Installing Games to a different drive than your OS is on.

[Odesseiron]

BG HALP.

So I should have researched a little bit more before I went out and bought it, and I thought it would be a little bit easier than the potential suggestions I'm seeing. So I ask you guys as I've never done this before and don't want to fuck it up.

Okay. I bought a SSD & a 2 TB backup HD today.

I partitioned everything, and then formatted all but one of my backup drives just to have a fresh start.

I installed my OS (Win 7) to the SSD. (C Did all Windows updates, simple programs, drivers, etc. to the SSD.

Now, I'm wanting to install all my games and shit to the D: drive which is the backup 2TB drive that I also picked up today. However, before I go do any of that, I want to make sure of something. With my OS on the C: drive and wanting to install Steam and everything else to D:, will I be able to run stuff on there with ease?

I mean it's a freshly formatted drive, nothing on it. So no folders, or anything. I am assuming since there is no Program Files, or any kind of anything on there, will I have issues running stuff? I would think people can easily work around this obviously.

I've googled it, but I've found about 10 different answers and a bunch of them are older. Is there something specific I need to do? As it stands, I can't install anything to a root drive, so I'm a little confused.

Sorry if this isn't as clear as it needs to be. I'm fairly decent with this shit as long as I know what I'm doing or have clear enough instructions, but I really don't want to screw up my system.

Thanks all.

[hey]

Is there something specific I need to do?

No.

As it stands, I can't install anything to a root drive, so I'm a little confused.

Eh? Really? Make a folder then?

[Ratatapa]

BG HALP.

So I should have researched a little bit more before I went out and bought it, and I thought it would be a little bit easier than the potential suggestions I'm seeing. So I ask you guys as I've never done this before and don't want to fuck it up.

Okay. I bought a SSD & a 2 TB backup HD today.

I partitioned everything, and then formatted all but one of my backup drives just to have a fresh start.

I installed my OS (Win 7) to the SSD. (C Did all Windows updates, simple programs, drivers, etc. to the SSD.

Now, I'm wanting to install all my games and shit to the D: drive which is the backup 2TB drive that I also picked up today. However, before I go do any of that, I want to make sure of something. With my OS on the C: drive and wanting to install Steam and everything else to D:, will I be able to run stuff on there with ease?

I mean it's a freshly formatted drive, nothing on it. So no folders, or anything. I am assuming since there is no Program Files, or any kind of anything on there, will I have issues running stuff? I would think people can easily work around this obviously.

I've googled it, but I've found about 10 different answers and a bunch of them are older. Is there something specific I need to do? As it stands, I can't install anything to a root drive, so I'm a little confused.

Sorry if this isn't as clear as it needs to be. I'm fairly decent with this shit as long as I know what I'm doing or have clear enough instructions, but I really don't want to screw up my system.

Thanks all.

Simple make a folder to your D: exemple Programs
and when you isntall a program, when it ask the path just click browse and point to d: Programs and then install normally.

[Odesseiron]

Okay, thanks. Just wanted to make sure! Seems things are working normally thus far.

[xopher]

Just know that if you install FFXI through Steam it can only be installed to the same drive Steam is on, so if you want it on your SSD, install steam to C: but make sure you do the extra work to make D: a valid install location for other Steam games.

[elison]

Can't you just use Steam Mover to move FFXI over? I didn't get a copy from steam so I don't know if it's possible or not.

[Waraji]

Sometimes there are extremely annoying programs that just won't let you choose where to store your installations. (I remember always getting pissed at AIM doing this back in the day.) This has been a hot topic since Solid State Drives showed up on the consumer shopping lists. In order to circumvent those programs, and to be on the safe side, you need to utilize Junctions.

Long (a step by step on doing clean windows installs the right way. Skip to Step 8 for how to on Junctions.)

Spoiler: show

When creating a clean install, using the combination of an SSD system drive and a conventional disk drive, as a data drive, there is a way to "move" the Users folder (normally, C:\Users) and the hidden ProgramData folder (normally C:\ProgramData) to the conventional disk, or data drive, using an answer file, or unattend.xml, for an unattended installation, as mentioned above.

For an individual doing a single, one-off installation, trying to figure out how to create an answer file for a completely unattended installation, just to accomplish this one small task, is way, way too much trouble. It's also not necessary.

