User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation

How to Create User Accounts on another Partition or Disk During Windows 7 Installation ​

   Information

There are several methods to move user profiles to another disk or partition after you have installed Windows 7. The easiest way is to use Audit Mode and System Preparation Tool, both built-in Windows 7 features, to permanently move the location of the folder Users.

This tutorial shows how to relocate both Users and ProgramData to another disk or partition when doing a new, fresh and clean install of Windows 7. If you have already installed Seven, and you'd like to move those folders away from their default location in C: drive, please read first post number 22 in this thread. Follow the steps told in that post, and continue then from beginning of the page 4 in this tutorial.

When Windows 7 is installed, 5 or 6 system folders are created depending on chosen bit-version:

• PerfLogs (Performance Logs), where Windows stores performance and reliability logs
• Program Files, where applications and software are installed. Windows x86 (32-bit) stores all applications here, Windows x64 (64-bit) only native 64-bit applications
• Program Files (x86), only in Windows x64. All non-x64 applications are stored here
• Windows, which contains core operating system files and drivers
• ProgramData, where some applications store application and user specific settings and configuration files
• Users. This is the "home" of all user folders. When a new user account is created and this new user logs in first time, Windows creates a set of user specific folders Users\New_User

Moving Windows and Program Files folders is not recommend by Microsoft. However, moving both Users and ProgramData folders is safe and can save a lot of space on system disk. Pictures, mp3’s videos, documents and so on, a user folder with its subfolders can be tens, sometimes hundreds of gigabytes.

For instance, using this laptop of mine as an example, the total size of Users folder and subfolders is at the moment about 240 GB. The size of ProgramData folder is at the moment almost 18 GB. I simply could not have these folders stored in my system C: drive, there’s not enough space.

When installing Windows 7, I recommend using Windows System Preparation Tool (Sysprep) in so called Audit Mode to relocate Users and ProgramData, leaving C: drive only for Windows and applications.

   Warning

An upgraded Windows cannot be sysprepped. As this method is based in sysprepping, this tutorial is valid only for Windows setups which have not been upgraded.

This means that if you have for instance in-place upgraded Vista to Seven, you cannot sysprep. The same applies if you have upgraded from a lesser edition to a better edition, for instance from Windows 7 Home Premium to Professional.

Notice that a repair install is also an upgrade install, so if you have ever done a repair install (= in-place upgrade to same edition), you cannot sysprep.

In other words, when sysprepping an existing Windows setup it only works if the Windows was installed clean and has never been upgraded or repaired using repair install, or if it is the original pre-installed Windows.

Using this method causes Windows 7 to lose activation information, and it needs to be reactivated afterwards. If your Windows 7 is an OEM version, you might not be able to reactivate it, at least not without phone activation option.

   Warning

IE10 Users: Please read this article first: Sysprep Fatal Error With IE 10 (FIX) | System Administration

Complete tutorial as PDF: View attachment Relocate User folders during Windows 7 installation.pdf (1.22 MB)

Kari

Related Tutorials

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• How to Change the Default Location of a User Profile in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Change the Default Location of Windows 7 User Folders
• How to Restore the Default Location of Windows 7 User Folders
• 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

 

[Britton30]

You raise some good questions and suggestions Tom. However, I don't understand this part in the snip below. I've use this answer file 3 times with no issues.

View attachment 265402

You must have had the drive you were moving the folders to be the d drive in that case. If you assign any other drive letter to the "target" drive for moving the folders, then you need to edit that line in the answer file.

Regards,

Tom

Oh, no it was different, but Kari covered that below the text.
Ohh, never mind, I see the new directory change isn't covered, but I figured I had to change it, to H:\ in my case.

 

[Kari]

I will rewrite it in a next few days.

 

[Arnie714]

Hi ! first post and question. First of all, thanks a LOT for making this tutorial, it shows some really good stuff to improve your system using a SSD expanding his life and most of all, not degrading his perfomance with all the temp files and cache of browsers etc... But, i have a strange problem... i can install the SO without any issues, appdata and programdata folder in E: sysprep working fine, its all perfect. The issue comes with the use. It is the change of the boot time it takes to starts windows. At first is 100 % fast as it have to be. when i install the updates of windows 0 problems. It comes any time when i install the programs i use. It boots fines without issues, but when it says starting windows and the flag comes up with the 4 colours it stucks for 10 or 15 seconds !! WTF !!??? and always it never finish to form the window that its going to the screen of starting session with the light blue wallpaper. What can be the cause of this ?? when i moved the appdata folder with the windows already installed i had the same problem, i thought in this way with the fresh install it couldnt happen, but it did. Any help will be really appreciated and again Thanks a lot for the good work and time dedicated

 

[Kari]

Hi Arnie, welcome to the Seven Forums.

When you move Appdata (in Users folder) and ProgramData to a normal HDD instead of SSD, the boot time will of course be longer.

