Reinstall Windows 11 after relocating Users Folder

dpluigi · Oct 15, 2024

cereberus said:
When you do a clean install, default user folders are always set back to C drive.

You then change location from file properties back to the location on another drive, and click no when it asks to copy files to your new selected location (no need as user folders on C drive are empty).

This does not remove existing files on relocated folder, but I advise that the user backs these up as a precaution.

I do not know of any way to automatically select folders on other drives without going though the relocation procedure. A clean install has no knowledge of where a user has relocated user folders to do - it would have to be designed to "study" existing setup, save the settings and restore them after.

One possibility I have not tried is to use the new backup method and save settings and use the new backup method during the clean install, but I would be very surprised if this works. I will give it a go in a vm.

That would be great if the backup methods work.

I use a variant approach where in the unattend.xml file generated by Rufus, and located on my Windows install boot thumb drive in H:\sources\$OEM$\$$\Panther, I added this below to set ProfileDirectory:

Code:

<FolderLocations>
  <ProfilesDirectory>D:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
</FolderLocations>
<UserAccounts>
        <LocalAccounts>
          <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
            <Name>Admin</Name>
            <DisplayName>Admin</DisplayName>
            <Group>Administrators;Power Users</Group>
            <Password>
              <Value>UABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkAA==</Value>
              <PlainText>false</PlainText>
            </Password>
          </LocalAccount>
        </LocalAccounts>
      </UserAccounts>

This sets the default location for Users profiles in D:Users
and here a local Admin account is also created, I skips the parts before with bypass of hardware requirements and the first log on commands. Once Windows is up and running I create a standard User account, my account for daily use. This way from the start there only one location and it is D:Users.

I combine what I read from another thread into what Kari and other's had described and used Rufus XML file as a template, since it already had the option to create an account.

I hope this makes sens.

antspants · Oct 15, 2024

cereberus said:
When you do a clean install, default user folders are always set back to C drive.

You then change location from file properties back to the location on another drive, and click no when it asks to copy files to your new selected location (no need as user folders on C drive are empty).

That’s how I do it and have done probably since Win 8. I haven’t had user folders on OS drive for a long time.

cereberus · Oct 15, 2024

glasskuter said:
Someone clarify to me here. Isn't this exactly what the tutorial I mentioned in post #15 does? IMO he would have to go through that same process for all user folders he has located on secondary drive. As I satated, this is under the assumption he's using a local account and onedrive is out of the picture.

Op wants to AUTOMATICALLY restore user folder locations on a clean install. It is easy enough to do manually as per tutorials.

It seems from posts there are ways to do it but (personally) I think it is more effort than its worth when it only takes a couple of minutes to do it manually.

glasskuter · Oct 15, 2024

Thanks @cereberus. I'll back off and leave it to the rest of you then. I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole. I'm a straight forward thinking kind of gal and don't make something more difficult than what it actually is.

cereberus · Oct 15, 2024

glasskuter said:
Thanks @cereberus. I'll back off and leave it to the rest of you then. I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole. I'm a straight forward thinking kind of gal and don't make something more difficult than what it actually is.

Yeah - the various solutions are more geared for users who need to lots of clean installs. For only a few, I doubt the effort is worth it.

antspants · Oct 15, 2024

Also…
A fresh install of Windows defaults user folders to c:\users\username\onedrive\
From memory, you can’t move user folders until they are unlinked in the OneDrive settings.

Megahertz · Oct 15, 2024

antspants said:
Also…
A fresh install of Windows defaults user folders to c:\users\username\onedrive\
From memory, you can’t move user folders until they are unlinked in the OneDrive settings.

If you use sysprep you can as you move c:\users to D:\users (on another drive or partition) before the the user profile is created.

pseymour · Oct 15, 2024

I did some experimentation in a VM just to test.

dpluigi said:
I was wondering if I could save and leverage the USERS from the Old install, located on a separate D: drive from my Win 11 OS C: drive, to migrate by moving each user's data back into the related user profile shell folders in the new USERS created after a clean Install.