It is possible, during the course of a conventional, interactive installation from an installation disc or USB thumbdrive, to enter what is called, "Audit Mode", before the Computer is named or a Username created, and accomplish the necessary re-assignment.

1.) Do a conventional installation. If you are using an SSD, at the point in the installation process where you are asked where you want to install Windows, you should use Drive Options to remove any partitions on the SSD, before selecting the SSD as the target. Do not manually partition or format the drive, prior to installation. Windows 7 will do this, and must do this, because Windows needs to align the logical format with characteristics of the physical drive, and, also, Windows wants a small system partition for its own purposes.

2.) When the installation stops, waiting for you to give the computer a username and a computer name, DON'T! Press Ctrl+Shift+F3, and the computer will restart in . . . (wait for it!) "Audit Mode"!. Basically, Windows will create a throwaway Administrator account and sign you in, as this throwaway Administrator. Nothing you do, with regard to this temporary user will survive finalizing the installation, but the computer operates normally, and you can install drivers and software. Whenever the computer starts in Audit mode (you are allowed to restart), a GUI version of Sysprep.exe will pop up, offering to restart the computer in OOBE (out of box experience). OOBE is where you were a moment before -- that is, where you create a username and computer name and the installation is finalized. Don't choose to restart in OOBE until you are ready to finalize the installation.

3.) You need to know what drive letter (or folder location) is going to be assigned to your Datadrive disk. So, this would be the time, in audit mode, to figure that out. If you need to partition or format the datadrive, do it now. On the Start Menu, right-click on "Computer" and choose Manage from the context menu, to get to the Computer Management console. In the Computer Management console, under Storage/Disk Management, you will find the tools to change drive letters, partition, etc.

4.) You need only a minimal answer file. This is an xml file (a text file), created in the Windows System Image Manager application. You can call it whatever you like. I'd suggest: folders.xml. Here's the content of a folders.xml file, which will re-locate Users and ProgramData to D:\

<?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" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <FolderLocations>
                <ProfilesDirectory>d:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
                <ProgramData>d:\ProgramData</ProgramData>
            </FolderLocations>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:h:/sources/install.wim#Windows 7 ULTIMATE" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

I am going to imagine a scenario, where you make this file on another computer, and transfer it to the computer, where the installation is being done, using a USB flashdrive, which, when plugged in, to the computer in Audit Mode, is assigned the driveletter U:
You could probably just copy the text above into notepad and save it as a textfile with the extension, .xml and be good to go, provided you wanted to use d:\Users and d:\ProgramData as your Datadrive locations. (I've used this answer file, successfully; I don't guarantee that it will work for others.)

5.) To use the folders.xml, located in the root directory of your USB flashdrive, plugged in and visible as U:\, you need to open a command prompt, navigate to c:\windows\system32\sysprep and give this command:
sysprep.exe /audit /reboot /unattend:U:\folders.xml
This will cause the computer to reboot, but you will end up right back in Audit Mode. As long as you are still in Audit Mode, the re-location of these folders will not be complete, because the temporary Administrator useraccount still has its stuff in C:\Users and there are still some active databases in C:\ProgramData.

6.) Now, you need to say goodbye to Audit Mode. Remember that a GUI for using Sysprep to initialize the OOBE shows up, each time you re-boot into Audit Mode. So after you reboot in 5.) you will have your chance to run it. (If this is your personal computer, don't check the "Generalize" box in the Sysprep GUI.)

7.) Finish your Windows installation, create a permanent username and giving the computer a name, etc. When you are finally up and running, go look at C:\ C:\Users should be gone. C:\ProgramData is probably still there, but it's normally hidden, so you won't see it, until you go into Folder Options and check Show Hidden Files and Folders. D:\Users and D:\ProgramData (hidden) should also exist.

8.) I like the idea of using Junctions to intercept any program foolish enough to hardcode to c:\users or c:\programdata You'll need to delete or move C:\ProgramData, before creating a Junction at C:\ProgramData pointing to D:\ProgramData. The command line tool, mklink, is useful here. Open a command prompt, and type mklink /? for instructions. If you prefer a right-click GUI tool, check out:http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinks...kshellext.html
After having created the Junctions, I believe you could use regedit to edit the ProfileList key back to the original C:\ locations. folders.xml will have modified the Folderlist key, so that everything points to D:\ instead of %systemdrive%\ or C:\ I'm not sure what the point would be, but you could.

