User Profile - Change Default Location

How to Change the Default Location of a User Profile in Vista and Windows 7​

   Information

A user profile is the main C:\Users\(user-name) folder of a user account that contains all of the account's settings, shortcuts, information, and user folders (ex: My Music) with the files in them.

This will show you how to Move the default location of a user profile in Windows 7 and Vista to another location of your choice so it will be stored and used from the new location instead.

This can be handy if you are low on free space on your C: drive.

You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

   Warning

Before doing this, you should create a system image to be safe. This way you can do a system image recovery to undo any mistake you might make in the instructions below that could result in the user profile you are moving, or Windows, to no longer work.

   Note

The drive or partition that you move the user profile folder(s) to, will now be included in a system image if created since it will now be considered a system drive.

   Tip

If you are just wanting to save HDD space from the files in your user folders, 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.

• 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 of your choice.
• If you like, you can also set the new folder to be the default "save" to location for the library as well.

OPTION ONE

For Already Existing User Accounts

   Warning

Some of the programs you have installed may not work properly after moving your user profile folder since they are still looking for their information in the user profile folder's original AppData folder location which of course no longer exists.

If you have this problem afterwards, then you may be able to uninstall and reinstall these programs, or use OPTION TWO in the tutorial to create a new user account and create new shortcuts for the programs to fix this.

Method One

To Change the Default Location of an Existing User Profile

1. Log on to the user account that you want to move. In Windows Explorer, navigate to it's C:\Users\(user-name) folder, right click on the user folder, click on Share with and Nobody.

2. Log off.

3. Log on to an administrator account that you are not moving it's user folder for.
NOTE: If you do not have another administrator account to use, then you will need to create a new account first and log in to it. When done with the tutorial, you can delete the new account.

4. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the C:\Users\(user-name) folder (ex: C:\Users\User account to move) that you want to move. Right click on it and click on Copy. (see screenshot below)

5. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the new location (ex: E: drive) that you want to move the C:\Users\(user-name) folder to. Right click on a empty space in the main window (middle), and click on Paste. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This should be another internal hard drive or partition.

6. If prompted, click on Continue. (see screenshot below)

7. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes (Windows 7) or Continue (Vista).

8. The C:\Users\(user-name) folder (step 4) is now copied over to the new location (ex: E:\User account to move). You can close Windows Explorer. (see screenshot below)

9. Open the Start Menu, then type regedit in the search box and press enter.

10. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes (Windows 7) or Continue (Vista).

11. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

12. In the left pane under the Profilelist key, select and look at each S-1-5 key with the long number until you see the user account name and path (step 3) that you want to move in the value Data column of ProfileImagePath in the right pane. When the correct user name is found, right click on ProfileImagePath, and click on Modify. (see screenshot above)

13. Type in the full path of the location (ex: E:\User account to move) that you copied the user profile folder to in step 7, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)

14. Regedit will now look similiar to this with the new location now. Close regedit. (see screenshot below)

15. To Verify that the User Profile has been Moved Successfully
A) Log off or Switch User, then log in to the user account that you moved the user profile folder of.

B) Open the Start Menu and open the user profile folder from this location. (see screenshot below)

C) Right click on one of the user folders (ex: Desktop), click on Properties, and click on the Location tab. (see screenshot below)

D) You should see the new location (ex: E:\User account to move\Desktop) from step 8 as the now new default location. Click on OK. (see screenshot above)
16. To Delete the User Profile from the Old Location
NOTE: Once you have verified (step 15) that the moved user profile has been moved successfully, you can now safely delete the user profile folder from the old location (ex: C:\Users\User account to move) from step 4.
A) Log off of the user account that you moved if you are logged into it from step 15.

B) Log on to an administrator account that you did not move it's user folder for.

C) In Windows Explorer, navigate to the old C:\Users\(user-name) folder (ex: C:\Users\User account to move) that you had copied (step 4). Right click on it and click on Delete. (see screenshot below)

D) If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes (Windows 7) or Continue (Vista).

E) If prompted, click on Continue. (see screenshot below)

F) You can now empty the Recycle Bin to finish deleting the old user profile folder from the old location.
NOTE: You will need to approve emptying the Recycle Bin.
17. The existing user profile folder has now been completely moved to the new default location where Windows 7 or Vista will now run it from when logged on to it.

