Changing Vista/7 Library Locations

[Lpfan4ever]

I was just wondering if anybody knew of a way to do this a lot easier/quicker than I currently do it. Maybe a batch file or a program?

As it stands right now, at work we split the drive 50/50 for OS and Data. By hand, I right click each one, Contacts, Desktop, Downloads, Favourites, etc) and change the location from C: to D: (or E: or F: if the DVD drive(s) end up as the D:/E: drive). This is tedious on desktops and an absolute pain in the ass on a laptop touchpad. Any way to expedite this would be great!

Thanks guys.

[ipaine]

Just so I am sure what exactly you want, you are wanting to do this on multiple machines all at once or just a faster way to do it on each one individually?

Also with all these machines that you are changing right now, are you under a standard user account or going under each persons individual account?

[Lpfan4ever]

One computer at a time, just a single account. This is strictly for after we reload Windows on their computer. Our standard procedure is 3 partitions: OS, Data, and Recovery (Norton Ghost image goes in there) The main account is always named "Owner", and it's the only account we actually make ourselves.

[ipaine]

Ok.

Here is a site that explains how to change it for any new users but I don't think it will work quite right if you are creating the "Owner" account right off of the bat when first setting it up. It is really designed to do it for when a new user logs on for the first time. I will think about this as since we are only dealing with one account there should be a batch that will allow you to change it. But you are basically moving all of the user files over to the d/e drive, hmm I will think on this but I'm sure we can do it.

How to Change User Profile Default Location in Windows 7 | Windows7hacker

[Lpfan4ever]

Originally Posted by ipaine

But you are basically moving all of the user files over to the d/e drive

Exactly. The amount of times we see customers come back with a dead OS, putting all their data on a separate partition saves so much time and money. Just Ghost the image back to C: and they're out in 5 minutes, data intact.

[ipaine]

Here is a thought just set up a hard link. The simplest way I know of doing this is actually using a program called steam mover.

Steam Mover - traynier.com

It is designed to move steam stuff to a different drive, but really it should work for this. Just select the main user folder "c:\users\owner" and then set the destination and click go. Now you will see everything in the d drive but from the OS point of view everything is still in c:\users. To be honest I have never tried it on an entire user folder but I don't see why it would not work. This way even if they put on a program that forces its info to go to c:\users, it will all go to the d drive.

[Lpfan4ever]

Errr, maybe. I'm kinda scared going that way though, what happens if they uninstall the software? I've had no luck finding a solution to this, guess I'll stick to manually doing it unless some good samaritan comes out of nowhere.


Edit:
Oh, no uninstaller...hmm. Might give it a shot.

[Lpfan4ever]

Bumpity bump bump

(And thanks for all the help so far ipaine)

[Lpfan4ever]

And turns out my co-worker and I are both full of herp derp. You can cut/paste the user library folders to where you want and the OS will reroute everything on its own. That saves us a couple minutes and about 50 mouse clicks.