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

I pretty much relearn this crap every time I do a new W7 install.

Edit: Found the Junction how-to file that helps yous create your custom batch file to setup your junctions.

Long

Spoiler: show

Having recently upgraded to Vista I decided it was high time to look at separating my user and program files from my Operating System. So I shifted around some files and formatted my D: drive in preparation for moving the files. I played with a few different methods for moving the user files including updating their Profile Path using the Users & Groups section in Computer Management but despite it working I felt this wasn’t what I was looking for so started looking at using Junctions to redirect my files instead. Ultimately through the use of a DOS Prompt and junctions I’ve moved all my user & program files off to my D: Drive. Here are the steps and information involved.

Windows Vista already uses several junction points which need to be replaced with our own ones. I have listed them here along with where they point to:

In the Root C:
Documents & Settings -> Users

In each User directory:
Application Data -> AppData\Roaming
Cookies -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
Local Settings -> AppData\Local
My Documents -> Documents
NetHood -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
PrintHood -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
Recent -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
SendTo -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
Start Menu -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
Templates -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates

All users have the same Junctions in their user directories, including Default. There are two other Junctions created in the Users directory, these are:
All Users -> ProgramData
Default User -> Default

ProgramData is located is a directory in root C:.

As you can see there are numerous links to recreate. The reason why they are used is to provide backward compatibility with software designed explicitly for Windows XP that may have hardcoded the Documents & Settings directory or other directories within each User Profile. As a result you could try without them and any programs explicitly designed for Windows Vista should work perfectly as well as the majority of Windows XP programs but you may still run into issues. As its fairly simple to recreate the links its worthwhile doing.

The program that is used to create a link is called mklink and it is included with Windows Vista so no extra downloads are required for it.

Usage:Creates a symbolic link.

MKLINK [[/D] | [/H] | [/J]] Link Target

/D Creates a directory symbolic link. Default is a file
symbolic link.
/H Creates a hard link instead of a symbolic link.
/J Creates a Directory Junction.
Link specifies the new symbolic link name.

Target specifies the path (relative or absolute) that the new link refers to.

The majority of the folders we will be linking we will be using Directory Junction’s. This is roughly equivalent to a Hard Link. The usage is pretty easy to follow and if you have any trouble you’ll get a better idea of it in the nitty gritty of moving the files around.

Okay before rebooting what we’ll do is create a batch file which does everything for us. This is a lot easier than typing it all in at the command prompt and allows us to check easily for any missing parts. So open notepad.exe and we’ll get on with it. Just remember to replace any drive letters and other path issues that need to be different for your system.

The first part of the file is just creating the destination directories and then copying the files:

mkdir D:\Users
robocopy /XJ /MIR "C:\Users" "D:\Users"
mkdir D:\ProgramData
robocopy /XJ /MIR "C:\ProgramData" "D:\ProgramData"

If you want to move your Program Files directory as well then include this bit:
mkdir "D:\Program Files"
robocopy /XJ /MIR "C:\Program Files" "D:\Program Files"

Next we delete the original files off the C: Drive


rmdir /S /Q "C:\Users"
rmdir /S /Q "C:\Program Files"
rmdir /S /Q "C:\ProgramData"
rmdir /S /Q "C:\Documents & Settings"

Next we will recreate the user links:
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Application Data" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Cookies" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\Cookies"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Local Settings" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\My Documents" "D:\Users\UserName\Documents"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\NetHood" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\Network Shortcuts"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\PrintHood" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\Printer Shortcuts"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Recent" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\Recent"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\SendTo" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\SendTo"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Start Menu" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\Start Menu"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Templates" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\Templates"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Application Data" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\History" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows \History"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Temporary Internet Files" D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\ Temporary Internet Files"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Music" "D:\Users\UserName\Music"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Pictures" "D:\Users\UserName\Pictures"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Videos" "D:\Users\UserName\Videos"

Replace Username with whatever the username you are working on is, just use Find & Replace in Notepad to fix it up. You need to use that piece of code for all users that you have added to your system. The code for Default is as follows:

mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Application Data" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Cookies" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Cookies"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Local Settings" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\My Documents" "D:\Users\Default\Documents"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\NetHood" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Network Shortcuts"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\PrintHood" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Printer Shortcuts"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Recent" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Recent"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\SendTo" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\SendTo"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Start Menu" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Start Menu"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Templates" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Templates"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Application Data" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\History" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\ History"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Temporary Internet Files" D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\T emporary Internet Files"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Documents\My Music" "D:\Users\Default\Music"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Documents\My Pictures" "D:\Users\Default\Pictures"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Documents\My Videos" "D:\Users\Default\Videos"

