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

 

[MatthewCarter]

Sorry, I meant that if you put UsersFilesFolder in the run dialogue and press enter, it would come up with a not existing dialogue. I am actually quite familiar with user folders and moving them around, have done it a lot, but admittedly did not know about this shell:UsersFilesFolder command.

 

[MatthewCarter]

I was just reading posts to extend my knowledge, I don't have a problem with this. I do use an external drive for my videos and pictures folder, in case you were wondering

 

[UsernameIssues]

Sorry, I meant that if you put UsersFilesFolder in the run dialogue and press enter, it would come up with a not existing dialogue. I am actually quite familiar with user folders and moving them around, have done it a lot, but admittedly did not know about this shell:UsersFilesFolder command.

I see. Thanks for explaining.

I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I have not had much need to move folders around, but I use OS variables in batch files and scripts so that I don't have to know where the user has moved a folder to. Unfortunately, some users move folders in a way that the OS loses track of them.

Enjoy the forums

 

[Stamimail]

[Win7 x64 ; I apologize for not reading all the pages above... Please let me know if my question has been answered.]

I want to change the location of some User Folders (My Documents, My music...) to D:/Users/User/ while keeping 3 principles:

1. I'm thinking to use Junction Points (mklink /j ) for each folder I'm moving from C:/Users/User/ (EXAMPLE: mklink /j C:\Users\User\Documents D:\Users\User\Documents), because I want that C:\Users\User\Documents will lead to D:\Users\User\Documents.

2. I have noticed that the Visual Folder Name is different from the Real Folder Name. Example: A Visual Folder Name is My Documents while the Real Folder Name is actually Documents (C:\Users\User\Documents). I want to keep it. The real paths would be C:\Users\User\Documents & D:\Users\User\Documents, while the Visual Folder Names would be My Documents.

3. I have noticed that before you change any location, the %userprofile% Folder is actually a mirror of C:\Users\User. I want to keep it as a mirror even after changing of locations. [%userprofile% would be exactly like C:\Users\User. No duplicates of "My Documents" etc in %userprofile%, and No missing folders in C:\Users\User.]

Can I achieve it somehow?

 

[Brink]

Hello Stamimail,

You could use OPTION TWO in the tutorial on the first page to accomplish this.

However, if you are doing this just to save space, then you might consider doing what's in the yellow Tip box at the top of the tutorial with libraries instead.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Stamimail]

Hi shawn, thank you for replying.

I've seen the tutorial already.
I do not see how your answer fulfills the first and the third conditions I mentioned.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome.

It accomplishes that as well since they are already linked, and will be as well to the new location.

The old name say "Documents" is a junction point that is linked with the actual folder say "My Documents" for backwards compatibility of older programs that still reference the old say "Documents" location than the newer "My Documents" location. These two different names are still one in the same folder referenced by both names.

When you move a user folder using the method in Option Two, it will keep this junction point and link for the new location.

It's best to not try and rename these folders to avoid messing up their junction point.

 

[Stamimail]

It accomplishes that as well since they are already linked, and will be as well to the new location.

1. You are right, but only for the 2 folders: The new locatiion and the linked folder in shell:UsersFilesFolder.

The problem is: In the original location "C:\Users\User" (it is not the same as shell:UsersFilesFolder) My Documents is now missing. If you try to type and get "C:\Users\User\Documents", or subfolders based on it (ex: "C:\Users\User\Documents\MyFolder"), you get an error.

Therefore I wanted to use Junction Points in the original location "C:\Users\User", to direct old paths (based on the original location) to the right and new location. The problem now is: While doing this, I can't accomplished the other conditions. HELP

2. BTW, In my system (W7 x64) I think the actual folder say "Documents", as the path of "My Documents" in CMD is "C:\Users\User\Documents". "My Documents" is a name found in Desktop.ini file.

 

[Brink]

Correct. The actual folder name is "Documents", but only referenced as "My Documents". "Documents" is used for the actual folder path for backwards compatibility.

