in says to do what I mentioned.

Are you able to do what you need to do? Are you able to move the folder of interest?



Churin probably has this sorted out by now. The post that you quoted was from 2009. If you have/had the same question as Churin, then hopefully I've answered it. If you would like to know more about OS variable, we can help you with that too.