We also have the Public Directory to fix up links for:

mklink /J "D:\Users\Public\Documents\My Music" "D:\Users\Public\Music"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Public\Documents\My Pictures" "D:\Users\Public\Pictures"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Public\Documents\My Videos" "D:\Users\Public\Videos"

Now in the \Users directory we have some links to create as well:

mklink /D "D:\Users\All Users" "D:\ProgramData"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default User" "D:\Users\Default"

And here are the other links for the root C:

mklink /J "C:\Documents and Settings" "D:\Users"
mklink /J "C:\Users" "D:\Users"
mklink /J "C:\ProgramData" "D:\ProgramData"

To include Program Files add this piece of code in as well:

mklink /J "C:\Program Files" "D:\Program Files"

That is the whole batch file completed. Now before you head off to run it make sure you double & triple check your paths, if you have made a mistake it could result in the loss of your personal data and/or program files. As an example of something that occurred while I was testing this. I had Vista already running in a VM so I booted that to test it, created a new drive which was assigned the driveletter E: which was fine so I modified my batch file copy all files to the E drive. Unfortunately unbeknowest to me when I restarted to get into the Command Prompt it reassigned my new drive to drive D so as a result it tried to copy all my user files to D: which naturally failed, the rmdir /Q /S makes it remove the relevant directories without any user interaction so before I knew it all the files were gone meaning I had to reinstall Windows Vista before running another test, with destination drive set to D:.

To run this anyway you just need to boot from your Windows Vista CD. Select to Repair a installation, select your Windows Vista installation and finally select Command Prompt. Then just navigate to wherever you stored it and run it by typing in the name.

There are a few issues with this method. One of the biggest is the way Windows Vista handles links still. Just like Windows XP it includes them in drive space usage checks. This can be quite annoying as ideally you want to shrink down the Windows Vista drive to a much smaller space since it doesn’t have your user files anymore and only Windows Vista files and Program Files(if you didn’t move them as well). This means that it will keep bringing up the message warning you of low disk space. Unfortunately with Windows Vista’s low disk space warnings there doesn’t appear to be a way to prevent it from checking a single drive. Rather its a all or nothing approach. To disable it you can follow the instructions here. Before doing so it may be a good idea to check this one out the warnings here.

Stay tuned for a proper script to ask questions and do it all for you on the fly.

A word of caution regarding moving your Program Files and ProgramData directories. Windows update will not function properly with them on a separate drive despite the use of hard junction points to link them to the new locations. Whilst there is a fix it is a time consuming one and requires you to make changes for every update that it can be applied to since it can only be applied to updates that require you to restart your computer. For more information you can search for the error code 0×80070011.

[hey]

Just know that if you install FFXI through Steam it can only be installed to the same drive Steam is on, so if you want it on your SSD, install steam to C: but make sure you do the extra work to make D: a valid install location for other Steam games.

I just reinstalled ffxi today, and had no problem installing it onto a different drive than steam is on.

[xopher]

I just reinstalled ffxi today, and had no problem installing it onto a different drive than steam is on.

Ah, I tried about six months ago. They may have fixed it. Back then you could not.

[SephYuyX]

Sometimes there are extremely annoying programs that just won't let you choose where to store your installations. (I remember always getting pissed at AIM doing this back in the day.) This has been a hot topic since Solid State Drives showed up on the consumer shopping lists. In order to circumvent those programs, and to be on the safe side, you need to utilize Junctions.

Long (a step by step on doing clean windows installs the right way. Skip to Step 8 for how to on Junctions.)

Spoiler: show

When creating a clean install, using the combination of an SSD system drive and a conventional disk drive, as a data drive, there is a way to "move" the Users folder (normally, C:\Users) and the hidden ProgramData folder (normally C:\ProgramData) to the conventional disk, or data drive, using an answer file, or unattend.xml, for an unattended installation, as mentioned above.

For an individual doing a single, one-off installation, trying to figure out how to create an answer file for a completely unattended installation, just to accomplish this one small task, is way, way too much trouble. It's also not necessary.

