Personal User Shell Folders - Move Location

How to Change a Personal User Folder Location in Vista​

   Information

The personal user folders can be redirected to, and all files inside them, another partition, hard drive, or folder location to be stored in instead. The folder will still be in the (user name) location in the Start Menu as usual, but it will act like a shortcut to the new location instead.

   Note

This can be handy if you would like to save space on the drive or partition with Vista on it, or you prefer to just store the files in the use folders at another location.

   Tip

If a personal user folder has been deleted, is missing, or does not work propely, then see: How to Restore a Missing Personal User Folder in Vista

   Warning

• If you have a program that places a folder in one these user folders, like the Documents folder, then you do not want to change it's location until you change the setting in the program to use another folder or the new personal folder location. Deleting the program's folder usually does not do any good. It will just be added back by the program. If you do not, then you will have two undeletable copies of the user folder. Example: Windows Live Messenger puts and uses a folder in the Documents folder.
• If you change the Favorites folder location, it will no longer show work from within IE7 unless you change the permission level of the new Favorites folder to give Authenticated User full control. For how, see: How to Change Folder Permissions
• If you use Windows Mail or any other email program that uses the Vista C:\Users\(user name)\Contacts folder for contacts, then do not change the Contacts folder default location to keep using Contacts in these programs.

EXAMPLE: Personal User Profile Folder Icons
NOTE: Location is at C:\Users\(User Name)

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METHOD ONE

Through the User Folder Properties

1. Right click on a personal user folder and click Properties.​

NOTE: Open the Start menu and click on the username button to see them.​

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2. Click on the Location tab. (See screenshot below)​

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3. To Find the Personal User Folder Location​

A) Click the Find Target button. (See screenshot above)​

NOTE: This will open a window with the personal user folder location. You will see the full path of the location above the three buttons.​

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4. To Change the Personal User Folder Location ​

A) Click the Move button. (See screenshot above)​

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B) Navigate to the location you want to use to redirect the personal user folder to. (See screenshot below)​

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C) Right click on a empty area in the Select a Destination window and click New and Folder.​

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D) Rename the New Folder to the same name as the personal user folder and leave it highlighted, then click on the Select Folder button.​

WARNING: Do not select another personal user folder to redirect this personal user folder to. You will not be able to use the Restore Default location option. Only use a New Folder.​

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E) Click OK. (See screenshot below step 2)​

NOTE: You should see the new full path location above the three buttons.​

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F) Click Yes. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: This will move all the files inside the personal user folder to the new location.​

WARNING: If you do not click Yes, then you will have two copies of the personal user folder in the (your username) folder.​

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5. To Restore the Default Personal User Folder Location ​

A) For how, see OPTION TWO here: How to Restore a Missing Personal User Folder in Vista​

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METHOD TWO

Through the Registry Editor

   Note

This method will show you how to change only the Downloads (long number), Desktop, Documents (Personal), Favorites, Music (My Music), Pictures (My Pictures), or Video (My Videos) user folder default locations.

1. Go to the location in Windows Explorer for where you want to move the user folder location to.​

NOTE: For example, in C:\Program Files.​

WARNING: Do not select another personal user folder to redirect this personal user folder to. You will not be able to use the Restore Default location option.​

A) Right click on a empty area in the window and click on New and Folder. (See screenshot below)​

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B) Leave the folder named New Folder.​

NOTE: This new folder example location of C:\Program Files\New Folder will be used and replaced by the user folder.​

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C) Leave this window open.​

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2. Open the Start menu.​

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3. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.​

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4. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below 5)​

NOTE: You can see the default paths for the user folders under the Data column.​

[/INDENT]
[INDENT]HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders[/INDENT]
[INDENT]

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5. In the right pane, right click on the personal user folder you want to change the location for and click on Modify.​

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6. To Change the Personal User Folder Location​

A) Type in the full path of the new location with the New Folder, and click on OK. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: For example, C:\Program Files\New Folder.​

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B) The registry will now look like this. (See screenshot below)​

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C) Close regedit.​

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D) Go back to the new location in step 1 above.​

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E) Right click on New Folder and click Rename. (See screenshot below step 1C)​

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F) Type in the name (EX: Music) of the user folder you want to change the location of, and press Enter.​

NOTE: The folder will now change to the special green color with the name of the user folder.​

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G) Open the Start menu, and click on your username folder button.​

NOTE: You will see two of these user folders (EX: Music) with the same name now.​

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H) Right click on each one separately and click Properties.​

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I) Delete the one that does not have the Locations tab in the Properties window. (See screenshots below)​

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7. To Restore the Default Personal User Folder Location -​

A) For how, see OPTION TWO here: How to Restore a Missing Personal User Folder in Vista​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Fix a Personal User Shell Folder Displayed as a Standard Yellow Folder Icon in Vista
• How to Change the Target Path Location of a Shortcut in Vista
• How to Change Windows Explorer Default Open Location
• How to Copy the Full Path of a File or Folder in Vista
• How to Restore a Missing Personal User Folder in Vista
• How to Prevent or Allow User Profile Folders Location Change in Vista
• How to Change the Default Location of a User Profile in Windows 7 and Vista

 

[saterob]

Hey Shawn,

Dont worry it fixed itself after a reboot. The clone no longer appears, although if it does again I'll let you know. I dont use windows mail, I use live mail which isnt supported by windows contacts so i'll have to manually add the contacts.