It's your choice: If you want to boot faster, you need to keep all system folders on SSD. If you are OK with a slower boot then you can use the method told in this tutorial and relocate Users and ProgramData.

Kari

 

[Britton30]

for reference I have a setup as per this tutorial and my boot times, from hitting the Restart Button till the desktop is active, ranges from 54-62 seconds. With my other spinner only system it is 215-228 seconds.

 

[jpolika]

Error when following relocate instructions during win 7 instalation

I followed the instructions penned by Kari for relocating user and program data folders during a new install of win 7 prof. All went well up to the point of running relocate.xml. The computer rebooted back in audit mode and then I hit ok making sure cleanup action and shutdown action were as instructed. The computer rebooted and then displayed the following error message: "Windows could not parse or process unattend answer file [C:\Windows\Panther\Unattend.xml] for pass [oobesystem]. The answer file is invalid."
When I closed the dialogue box the machine rebooted with the following error message: "Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computers restart the instalation."
When I closed the dialogue box the computer rebooted with the same error message and keeps on doing so.
I did another completely fresh clean install after formatting the hard drive on which I am doing the install with the same result.
Has anybody a solution?

Jpolika

 

[Kari]

Your error message tells the reason, there is an error in your answer file. Most typical errors are, forgetting typos:

• The partition to relocate folders does not exist
• Install.wim path is wrong
• Processor architecture is wrong

Please post the answer file you used here.

Kari

 

[jpolika]

Error when following relocate instructions during win 7 instalation

Thanks for the reply. My new computer is 100 miles north without internet connection thus the delay.

The following is the relocate.xml file I used:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">-<settings pass="oobeSystem">-<component language="neutral" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMlConfig/2002/State" versionScope="nonSxS" publicKeyTokens="31bf3856ad364e35" processorArchitecture="amd64" name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup">-<FolderLocations><ProfilesDirectory>d:\Users</ProfilesDirectory><ProgramData>d:\ProgramData</ProgramData></FolderLocations></component></settings><cpifflineimage xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" cpi:source="wim:G:/sources/install.wim#Windows 7 Professional"/></unattend>

This was the result in the Panther subdirectory, the unattend.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">-<settings pass="oobeSystem">-<component language="neutral" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMlConfig/2002/State" versionScope="nonSxS" publicKeyTokens="31bf3856ad364e35" processorArchitecture="amd64" name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup">-<FolderLocations><ProfilesDirectory>d:\Users</ProfilesDirectory><ProgramData>d:\ProgramData</ProgramData></FolderLocations></component></settings><cpifflineimage xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" cpi:source="wim:G:/sources/install.wim#Windows 7 Professional"/></unattend>

G: is the directory where Windows install disk is located.
The new machine is an has an I7 CPU, C: is on a 256 SSD drive and D: is a 4T drive that is fully recognized.

Jpolika

 

[Kari]

Thanks for the reply. My new computer is 100 miles north without internet connection thus the delay.

The following is the relocate.xml file I used:
...
...

Please use Code tags [CODE]Your code here[/CODE] when posting scripts and code!

OK, although difficult to read as you posted it, there's clearly a major typo in your script, a variable should be PublicKeyToken, you have it written PublicKeyTokens. Also, the component name(*) and processor architecture variables are wrongly based, they must be written in correct order.
Component sentence in your answer file looks like this:

<component language="neutral" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMlConfig/2002/State" versionScope="nonSxS" [B][COLOR="DarkRed"]publicKeyTokens="31bf3856ad364e35" processorArchitecture="amd64" name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup[/COLOR][/B]">

See the difference, it should be and is written in tutorial like this (red text = wrongly placed or written in your answer file):

<component [B][COLOR="DarkRed"]name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" [/COLOR][/B]language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

Other than that the syntax seems to be OK.

Kari


(*) = Components and configuration passes, see explanation in part 1 of this tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/286053-system-preparation-tool-use-customize-windows.html.

 

[jpolika]

Create and Move During Windows 7 Installations

Thanks for the reply Kari. I am back up north with a backup computer with a slow Internet connection. I still have problems.