It is possible, during the course of a conventional, interactive installation from an installation disc or USB thumbdrive, to enter what is called, "Audit Mode", before the Computer is named or a Username created, and accomplish the necessary re-assignment.

1.) Do a conventional installation. If you are using an SSD, at the point in the installation process where you are asked where you want to install Windows, you should use Drive Options to remove any partitions on the SSD, before selecting the SSD as the target. Do not manually partition or format the drive, prior to installation. Windows 7 will do this, and must do this, because Windows needs to align the logical format with characteristics of the physical drive, and, also, Windows wants a small system partition for its own purposes.

2.) When the installation stops, waiting for you to give the computer a username and a computer name, DON'T! Press Ctrl+Shift+F3, and the computer will restart in . . . (wait for it!) "Audit Mode"!. Basically, Windows will create a throwaway Administrator account and sign you in, as this throwaway Administrator. Nothing you do, with regard to this temporary user will survive finalizing the installation, but the computer operates normally, and you can install drivers and software. Whenever the computer starts in Audit mode (you are allowed to restart), a GUI version of Sysprep.exe will pop up, offering to restart the computer in OOBE (out of box experience). OOBE is where you were a moment before -- that is, where you create a username and computer name and the installation is finalized. Don't choose to restart in OOBE until you are ready to finalize the installation.

3.) You need to know what drive letter (or folder location) is going to be assigned to your Datadrive disk. So, this would be the time, in audit mode, to figure that out. If you need to partition or format the datadrive, do it now. On the Start Menu, right-click on "Computer" and choose Manage from the context menu, to get to the Computer Management console. In the Computer Management console, under Storage/Disk Management, you will find the tools to change drive letters, partition, etc.

4.) You need only a minimal answer file. This is an xml file (a text file), created in the Windows System Image Manager application. You can call it whatever you like. I'd suggest: folders.xml. Here's the content of a folders.xml file, which will re-locate Users and ProgramData to D:\

<?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" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<FolderLocations>
<ProfilesDirectory>d:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
<ProgramData>d:\ProgramData</ProgramData>
</FolderLocations>
</component>
</settings>
<cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:h:/sources/install.wim#Windows 7 ULTIMATE" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

I am going to imagine a scenario, where you make this file on another computer, and transfer it to the computer, where the installation is being done, using a USB flashdrive, which, when plugged in, to the computer in Audit Mode, is assigned the driveletter U:
You could probably just copy the text above into notepad and save it as a textfile with the extension, .xml and be good to go, provided you wanted to use d:\Users and d:\ProgramData as your Datadrive locations. (I've used this answer file, successfully; I don't guarantee that it will work for others.)

5.) To use the folders.xml, located in the root directory of your USB flashdrive, plugged in and visible as U:\, you need to open a command prompt, navigate to c:\windows\system32\sysprep and give this command:
sysprep.exe /audit /reboot /unattend:U:\folders.xml
This will cause the computer to reboot, but you will end up right back in Audit Mode. As long as you are still in Audit Mode, the re-location of these folders will not be complete, because the temporary Administrator useraccount still has its stuff in C:\Users and there are still some active databases in C:\ProgramData.

6.) Now, you need to say goodbye to Audit Mode. Remember that a GUI for using Sysprep to initialize the OOBE shows up, each time you re-boot into Audit Mode. So after you reboot in 5.) you will have your chance to run it. (If this is your personal computer, don't check the "Generalize" box in the Sysprep GUI.)

7.) Finish your Windows installation, create a permanent username and giving the computer a name, etc. When you are finally up and running, go look at C:\ C:\Users should be gone. C:\ProgramData is probably still there, but it's normally hidden, so you won't see it, until you go into Folder Options and check Show Hidden Files and Folders. D:\Users and D:\ProgramData (hidden) should also exist.

8.) I like the idea of using Junctions to intercept any program foolish enough to hardcode to c:\users or c:\programdata You'll need to delete or move C:\ProgramData, before creating a Junction at C:\ProgramData pointing to D:\ProgramData. The command line tool, mklink, is useful here. Open a command prompt, and type mklink /? for instructions. If you prefer a right-click GUI tool, check out:http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinks...kshellext.html
After having created the Junctions, I believe you could use regedit to edit the ProfileList key back to the original C:\ locations. folders.xml will have modified the Folderlist key, so that everything points to D:\ instead of %systemdrive%\ or C:\ I'm not sure what the point would be, but you could.

