User Profiles - Relocate to another Partition or Disk

[kiwig]

Kari
The tutorial is perfect :thumb:
.. so it was a breeze to set-up my new laptop with"user profiles-relocate".
First time for me so bit nervous at the beginning.
.

 

[Kari]

.. so it was a breeze to set-up my new laptop with"user profiles-relocate".
.

Good to know

As usual with Windows, even the new things work well when instructions are followed to the letter.

Kari

 

[Cheech]

Redo of a sysprep

@Kari

Hi Kari:

A couple of months ago you helped me do a Sysprep on my Windows 8.1 system which worked fine

I am having a problem with a specific application and the vendor has exhausted his resources attempting to solve it and is recommending a reinstall of the OS as he suspects a contamination of some Windows files. While I normally frown on these explanations I know the vendor fairly well and trust his development and tech support people. They have put significant effort into resolving the problem which according to them is only happening on my PC. I would not want to go back to a complete install and redo the sysprep.

So my main question is can I rerun the Syspre and accomplish the same thing?

Or might you have other suggestions? I and the vendor have done all of the obvious things (reinstall the app, repair .Net (3.5), scan the HD and SSD for errors and viruses, uninstall related 3rd party apps and probably some other things I have forgotten. There are no errors in his logs and non in the Windows Events either.

I am open to other suggestions you might have. I can give you a complete description of what is happening and will do so if asked as I am not certain of whether or not you would want to get involved as it goes beyond my sysprep question.

I am at a complete loss on this an would appreciate any assistance or advice you could render.


thanks

 

[Kari]

I am open to other suggestions you might have. I can give you a complete description of what is happening and will do so if asked as I am not certain of whether or not you would want to get involved as it goes beyond my sysprep question.

Sysprep does not work as a re-install replacement and in cases like yours does nothing useful. My advice: reinstall.

 

[Cheech]

@Kari

Thank you for your reply. I really didn't think the sysprep would do much but needed to check. Another question if you don't mind.

I've been working with MS on this with the hopes to avoid a reinstall. The first thing was to explore the possibility of refreshing .Net 3.5, like I was able to do in W7. Apparently that is out of the question now. That left the option of a reinstall, as you suggested. Initially the Level 2 tech thought there was a repair option. Using my 8.1 Pro DVD it appears that the only thing that can be done with that is a clean install requiring a backup of all apps/ data. etc and obviously restore.

Next he downloaded the 8.1 Pro ISO, and that too only supported a clean install. At that point he said a clean install was the only option, or upgrading to W10, which I am reluctant to do. Was he correct in that there is no way to do an 8.1 Pro install other that a clean on, ie. no "repair" type of install?

Thank you,

 

[Kari]

Was he correct in that there is no way to do an 8.1 Pro install other that a clean on, ie. no "repair" type of install?

In Windows 10 since version 1511 build 10586 (so called November Update) it is possible to upgrade Windows or perform a repair install even when the Users folder is relocated, not on C: drive. It is now also possible to upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 with relocated Users folder when upgrade media is said version 1511 or later.

Unfortunately this does not mean that repair install is possible in Windows 8.1 with relocated Users folder. To do a repair install you would first need to sysprep Users folder back to C: drive, then run repair install, and finally relocate Users back to another drive. In your case now however I don't think it would work but you can of course try.

The process of moving Users folder back to C: is exactly the same than when relocated from C: to another drive, just change the value of ProfilesDirectory in answer file to C:\Users (line 6 in example answer file in tutorial step 2.1).

If upgrading to Windows 10 is out of the question then I really recommend a clean, fresh install.

Kari

 

[Cheech]

It is now also possible to upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 with relocated Users folder when upgrade media is said version 1511 or later.

Kari

@Kari

Thank you for responding.

Part of the reason for my not wanting to do an upgrade is that I had an app that was not yet updated/tested on Win 10. That issue has been resolved. So at this time I am leaning towards doing the 8.1 to 10 upgrade. According to the above quote I can keep my Documents folder on my non-SSD? Does that require running a Sysprep or can that be done as part of the install? If it requires running the Sysprep can that be done not having the distribution DVD?

Thank you

 

[Kari]

Just download the latest Windows 10 install media and upgrade as usual. No sysprep. See these Ten Forums tutorials:

• Windows 10 - Upgrade Installation - Windows 10 Forums
• Windows 10 ISO Download - Windows 10 Forums

 

[Cheech]

Just download the latest Windows 10 install media and upgrade as usual. No sysprep. See these Ten Forums tutorials:

• Windows 10 - Upgrade Installation - Windows 10 Forums
• Windows 10 ISO Download - Windows 10 Forums

@Kari

Thank you.

I wish I saw your message a bit earlier. I spent hours online (multiple times) and on the phone attempting to get a straight answer whether or not is was necessary to do a sysprep as part of the W10 upgrade so that the Documents/User folders are recognized when they are on a non-SSD drive. Unbelievable that people here know a lot more about Windows then the MS tech people that are supposed to be able to help you. I even spent a half hour on the phone with a supervisor attempting to explain what it was I needed to find out and why.

It seems that if it is not a cookie cutter process they are completely lost.

Thanks again for your response.

 

[Cheech]

@Kari

A few other questions please.