There's no need for you to do a MKlink since one already exists. If you do, you will break the junction point that already exists with the user folders and cause issues in your Windows.

If you move the "C:\Users\User\Documents" folder to another location, then of course that "Document" folder will no longer be there. Instead, it will be at the location you moved it to.

The shell command shellersonal will open your Documents folder no matter where you move it to. Here's a complete list of shell commands for the others if you like.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/4941-shell-command.html

 

[Stamimail]

Thank You.

From my experience, the closest way to achieve what I wanted is to use Recovery Console:

robocopy /copyall /mir /xj C:\Users\User\Documents D:\Users\User\Documents
rmdir /s /q C:\Users\User\Documents
mklink /j C:\Users\User\Documents D:\Users\User\Documents

The only problem in this way is that it does not accomplished the second condition.

Is there an issue in that way or another way to improve it?

 

[Brink]

Stamimail,

Could you not reference the new location instead using the path or shell command?

If not, then why not leave your Documents folder in it's original location.

From the sound of what you may be wanting to do, have you considered creating a New Folder on D, include it in your Documents library, then set your default save folder for the Documents library to be the New Folder on D. This way you could just reference your Documents library to have anything saved to the New Folder on D.

 

[Clovis5119]

While moving my Contacts folder, I somehow accidentally made it be the directory in which the other user folders are placed.

So instead of having D:\Kurt\Contacts
I ended with D:\Contacts\[Documents, Videos, Music, etc]

I was able to partially undo the mistake but had the issue of games now creating new save files in D:\Kurt\Contacts\Game instead of searching for the files in My Documents.

I've mostly fixed this as well by attempting to restore everything that I could find to defaults and starting over from scratch, and this seems to have solved almost every issue. However I still get the occasional program that creates a new folder in Contacts, like iTunes or the PlanetSide video recording system.

Any thoughts?

 

[Brink]

Hello Kurt,

You might see if using OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to restore the default locations of the affected folders may help, then be able to move them to where you originally wanted afterwards.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18583-user-folders-restore-default-location.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Clovis5119]

Hi Brink, thanks,

I've just gone through all of Option Two, but the issue persists :huh:

Edit: Nevermind, it looks like you can manually change the PlanetSide video output directory within the game itself. It might have latched on to Contacts when I made the mistake and just stuck there. Could be the same with the few other programs who don't seem to want to autosave to the proper folder.

 

[Brink]

Ok. Double check to see if the programs that are still saving to the other locations may have a setting of it's own to allow you to change where the program saves to.

 

[Clovis5119]

Ok. Double check to see if the programs that are still saving to the other locations may have a setting of it's own to allow you to change where the program saves to.

Yep, see my edit. I think that's probably the issue. Will report back if I have any more problems, thanks again Brink

 

[Egghead]

OK, so I followed the instructions for moving the folders with the Location tab in properties, in order to move the user folders to a separate drive, and everything went well... except that now any user can access everyone else's user folders and files! Why hasn't the ownership and access rights been kept? Do I have to manually change them all on the second drive now?

 

[Brink]

Hello Egghead,

The user folder would inherent the permission settings of the folder or drive that it was moved in to.

You'll need to change permissions to not allow the other users access.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/122666-permissions-allow-deny-users-groups.html

 

[deejay22]

I would like the default location for the document, pics, video and music folders only. My thinking is that the other folders, especially the hidden ones, should be on the ssd drive as they are required for initialisation and it will be faster if they are on the ssd while the others are safer on the hard drive where there is more space and less likelihood of corruption.

Can this be done?

 

[Britton30]

I would like the default location for the document, pics, video and music folders only. My thinking is that the other folders, especially the hidden ones, should be on the ssd drive as they are required for initialisation and it will be faster if they are on the ssd while the others are safer on the hard drive where there is more space and less likelihood of corruption.

Can this be done?

The easiest way would be to follow the guide in the Yellow Tip box concerning Libraries, then you can relocate the folders you want.