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

I pretty much relearn this crap every time I do a new W7 install.

Edit: Found the Junction how-to file that helps yous create your custom batch file to setup your junctions.

Long

Spoiler: show

Having recently upgraded to Vista I decided it was high time to look at separating my user and program files from my Operating System. So I shifted around some files and formatted my D: drive in preparation for moving the files. I played with a few different methods for moving the user files including updating their Profile Path using the Users & Groups section in Computer Management but despite it working I felt this wasn’t what I was looking for so started looking at using Junctions to redirect my files instead. Ultimately through the use of a DOS Prompt and junctions I’ve moved all my user & program files off to my D: Drive. Here are the steps and information involved.

Windows Vista already uses several junction points which need to be replaced with our own ones. I have listed them here along with where they point to:

In the Root C:
Documents & Settings -> Users

In each User directory:
Application Data -> AppData\Roaming
Cookies -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies
Local Settings -> AppData\Local
My Documents -> Documents
NetHood -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
PrintHood -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
Recent -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
SendTo -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
Start Menu -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
Templates -> AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates

All users have the same Junctions in their user directories, including Default. There are two other Junctions created in the Users directory, these are:
All Users -> ProgramData
Default User -> Default

ProgramData is located is a directory in root C:.

As you can see there are numerous links to recreate. The reason why they are used is to provide backward compatibility with software designed explicitly for Windows XP that may have hardcoded the Documents & Settings directory or other directories within each User Profile. As a result you could try without them and any programs explicitly designed for Windows Vista should work perfectly as well as the majority of Windows XP programs but you may still run into issues. As its fairly simple to recreate the links its worthwhile doing.

The program that is used to create a link is called mklink and it is included with Windows Vista so no extra downloads are required for it.

Usage:Creates a symbolic link.

MKLINK [[/D] | [/H] | [/J]] Link Target

/D Creates a directory symbolic link. Default is a file
symbolic link.
/H Creates a hard link instead of a symbolic link.
/J Creates a Directory Junction.
Link specifies the new symbolic link name.

Target specifies the path (relative or absolute) that the new link refers to.

The majority of the folders we will be linking we will be using Directory Junction’s. This is roughly equivalent to a Hard Link. The usage is pretty easy to follow and if you have any trouble you’ll get a better idea of it in the nitty gritty of moving the files around.

Okay before rebooting what we’ll do is create a batch file which does everything for us. This is a lot easier than typing it all in at the command prompt and allows us to check easily for any missing parts. So open notepad.exe and we’ll get on with it. Just remember to replace any drive letters and other path issues that need to be different for your system.

The first part of the file is just creating the destination directories and then copying the files:

mkdir D:\Users
robocopy /XJ /MIR "C:\Users" "D:\Users"
mkdir D:\ProgramData
robocopy /XJ /MIR "C:\ProgramData" "D:\ProgramData"

If you want to move your Program Files directory as well then include this bit:
mkdir "D:\Program Files"
robocopy /XJ /MIR "C:\Program Files" "D:\Program Files"

Next we delete the original files off the C: Drive


rmdir /S /Q "C:\Users"
rmdir /S /Q "C:\Program Files"
rmdir /S /Q "C:\ProgramData"
rmdir /S /Q "C:\Documents & Settings"

Next we will recreate the user links:
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Application Data" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Cookies" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\Cookies"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Local Settings" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\My Documents" "D:\Users\UserName\Documents"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\NetHood" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\Network Shortcuts"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\PrintHood" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\Printer Shortcuts"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Recent" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\Recent"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\SendTo" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\SendTo"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Start Menu" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\Start Menu"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Templates" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windo ws\Templates"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Application Data" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\History" "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows \History"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Temporary Internet Files" D:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\ Temporary Internet Files"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Music" "D:\Users\UserName\Music"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Pictures" "D:\Users\UserName\Pictures"
mklink /J "D:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Videos" "D:\Users\UserName\Videos"

