 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Windows Forum / Windows XP / Setup and Deployment / May 2005HowTo: Locate Documents & Settings on a different drive?
I've been looking unsuccessfully for information on how to set WinXP Pro so that Documents and Settings are on a hard drive other than the drive where XP is installed. Does anyone know where I could find a resource page for this? You might want to take a look at this article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q236621/ You're on your own as far as getting this to work. I've never tried it.  SignatureNepatsfan > I've been looking unsuccessfully for information on how to set > WinXP Pro so > that Documents and Settings are on a hard drive other than the > drive where XP > is installed. Does anyone know where I could find a resource > page for this? Thank you. Unfortunately, the linked article is for performing the action in Windows server, not XP Pro. But it may work anyway. Also, it gives me some terminology to use for a further search. It does seem to me that Microsoft might consider making this process easier, assuming it is akin to that described in the article. Configuring the system to keep data and user settings on a separate drive should be a trivial task. Thanks again. > You might want to take a look at this article: > > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q236621/ It's works with all Windows NT (also Windows XP). If you want to do this, you have to : - Create a temporary admin user on the workstation - Open the registry and modify the key ProfilesDirectory in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList - Modify the key ProfileImagePath in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-19 and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-20 - Copy All Users and Default User from C:\Documents and Settings to the new directory - Logoff and logon with the temporary admin - Modify the key ProfileImagePath for all the users in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-21-****** - Copy the users profile folders from C:\Documents and Settings to the new directory - Logoff and logon with an admin user and delete the temporary user and C:\Documents and Settings I hope this brief will be usefull for you J?r?me GUERS PS : my english is not very fluent. I hope you have understand me... > Thank you. Unfortunately, the linked article is for performing the action in > Windows server, not XP Pro. But it may work anyway. Also, it gives me some [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > > > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q236621/ The article you are looking for is http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q314843/ I am still researching to find a working solution. e.g in line 7. if your logged in as a different administrator account why not just drag the folders of the administrator account, you were working in, to the new folder. Looks like a leftover from Windows Server. I have noted that if you log into each user area the registry has other entries for Documents and Settings where the path will need changing. Check HKEY_VolatileEnvironment Value on one line for HOMEDRIVE is C: and next line for value HOMEPATH is Documents and Settings. It appears that the C: should be changed to the new path. I am still investigating this one. Will let you know if it works. Another approach could be to find out how you can produce an unattend.txt file to pick up the settings from an existing installation of XP Pro. You could then edit the GUI Profile to point to the new path for Documents and Settings. > Thank you. Unfortunately, the linked article is for performing the action in > Windows server, not XP Pro. But it may work anyway. Also, it gives me some [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > > > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q236621/ Log into each User. Start, Right Click on My Documents Folder. Change Target Location to the Drive and Folder you want the files to be located. You can move existing documents over. You can move some of the existing folders over as well, but not all, unless you go into the registery and edit. If your just looking to to have data, favorites,etc. than this works well for me. > I've been looking unsuccessfully for information on how to set WinXP Pro > so > that Documents and Settings are on a hard drive other than the drive where > XP > is installed. Does anyone know where I could find a resource page for > this? > I've been looking unsuccessfully for information on how to set WinXP Pro so > that Documents and Settings are on a hard drive other than the drive where XP > is installed. Does anyone know where I could find a resource page for this? You will find that, while Microsoft gives you information about how to change this after installation, it is not supported. The recommended method is by doing it during the installation by using an answer file. Search on 'unattend.txt' to find information about this. (It is the default file name for the answer file.) Some of the info you will find will be about Win2k but the info still works with WinXP. Here is a copy of my standard UNATTEND.TXT file: (It is the ProfilesDir entry that is doing what you requested. You could even chose a different folder name but that would really confuse any technicians working on the PC in the future and may confuse some software with the folder name hard coded. Fortunately, I have not encountered a single program that did not behave properly with the Documents and Settings folder placed on a separate drive in this manner.) =============================== [Unattended] FileSystem = LeaveAlone OEMSkipEULA = Yes TargetPath = Windows UnattendMode = DefaultHide [GuiUnattended] OEMSkipWelcome = 1 ProfilesDir = "D:\Documents and Settings" TimeZone = "020" [URL] Home_Page = about:blank Quick_Link_1_Name = "Yahoo!" Quick_Link_1 = http://www.yahoo.com/ Quick_Link_2_Name = "Google" Quick_Link_2 = http://www.google.com/ [Branding] BrandIEUsingUnattended = Yes [Display] Xresolution = 800 Yresolution = 600 [Components] chat = Off dialer = Off fp = off freecell = Off hypertrm = on iis_common = off iisdbg = off iis_doc = off iis_ftp = off iis_htmla = off iis_inetmgr = off iis_nntp = off iis_nntp_docs = off iis_pwmgr = off iis_smtp = off iis_smtp_docs = off iis_www = off indexsrv_system = off LicenseServer = Off media_clips = off media_utopia = off minesweeper = Off mplay = on netcis = off netoc = off objectpkg = off pinball = off rec = off riminst = off solitaire = Off templates = Off vol = on =========================== And here is the batch file I use to start the installation: ============================== SMARTDRV.EXE M:\i386\WINNT.EXE /U:A:\Unattend.TXT /S:M:\i386 /T:C:\ ================================ The boot floppy I use loads the CD-ROM drivers and sets the drive letter to M: to avoid any conflicts with any other drives while assuring me a consistent drive letter. Put a copy of SMARTDRV.EXE on the floppy as well. Without it the initial copy phase takes forever. P.S. I have not been able to find a complete list of answer file commands for Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. I have just been using info from an old document about Windows 2000 Pro. It works, but I know there have got to be more entries possible. Especially ones to prevent the installation of additional services that aren't needed or the newer games that come with XP. If anyone knows where I could find this list I would really appreciate it. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2010 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.