Location of account user data

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Guest

I would like to put my account user's data on a secondary drive, but don't
know how. It is automatically set up on the boot drive. How does one control
that.
 
Hi Dave,

You can change the local profile path in the registry or on user properties.
You can find the registry setting in (Start/Run/regedit):

HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows
NT/CurrentVersion/ProfileList/{SID}/ProfileImagePath

Or change the user properties:

1.Click Start and right click My computer

2. Click Manage

3.Open Local Users and Groups and User

4. Right click appropriate user and select Properties

5. Select the Profile tab and change Profile path to appropriate one
(d:\my_profile)

For more information, take a look at the following articles:

How to assign a home folder to a user

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816313

How to Set the Path for the All Users Profile

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/214653

How to Create and Copy Roaming User Profiles in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314478

Regards,

Anton Pegan
 
Thanks, Anton-
Your suggestion almost worked, but - it turns out that the reference and
directions apply to Server2003, not XP. However, using the article as a
guide, I looked for XP solutions. The answer is you can move the "My
Documents" folder for a logged in user by right clicking the My Documents
icon, which permits you to move it and all it's contents. The reference
article is http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555308/en-us

Thanks
Dave
 
Hi Dave,
In this case you will redirect only the My documents folder, not your
profile. If you want to move your profile, you have to do it in "Local users
and groups" management console or by changing the registry entries I
mentioned in the previous post.
Regards,
Anton Pegan
 
Anton,
Thanks again for your response. I guess XP Pro is different from XP Home
Edition. All the Microsoft info must apply to Pro. There simply is no "Local
Users and Groups" in my MMC area. I have been to the regedit control area,
but I can't tell if that is only useful for creating a new user account
profile. At least the "My documents" control let's you know that it will move
the existing data to the location you identify. I have no idea what would
happen to the existing profile data if I changed the location using regedit.
The Microsoft documentation doesn't say.
Dave
 
Hi Dave,
TRue. Windows XP Home does not have "Local users and groups" option in MMC.
You can manage your profiles only trough Control panel/ User profiles. If
you change the registry entry, a new (clean) profile should be created. You
can always copy all the settings from the old profile (folder) to the new
one:
How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151/en-us
The registry entry is also mentioned in this article:
Configuration of the My Documents folder
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310746
Also take a look at this article (section "To move only user-specific data")
for more info:
An error message informs you that you cannot move or rename the Documents
and Settings folder
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314843
Regards,
Anton Pegan
 
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