You can use the same D:\Users root folder, but the user profiles for the new installation will not be named simply with the user's name. The second installation will tack on the name of the computer to the user profile folder, because a folder with the user name already exists in D:\Users, and the SIDs for the users are totally different for two different Windows installations. In my first installation, my profile folder is named Patrick. After the second installation, the profile folder has the computer name on the end of it. The data in the original Patrick folder was left in place, by the way; the installation didn't delete anything.

Code:

PS D:\Users> ls -Force


    Directory: D:\Users


Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
d--hsl        10/15/2024   1:18 PM                All Users
d-rh--        10/15/2024   1:35 PM                Default
d--hsl        10/15/2024   1:18 PM                Default User
d-----        10/15/2024   1:19 PM                Patrick
d-----        10/15/2024   1:37 PM                Patrick.DESKTOP-FHPLQNO
d-r---          4/1/2024   3:34 AM                Public
-a-hs-          4/1/2024   3:24 AM            174 desktop.ini

dpluigi said:
Would it help beforehand to rename USERS as USERS_old to prevent flattening during the clean Windows 11 install and would it be reliable (after the clean Install) in restoring user profile from Documents, Pictures, and Music shell folders?

You might as well. I would say back it up, and rename the Users folder. Then copy your old data back into the new profile folder(s).

dpluigi said:
I realize that it is best practice to clean the partitions including the separate D drive with USERS before the Clean install - Thanks Mae from Atlas Forum. Would it be fine to only clean the OS drive partitions and leave the USERS drive alone?

Leaving the D: drive alone works totally fine.

dpluigi said:
I am not sure that I can leave D:User folder in place and let Win 11 create a new profile (keeping the same profile name), maybe deleting or renaming AppData, and expect it will end up with the user data preserved. It'd be nice, wouldn't it?

As I noted above, this won't happen. The new user's profile folder name will not be the user's name, because that folder already exists from your earlier install. This is the case if you leave the D:\Users folder in place. Obviously if you rename it or remove it, that does not happen.

dpluigi said:
On the other hand, it seems safe to rename the Users to Users_Old, and let Windows Clean install process to carry on with the creation of a new Users folder tree with it's user profiles on D:, for later use, isn't it?

Then, the data migration is done by copying (cut/past, teracopy or else) or moving, for example, all Documents folder's content (cutting and pasting or moving) from D:\Users_Old\JohnDo\Documents to D:\Users\JohnDo\Documentsv; where Users_Old is the Users tree left in place on secondary drive before initiating a Clean install.

Totally fine.

dpluigi · Oct 15, 2024

pseymour said:
I did some experimentation in a VM just to test.

You can use the same D:\Users root folder, but the user profiles for the new installation will not be named simply with the user's name. The second installation will tack on the name of the computer to the user profile folder, because a folder with the user name already exists in D:\Users, and the SIDs for the users are totally different for two different Windows installations. In my first installation, my profile folder is named Patrick. After the second installation, the profile folder has the computer name on the end of it. The data in the original Patrick folder was left in place, by the way; the installation didn't delete anything.

Code:

PS D:\Users> ls -Force Directory: D:\Users Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d--hsl 10/15/2024 1:18 PM All Users d-rh-- 10/15/2024 1:35 PM Default d--hsl 10/15/2024 1:18 PM Default User d----- 10/15/2024 1:19 PM Patrick d----- 10/15/2024 1:37 PM Patrick.DESKTOP-FHPLQNO d-r--- 4/1/2024 3:34 AM Public -a-hs- 4/1/2024 3:24 AM 174 desktop.ini

You might as well. I would say back it up, and rename the Users folder. Then copy your old data back into the new profile folder(s).

Leaving the D: drive alone works totally fine.

As I noted above, this won't happen. The new user's profile folder name will not be the user's name, because that folder already exists from your earlier install. This is the case if you leave the D:\Users folder in place. Obviously if you rename it or remove it, that does not happen.

Totally fine.

Hi @pseymour,

Thank you for the detailed and clear reply and for doing teh test. Yes, my computer will keep the same device name. I'll change D:Users to D:Users_Old. I will start the clean install shortly.

Winuser · Oct 15, 2024

antspants said:
From memory, you can’t move user folders until they are unlinked in the OneDrive settings.