Method Two

To Restore the Existing User Profile's Default Location

1. Repeat OPTION ONE, but move the new default User Profile folder (ex: E:\User account to move) and registry entries back to the original C:\Users folder location (ex: C:\Users\User account to move).

OPTION TWO

For All New User Accounts Created

   Note

This will change where all newly created user accounts will have their user profile folder created at in a default location of your choice instead of the old default C:\Users location.

Thank you to Alain for pointing this out.

1. To Change the Default User Profile Location of New User Accounts
A) Open the Start Menu, then type regedit in the search box and press enter.
B) If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes (Windows 7) or Continue (Vista).

C) In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

D) In the right pane of ProfileList, right click on ProfilesDirectory and click on Modify. (see screenshot above)

E) Type in the full path (ex: E:\Users) of where you want new user accounts to be created at, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)

F) The registry will now look similar to this. (see screenshot below)

G) When you create a new user account, it's user profile folder will now be created at the location you specified in step 1E.
2. To Restore the Default User Profile Location of New User Accounts
A) Repeat step 1, but type %SystemDrive%\Users at step 1E instead.
NOTE: This step only changes the user profile folder location of any newly created user accounts back to this default location, and not any existing user accounts.

B) If you wish to change an already existing new account's user profile folder location, then you will need to do Method Two in OPTION ONE above to change it back to C:\Users.
3. Close regedit.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Customize Default User Profile in Audit Mode
• How to Change the Default Location of Windows 7 User Folders
• How to Restore the Default Location of Windows 7 User Folders
• 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 Add or Remove "User Folder" from Desktop Context Menu
• How to Create User Accounts on another Partition or Disk During Windows 7 Installation
• 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]

I just upgraded my system after it died and decided to get an SSD. When I set it up and installed Windows I turned off indexing as I'd seen recommended everywhere so there is nothing listed in indexing. Search worked before I moved my profile and programs I installed showed up in search fine with indexing off. This just cropped up once I moved it. Stuff like this isn't my strong suit.

No worries, the tutorial links in my posts will help show you how to if needed. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

As a test, go ahead and enable the index, then add the new folder locations where you moved your profile to, rebuild the index, and see how search works when it's finished.

 

[TedEBearNC]

I enabled it, added the folder and rebuilt the index but I still get no search results. Any other suggestions?

 

[Brink]

In that case, double check your search settings using what's in the tutorial below to see if this may be it.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/117952-search-have-more-accurate-search-results.html

 

[TedEBearNC]

Unfortunately that didn't work either. Just to check, I reset my profile back to C:\Users\ as I still had the files there and logged in and Search worked fine. Changed it back to my other drive and got nothing even after try the above suggestions. Any other ideas?

I appreciate all the links to instructions of how to get to where I need to go to make changes. Saves me time fumbling around trying to find it.

 

[Brink]

I'd suggest to leave your profile on C to avoid this issue.

If you are tight on space, you could use what's in the yellow tip box at the top of the tutorial on the first page to save space using libraries.

 

[TedEBearNC]

Looks like I will have to. Thanks for the help.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome. Issues that pop-up sometimes like this is why I don't like moving locations.

 

[IanFRussell]

option 2 (specify where new users profiles are stored) does not seem to work for me. I used the inbuilt "secret" administrators account and changed the registry as shown. The "Users" directory is created on D, but it remains empty. The files for the newly created account do not appear in either the new Users directory on D, or in the "normal" Users directory on C. When I try to log onto the new account, I get a message that user profiles cannot be found, and the computer reboots to log on screen.
Am I doing something wrong.

Also, just found out that when I change the registry entry back to %systemDrive%\Users, I can't add a new account - control panel "goes through the motions" and shows the new account - but again no files anywhere, and unable to log onto new account as windows can't find the profile!

 

[stsaerox]

I believe that someone especially for already existing accounts should use a hardlink or symblink (something that works for other disk) and ignore windows normal way. The programs will see this like it stayed in the same location.

Is this possible?

Oh also a hardlink for documents and settings exists already for old programs compatibility. Maybe this must be changed too.