This is my relocate xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyTokens="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="[url=http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMlConfig/2002/State]Error[/url]" xmlns:xsi="[URL]http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance[/URL]">
<FolderLocations>
<ProfilesDirectory>d:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
<ProgramData>d:\ProgramData</ProgramData>
</FolderLocations>
</component>
</settings>
<cpi:offlineimage cpi:source="wim:G:/sources/install.wim#Windows 7 Professional" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

It was stored in D: and the Windows 7 install disck was in G:. I then changed directories to Sysprep and ran it in audit mode using the following command as instructed:

 sysprep.exe /audit /reboot /unattend:D:\relocate.xml

It script ran and I was brought back in audit mode to the the screen set out in the tutorial with the System Preparation Tool 3.14 screen. At that point I checked to see the state of the Panther subdirectory. Added to the subdirectory was the following unatten.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyTokens="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="[url=http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMlConfig/2002/State]Error[/url]" xmlns:xsi="[URL]http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance[/URL]">
<FolderLocations>
<ProfilesDirectory>d:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
<ProgramData>d:\ProgramData</ProgramData>
</FolderLocations>
</component>
</settings>
<cpi:offlineimage cpi:source="wim:G:/sources/install.wim#Windows 7 Professional" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

As instructed to continue bthe windows instalation I exited audit mode ensuring that the system clenup action showed "Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE)" and shutdown options "reboot". The computer did its thing and rebooted with the following Install Windows message:

"Windows could not parse or process unattend answer file {C:\Windows\Panther\unattend.xml] for pass [oobe System]. The answer file is invaled."

I then pressed the "OK" button. The system rebooted and then came up with the following Install Windows message:

"Windows could not complete this installation. To Install Windows on this computer, restart the installation."

I then pressed the "OK" button and the computer restarted with the same message. I then attempted an installation but it starts with a choice of repair or a new instalation. The new instalation restarts the same cycle. Repair was of no use but gave me the DOS prompt. I checked the unattend.xml file in the Panthe subdirectory and it had changed as follows:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyTokens="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="[url=http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMlConfig/2002/State]Error[/url]" xmlns:xsi="[URL]http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance[/URL]">
<FolderLocations>
<ProfilesDirectory>d:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
<ProgramData>d:\ProgramData</ProgramData>
</FolderLocations>
</component>
</settings>
<cpi:offlineimage cpi:source="wim:G:/sources/install.wim#Windows 7 Professional" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi"></cpi:offlineimage>
</unattend>

The second last line changed by deleting "/" at the end and a new line was added thereafter "</cpifflineimage>" before the last line.

Any suggestions as I am stymied.

J. Polika

 

[Britton30]

In your line four change publicKeyTokens to PublicKeyToken, with capitals and no s at the end. To the system thats akin to writing gibberish.

 

[Kari]

In your line four change publicKeyTokens to PublicKeyToken, with capitals and no s at the end. To the system thats akin to writing gibberish.

Yes, I noticed too that you still had that typo there. The S at the end of Token should not be there.

 

[jpolika]

Thanks to both of you. It appears O OK now. I guess these old eyes arn't what they use to be.

Cheers

Jpolika

 

[Kari]

Good to know you got it working .

 

[farmersdaughter]

Hidden Recovery Partition Question

Thanks for all the time and effort you give to this, Kari. I've used this tut on a desktop and it worked a treat. I've got a question about a relatively new laptop. It's an Asus and no discs were supplied. It has a hidden recovery partition that does not have a drive letter assigned. From everything I've read in this thread, I will not be able to make your file work without a drive letter. Do I also understand though, that I could use a standard Windows 7 Professional disc and just pop it in before I run the script? I appreciate any advice you can give.

 

[Kari]

Hi Farmersdaughter (always wanted to meet one ), welcome to the Seven Forums.

Any Windows 7 install media will do, as far as it has the install.wim file (default location <INSTALL_MEDIA>:\Sources\Install.wim). Sysprep must find that file when sysprepping your system.

If you have a Windows 7 Professional disk, you are good to go. It does not have to come from your PC manufacturer, you can borrow one from a friend or you can download the install ISO image from Microsoft and put it on a USB stick.

Kari

 

[farmersdaughter]

You've led a sheltered life if you haven't met a farmer's daughter til now! Thought I'd check in and report that everything worked fine. Laptop is now set up just like I want. Thanks again for your help, Kari.

 

[Kari]

Good to hear it worked for you.

 

[mneal]

Well, crud.

Used the unattend file during install, but something went wrong. User profiles/folders weren't move and I didn't realize it until after installing other programs/games.

I may just re-install the OS and try it again on my next day off.

 

[Kari]

Mike, here's a short checklist:

• As mentioned in the tutorial, the Users folder is not moved when you run sysprep and reboot to Audit Mode. If you check the locations of Users still in Audit Mode, having not done the OOBE boot after sysprep, the Users is still located on C:. It will first be moved when you exit the Audit Mode and enter normal (OOBE) mode finalizing installation
• If the bit version (value of ProcessorArchitecture) in answer file is wrong, you get no error message but also nothing happens, Users will not be moved
• If Windows version is wrong, nothing happens, Users will not be moved
• If the new location of Users already contains any Windows system files or folders, Users will not be moved
• If you you install software in Audit Mode, do it before running sysprep with relocating answer file
• If the install.wim file is not found where sysprep is looking for it, sysprep cannot process the answer file

To make it short: if you get no error messages but nothing happens, a value of a variable or path is most probably wrong in the answer file.

Kari