Cheers,
Joronamo.

 

[Brink]

Ok Joronamo. I'm happy to hear that it sorted itself out for you.

Shawn

 

[4MUL8R]

Well, I am trying hard, but making little progress.


I followed the REDEDIT steps. In the list of available folders, there were two of each: Documents, My Music, My Videos, My Pictures. One folder had a sync icon over the folder image. Those were marked as having location of \\ricstore\users\username\foldername, and were clearly created by some super-computer system that was placing all these folders on some server. The other folder was not editable as far as location, the location tab being absent, but had the location listed as c:\users\username. So, I went to all the sync files, as they were the only ones I could edit location, and keyed in %USERPROFILE%\foldername. I closed regedit and restarted. When I checked these locations again, they had been changed back to the

 

[Brink]

Hello 4MUL8R, and welcome to Vista Forums.

It looks like your post was cut off before you finished it. You would have duplicates when the user folder was moved to another location and you have another program or something that is still saving something at the original location causing the C:\Users\UserName folder without a Location tab to be automatically created. You should be able to fix this be restoring the default locations of the original folders in the registry. Option Two in this tutorial will help show you how to better.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/148461-personal-user-folder-restore-missing-folder.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Jeff47]

Ok, so this may be a simple question -but - if the program gives you the option of telling it where to put it's "appXstuff" folder, and the default is "C:\user...", could I just change that to "%userprofile%\appXstuff" to avoid the problems outlined above?

 

[Brink]

Hello Jeff,

Yes, it would be easier to set that option in the program to be directed to a folder location you want it to be saved in instead. If you changed the default location, you can also just redirect the program option to the new location as well for that folder to avoid the recreation of the user folder problem.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[4MUL8R]

As an update, I did find that a network policy had redirected my documents folder to a server (a corporate deal). This automagically took away the location tab on my documents folder properties window. I have removed the offline file sharing and restored the original folder location, and things are at least in my control now. I do need to get the Vista documents folder redirected to look at d:\ with no current subfolder named documents on that d:\ drive. Is this something I can do, without the official documents subfolder? Or, should I create a documents folder on d:\, move everything into it, then tell Vista that documents reside there?

 

[Brink]

Hello 4MUL8R,

If you can select a folder, preferably a empty one, on the D drive to be your Documents folder location in the registry, then you might be able to do it without creating another new folder there.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[G0dLik3]

Hello!

I want to move THE WHOLE Users folder.
Is there any tutorial on this site or can you please tell me how can I do this?


Thank you!

 

[Brink]

Hello G0dLik3,

Sorry, but it is not advisable to do that. There are to many items in Vista that are hard coded to the default user folder location. Changing the location would cause a lot of unwelcomed problems. For example, among all the others, Favorites in IE and Contacts in Windows Mail would no longer work in those programs.

Shawn

 

[G0dLik3]

Yeah, well, I guess moving only My Documents, My Pictures etc is enough. I`ll just live with that... :P

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome G0dLik3.

 

[supervoc]

Hi

I tried moving some of my User folders to another hard drive and it all appeared to go OK. However, I have noticed that the files are no longer private when someone else logs on to the PC even though the folders are green. Is there a way to restore privacy to these files?

Cheers

 

[Brink]

Hello Supervoc, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You could change the permission levels on the folder to not allow only that user permission access. This will help show you how. Just be sure not to deny everyone or your user account.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/157304-folder-permissions.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[supervoc]

Hi Brink

Thanks for the welcome and the link.

I found that after I had followed the instructions the files could still be read by another administrator log-in, so while I was in there I denied access to the files and took ownership of them as well. This seems to have done the trick. Is this likely to cause me any problems down the line?

Regards

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Supervoc. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out.

Shawn

 

[13thmonkey]

just wanted to say thanks for the tutorials, really appreciate the time you are putting into this. Saved my bacon.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome 13thmonkey, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Shawn

 

[13thmonkey]

I read on one of your posts not to move the favorites folder unless you grant it sufficient priviledges, what priviledges are needed or did I read it wrong?

And am i right in assuming that you cannot move the outlook folders? I want to move my ost file as I'm using a 30Gb SSD and 6Gb of ram and its getting a bit tight (need to turn hibernation off.

 

[Brink]

13thmonkey,

It's not a good idea to move the Favorites folder because it will cause the Favorites in Internet Explorer to no longer work.

I do not know about the Outlook folders. You might post that question in the Microsoft Office subforum in the Software forum.