It wasn't clear to me why the sysprep wasn't needed. Is it because the Win 10upgrade install will leave things as they are or is there an option to specify where the User/Documents folders are to be placed? If it is the former then if the upgrade doesn't correct the problem and I need to do a clean install then shall I presume that I would need to run the sysprep against the Win 10 system? However, I don't have the distribution media so can the ISO file be used (assuming I burn it to a DVD) in lieu of the real distribution DVD? That would mean going back to 8.1 or buying Win 10 so I have the media (or something unknown to me).

TU

 

[HC1Gunner]

Help, I messed up. I will try to keep this story short.

I my generous nature I gave my old PC to a friend's 14 year old son. I of course made a new Admin user account, then nuked my own account, removed the G: drive where my User profile and the new one was created. Of course after I had shipped it, the light bulb went off about what I had done, and what would happen when they booted it for the first time. I knew it was either not going to work, or have issues.

Once the booted to to Windows they were greeted to "The User Profile Service service failed to sign-in, User profile cannot be located".

I was wondering if there is any kind of quick fix for this?

1. Install Win 10 pro over Win 10 pro, would this created a new User profile (folder) on the C: drive?
2. Is there a command line that could be run from Win 10 repair command prompt option that would create a new Admin User folder (profile) on C: ?
3. Old PC Had Win 7 Pro and was upgrade to 10 Pro. I assuming that my Win 7 product key is associated with the Win 10 free upgrade.
If you format C: , and will it let you do a clean install of Win 10 even though its no longer able to download for free?

Problem Solved !

 

[Kari]

Hi Gunner.

I can see that you have edited your post above about six hours after it was originally posted, adding this:

Problem Solved !

Do I understand it correctly that you were able to resolve issue? If so, could you please tell how? My advice had been to simply download Windows 10 PRO ISO image, burn it to a DVD or USB, and do a clean install skipping the product key when asked. Windows should then activate automatically based on the machine's hardware signature.

By removing the drive where Users folder was relocated, you accidentally made Windows unstable, not finding user profiles. In these cases a clean install is usually the best way out.

Kari

 

[HC1Gunner]

Thanks Kari

That's what I had them do, was a clean install of 10

 

[Kari]

Good to know you got it resolved. Tell them about sister site TenForums.com, the best place to get help with Windows 10.

 

[mikel023]

Hi @Kari

Just wanna ask. I have a Windows 8.1 machine with relocated user's folder and I'm planning now to upgrade it to Windows 10. Do I need to relocate the user's folder back to it's default location to C: drive before proceeding to Windows upgrade? Thanks.

 

[Kari]

Do I need to relocate the user's folder back to it's default location to C: drive before proceeding to Windows upgrade?

No. You can upgrade keeping the Users folder where it is currently located.

Kari

 

[mikel023]

No. You can upgrade keeping the Users folder where it is currently located.

Kari

I am now running Windows 10. The upgrade process went without a hitch.

Thank you very much!

 

[j2f]

Dear Kari,

I am trying a fresh installation of Win10 Pro (ver. 1909, build 18363.592).
I want to relocate the user profiles and use the most minimal answer file (found below)

On the first try (multiple attempts) The file stored on the installation USB media as u:\folders.xml and running it with the command: c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /audit /reboot /unattend:u:\folders.xml

On the second attempt is was stared as c:\windows\system32\sysprep\unattend.xml thereafter I launch sysprep and check the "Generalize" box.

In both cases I get the same fetal error, see the log file c:\windows\system32\Sysprep\Panther\setuperr.log

I tried to attach the files and got a system rejection ("The uploaded file does not have an allowed extension.") and since they are short (I cleaned the log for almost identical previous attempts), I paste the in a box, my apology.

TIA, J


folders.xml

<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> </FolderLocations> </component> </settings> <cpifflineImage cpi:source="wim:X:\sources\install.wim#Windows 10 Pro" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" /> </unattend>

setuperr.log

2020-02-27 03:32:44, Error [sysprep.exe] UnattendFindAnswerFile: Unable to deserialize explicitly provided unattend file [u:\folders.xml]; status = 0x800705b9, hrResult = 0x0. 2020-02-27 03:32:44, Error [0x0f009e] SYSPRP SysprepSearchForUnattend: Failed while searching for unattend file; hr = 0x800705b9 2020-02-27 03:32:44, Error [0x0f00a5] SYSPRP WinMain:Encountered error while searching for unattend file; hr = 0x800705b9 2020-02-27 03:34:41, Error [sysprep.exe] UnattendSearchExplicitPath: Found unattend file at [c:\windows\system32\sysprep\unattend.xml] but unable to deserialize it; status = 0x800705b9, hrResult = 0x0. 2020-02-27 03:34:41, Error [0x0f009e] SYSPRP SysprepSearchForUnattend: Failed while searching for unattend file; hr = 0x800705b9 2020-02-27 03:34:41, Error [0x0f00a5] SYSPRP WinMain:Encountered error while searching for unattend file; hr = 0x800705b9

 

[Kari]

On the first try (multiple attempts) The file stored on the installation USB media as u:\folders.xml and running it with the command: c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /audit /reboot /unattend:u:\folders.xml

You should only use a relocation answer file when booting to OOBE, not when booting to Audit Mode. Correct command would be as shown below:

c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /reboot

Tutorial on Ten Forums, our sister site: Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10

Kari