Replace Username with whatever the username you are working on is, just use Find & Replace in Notepad to fix it up. You need to use that piece of code for all users that you have added to your system. The code for Default is as follows:

mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Application Data" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Cookies" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Cookies"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Local Settings" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\My Documents" "D:\Users\Default\Documents"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\NetHood" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Network Shortcuts"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\PrintHood" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Printer Shortcuts"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Recent" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Recent"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\SendTo" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\SendTo"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Start Menu" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Start Menu"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Templates" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Window s\Templates"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Application Data" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\History" "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\ History"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Temporary Internet Files" D:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\T emporary Internet Files"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Documents\My Music" "D:\Users\Default\Music"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Documents\My Pictures" "D:\Users\Default\Pictures"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default\Documents\My Videos" "D:\Users\Default\Videos"

We also have the Public Directory to fix up links for:

mklink /J "D:\Users\Public\Documents\My Music" "D:\Users\Public\Music"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Public\Documents\My Pictures" "D:\Users\Public\Pictures"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Public\Documents\My Videos" "D:\Users\Public\Videos"

Now in the \Users directory we have some links to create as well:

mklink /D "D:\Users\All Users" "D:\ProgramData"
mklink /J "D:\Users\Default User" "D:\Users\Default"

And here are the other links for the root C:

mklink /J "C:\Documents and Settings" "D:\Users"
mklink /J "C:\Users" "D:\Users"
mklink /J "C:\ProgramData" "D:\ProgramData"

To include Program Files add this piece of code in as well:

mklink /J "C:\Program Files" "D:\Program Files"

That is the whole batch file completed. Now before you head off to run it make sure you double & triple check your paths, if you have made a mistake it could result in the loss of your personal data and/or program files. As an example of something that occurred while I was testing this. I had Vista already running in a VM so I booted that to test it, created a new drive which was assigned the driveletter E: which was fine so I modified my batch file copy all files to the E drive. Unfortunately unbeknowest to me when I restarted to get into the Command Prompt it reassigned my new drive to drive D so as a result it tried to copy all my user files to D: which naturally failed, the rmdir /Q /S makes it remove the relevant directories without any user interaction so before I knew it all the files were gone meaning I had to reinstall Windows Vista before running another test, with destination drive set to D:.

To run this anyway you just need to boot from your Windows Vista CD. Select to Repair a installation, select your Windows Vista installation and finally select Command Prompt. Then just navigate to wherever you stored it and run it by typing in the name.

There are a few issues with this method. One of the biggest is the way Windows Vista handles links still. Just like Windows XP it includes them in drive space usage checks. This can be quite annoying as ideally you want to shrink down the Windows Vista drive to a much smaller space since it doesn’t have your user files anymore and only Windows Vista files and Program Files(if you didn’t move them as well). This means that it will keep bringing up the message warning you of low disk space. Unfortunately with Windows Vista’s low disk space warnings there doesn’t appear to be a way to prevent it from checking a single drive. Rather its a all or nothing approach. To disable it you can follow the instructions here. Before doing so it may be a good idea to check this one out the warnings here.

Stay tuned for a proper script to ask questions and do it all for you on the fly.

A word of caution regarding moving your Program Files and ProgramData directories. Windows update will not function properly with them on a separate drive despite the use of hard junction points to link them to the new locations. Whilst there is a fix it is a time consuming one and requires you to make changes for every update that it can be applied to since it can only be applied to updates that require you to restart your computer. For more information you can search for the error code 0×80070011.

I honestly never knew about this Audit mode, and always was curious the method for 3rd party vendors to customize their stuff, but never cared to look up how.
Very interesting.

[chiyio]

Steam now asks you which drive you want to install every game individually to.

My setup is exactly like what the OP wants. OS and a few things on SSD, most all games on a separate HD.

You shouldn't have any problems at all, everything works fine.

[Niya]

Ah, I tried about six months ago. They may have fixed it. Back then you could not.

Don't know when, but with one of the last steam updates they added the option to choose the target folder and create a new "library" for games outside of the steam folder.

And i can say for sure that Windows doesn't care where you install your stuff. I mean, my current system is spread over 3 HDDs and 4 partitions, and so far no problems with it in >3 years ^^
C:\ is pretty much just Windows and my profile, only very few programs that either didn't ask for the setup path or where i didn't care about it.

[Boyiee]

I have steam games across like 3 drives, SteamTool is fantastic.

Steam's on one drive with games, but I have a couple of them on another drive.

I have an OS SSD, an important games SSD, a Steam Drive HDD, and a storage/music/movies drive.

Just pick the destination drive, it's really easy. Something like steam used to default, origin too, but there are apps to get around that like SteamTool.