The disadvantage of this is that must be done for all new accounts. The modular script that already exists will only move personal folders...

 

[Brink]

Hello stsaerox,

Personally, I never think it's a good idea to move a user profile. It could easily cause issues doing so if anything should not recognize the new location.

 

[mmmelaney]

I believe I have managed it successfully in Win8.1x64! It's been stable for a week now.

I used method 1 but there were some important things not mentioned.

First, there are a few additional registry keys which make things go a lot smoother:

*MAKE SURE YOU DO THE REGISTRY EDITS BEFORE YOU MOVE YOUR FILES!

• Tell Windows where to find ntuser.dat and userclass.dat

**Note: If you've already moved your files you have to move ntuser.dat and usrclass.dat AGAIN, because these registry entries are being changed in your local copy of those files.

**Note: The Volume# in HarddiskVolume# is counted from the first partition on the first drive STARTING WITH 1, not 0 as you see it in Windows or Linux. So mine was HarddiskVolume8 since it's behind 7 partitions.

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\hivelist\
• Registry\User\S-1-5-21.... = \Device\HarddiskVolume1\Users\YOU\NTUSER.DAT
• Registry\User\S-1-5-21.... = \Device\HarddiskVolume1\Users\YOU\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\UsrClass.dat

I also changed (=Your new path):

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Volatile Environment\Appdata
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Volatile Environment\Homepath
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Volatile Environment\LocalAppdata
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Volatile Environment\Userprofile
  • Leave Homedrive alone.

and of course

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList.....\ProfileImagePath\ = Your new path.

Second, what to do about the Junctions (reparse points to the real folders)? They are broken when you move the folders. You have to reconnect them exactly like the folder structure on the C:\ drive. I use Hard link shell extension.

Update: Copy the Junctions in one simple step with Far Manager. See my post here (gggirlgeek.)

Third, what to do with the stubborn ntuser, usrclass and crypt files that don't want to move. I logged into another installation of Windows, took ownership and then used Unlocker to force them.

Reboot once or twice and Windows should catch on. If not, check your HarddiskVolume# again. And make sure you move NTUSER.DAT and USRCLASS.DAT after you edit the registry!

FWIW: I am using the built in Admin account as my own. This should have made things harder but it worked!

 

[Aurondium]

After step 15 the location of the Documents file is still shown as C instead of the desired E. Does it make any difference that at present all these files are empty?

I also got a pop-up message saying I was logged with a temp profile whatever that means.

 

[Brink]

Hello Aurondium,

Double check to see if you may have made a mistake somewhere above step 15.

If you like, I would recommend to do what's in the yellow tip box at the top of the tutorial instead of moving your profile location.

 

[Aurondium]

Will do. For interest - here's the pop-up message.

You have been logged on with a temporary profile. You cannot access your files and files created in this profile will bedeleted when you log off. To fix this log off and try again later. See Event log for details or contact system administrator.

 

[Aurondium]

Re Step One- Nobody has a padlock beside it.

When I click I get two choices - Stop sharing or Change Sharing permission.

 

[Brink]

The padlock is normal. It indicates that the folder is not shared with any other user.

The temp profile error was most likely caused by a mistake made while doing the steps in the tutorial. The error indicates that your profile cannot be found or is corrupted, so Windows loads you into a temporary profile for your user account to use for now.

It would be best to double check through all the steps to see if you may have made a mistake, and correct anything found to hopefully fix the temp profile error.

If that doesn't help, then see: User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

 

[Aurondium]

Thanks, Brink.

No luck yet. I may have to start afresh with a clean install. We'll see. I haven't opened any files yet, or activated Windows yet or loaded any files from my old machine.

 

[Brink]

Are you able to create a new user account to use instead that works properly?

 

[Aurondium]

Forgive me being a tad dumb, Brink, but I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean a new Administrator Account and then try the procedure again to change the location?

I created a new Administrator Account before going through the Tutorial and haven't deleted that one yet because Step 15 showed the change of default location hadn't worked.

Have to go to bed now. Thanks for your tolerance.

 

[Brink]

Yep, that's what I meant to start over with the new account, and delete the old one.

Sleep well. I'll be here when you're ready to continue.