I use OneDrive and on my new desktop I was able to move my User folders to drive D: without any problems. On my old desktop I set it up so that all of my User Folders except the desktop is on drive E:. I kept that on my C: drive. I don't need to sync any file on it so none of them are shared to OneDrive. Because I'm signed into my MS Account I can still access my documents and pictures uploaded to OneDrive from my new desktop in File Explorer by clicking on Username-Personal.

antspants · Oct 15, 2024

Winuser said:
I was able to move my User folders to drive D: without any problems

That may be true, but at one point, to move a user folder to a new location outside of \onedrive\documents\ etc) the folders had to be unlinked. For all I know this is from way way back, I don't keep up with trends or changes.
I do all this automatically anyway as I never use OneDrive, as much as I love Windows, I am not about to make it even easier for Microsoft to have access to my stuff.
Also, Microsoft can be hacked like anyone else, as we have recently discovered. Not going to happen.

@dpluigi Method One (possibly the same for Windows 11)

Move Location of Documents Folder in Windows 10

How to Move Your Documents Folder Location in Windows 10

www.tenforums.com

EDIT Wrong link sorry, will fix

antspants · Oct 15, 2024

Link Fixed:

Method One

Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10

How to Move Users Folder to another Location in Windows 10

www.tenforums.com

Winuser · Oct 15, 2024

antspants said:
That may be true, but at one point, to move a user folder to a new location outside of \onedrive\documents\ etc) the folders had to be unlinked. For all I know this is from way way back, I don't keep up with trends or changes.
I do all this automatically anyway as I never use OneDrive, as much as I love Windows, I am not about to make it even easier for Microsoft to have access to my stuff.
Also, Microsoft can be hacked like anyone else, as we have recently discovered. Not going to happen.

@dpluigi Method One (possibly the same for Windows 11)

Move Location of Documents Folder in Windows 10

How to Move Your Documents Folder Location in Windows 10

www.tenforums.com

EDIT Wrong link sorry, will fix

On my new desktop, my Documents and Pictures folder are synced to OneDrive and I was able to move them to drive D: and they are still synced to OneDrive. I was also able move my local OneDrive folder to drive D:. Why I was able to move them and others say they couldnt; I have no idea.

antspants · Oct 15, 2024

And an old thread

Move Users Folder Location in Windows 11

Hello everyone, all right? Has anyone tried to install Windows 11 by moving the "users" folder out of place, like in this @Kari tutorial? https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1964-move-users-folder-location-windows-10-a.html Another question: I was in the leaked build, I signed up for Windows...

www.elevenforum.com

Winuser said:
On my new desktop, my Documents and Pictures folder are synced to OneDrive and I was able to move them to drive D: and they are still synced to OneDrive. I was also able move my local OneDrive folder to drive D:. Why I was able to move them and others say they couldnt; I have no idea.

I don’t doubt that.

zbook · Oct 15, 2024

In case it's useful Windows can save the user folders to Windows.old by performing a custom install.

After a clean install the folders within Windows.old may be able to be repositioned.

Restore Files from Windows.old Folder in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to manually restore files from the Windows.old folder in Windows 11. When you upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10, repair install Windows 11, custom install Windows 11, or update to a new version of Windows 11 (ex: Windows Update), a copy of the previous...

www.elevenforum.com

antspants · Oct 15, 2024

zbook said:
In case it's useful Windows can save the user folders to Windows.old by performing a custom install.

After a clean install the folders within Windows.old may be able to be repositioned.

Restore Files from Windows.old Folder in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to manually restore files from the Windows.old folder in Windows 11. When you upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10, repair install Windows 11, custom install Windows 11, or update to a new version of Windows 11 (ex: Windows Update), a copy of the previous...

www.elevenforum.com

Custom install looks interesting. I wasn’t aware of it.

zbook · Oct 15, 2024

antspants said:
Custom install looks interesting. I wasn’t aware of it.

Custom Install Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to do a custom clean install of Windows 11 on your PC. When you perform a custom install of Windows 11, a clean install of Windows 11 is performed only on the same partition as the current installation of Windows to replace it. The previous installation is moved...

www.elevenforum.com

Reinstall Windows 11 after relocating Users Folder

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