Don't move your Windows user profiles folder to another dr

Windows enthusiasts just love to tweak their systems.

Through the years, the Windows community has built up an impressive body of tips and tricks designed to squeeze extra performance out of a stock installation of Windows. Unfortunately, some of those tweak have unintended consequences.
This week, as I was corresponding with early adopters of Windows 8.1, I ran into a perfect example of a tweak you shouldn't make. A reader posted this comment in the Talkback section of another post and, for good measure, emailed it to me as well:
What about this error?
"Sorry, it looks like this PC can't run Windows 8.1. This might be because the Users or Program Files folder is being redirected to another partition."
This affects a large number of desktop users with SSD system disks. If you have moved your Users folder to a secondary drive to conserve precious SSD disk space, Windows 8.1 will refuse to install.
This just seems like continuing evidence that desktop users (and open architecture) are an afterthought at Microsoft. Maybe, I read the wrong articles. Maybe, I believed the hype. Or maybe, it was just wishful thinking, but I thought that we were the users that Microsoft intended to accommodate with this new release.
I heard the same complaint from several other upgraders on Twitter who had experienced similar issues. And my response to all of them was the same: This is an unsupported configuration, and if you try it, you're just asking for trouble.
Don't move your Windows user profiles folder to another drive | ZDNet
 
Posted about it here after reading about some having lots of trouble.

Maybe wise to add some additional warning to the original tutorial content?
 

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I read that article. I did not move my user profiles, but in Windows 7 and 8.0 I had used the supported 'Locate' context menu to relocate my Documents folder (and Desktop, etc.) to another drive.

I had no problems in 7 or 8.0, but in 8.1 there was a serious conversion error of the document file locations in the registry.

For example, in Windows 8.0 just before the upgrade, I copied this entry from a registry location I had saved earlier:

Code:
[COLOR=#333333]"File4"="J:\\My Documents\\Native Instruments\\Reaktor5\\Library\\Ensembles\\My Ensembles\\Mash-ups\\jiTTer v2+Sonitarium+Ryuchi+TT02samp.ens"[/COLOR]

In the registry immediately after the upgrade to Windows 8.1 I see this:

Code:
[COLOR=#333333]"File5"="C:\\Users\\Jim\\Documents\\My Documents\\Native Instruments\\Reaktor5\\Library\\Ensembles\\My Ensembles\\Mash-ups\\jiTTer v2+Sonitarium+Ryuchi+TT02samp.ens"[/COLOR]

I had no path 'C:\Users\Jim\Documents\My Documents'.

I wrote about this in this thread:

http://www.eightforums.com/general-...-8-1-seems-change-way-my-documents-works.html
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center (64-bit)
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    PC/Desktop
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    Custom-build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-2600K @ 4.3 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0
    Memory
    16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (4 banks 4GB DIMM DDR3 8-8-8-24 5-32-12-7 1T 1.5V)
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    NVIDIA GeForce GT 440
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    Firewire Focusrite Saffire Pro 14
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    LG W2353V
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    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 of Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS (2TB ea.);
    1 of Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 (2TB);
    1 of Hitachi Deskstar HDS722020ALA330 (2TB);
    2 of Seagate Desktop ST4000DM000-1F2168 (4TB)
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    Event Studio Precision 6 powered audio monitors;
    Boston Acoustics CS Sub 10 Powered Subwoofer;
    NI Kore controller;
    NI Maschine controller;
    M-Audio Axiom 61 keyboard controller; expression pedal; sustain pedal;

    ... and tons of audio software ...

    I also keep two USB 3 thumb drives (A: and B:) attached with boot recovery and security stuff that I can boot into from BIOS in case of emergency
MS keep creating new reasons for people/businesses to avoid the Windows 8/Windows 8.1 "upgrade".
 

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    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (64 bit), Linux Mint 18.3 MATE (64 bit)
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    AMD Phenom II x6 1055T, 2.8 GHz
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    ASRock 880GMH-LE/USB3
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    ATI Radeon HD6450
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    Realtek?
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    Linux Mint 16 MATE (64 bit) replaced with Linux Mint 17 MATE (64 bit) - 2014-05-17
    Linux Mint 14 MATE (64 bit) replaced with Linux Mint 16 MATE (64 bit) - 2013-11-13
    Ubuntu 10.04 (64 bit) replaced with Linux Mint 14 MATE (64 bit) - 2013-01-14
    RAM & Graphics Card Upgraded - 2013-01-13
    Monitor Upgraded - 2012-04-20
    System Upgraded - 2011-05-21, 2010-07-14
    HDD Upgraded - 2010-08-11, 2011-08-24,
actually, just the opposite
looks like they finally removed documents and settings symbolic links?

look up work folders

oh, i forget, doesn't matter to you haters
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I7-3770K
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    ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77
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    CORSAIR 8GB 2X4 D3 1866
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    EVGA GTX680 4GB
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    ASUS 24" LED VG248QE
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG E 256GB SSD 840 PRO -
    SAMSUNG E 120GB SSD840 -
    SEAGATE 1TB PIPELINE
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    CORSAIR GS800
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    CORSAIR 600T
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    CORSAIR HYDRO H100I LIQUID COOLER
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    THERMALTA CHALLENGER ULT GAME-KYBRD
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    RAZER DEATHADDER GAME MS BLK-ED
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    Windows Defender
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    APC 1000VA -
    LGELECOEM LG 14X SATA BD BURNER -
    CORSAIR SP120 Fans x 3 -
    NZXT 5.25 USB3 BAY CARD READER -
    HAUPPAUGE COLOSSUS
Just an aside to this I pulled a stupid stunt. When forced to enter microsoft email/password did not think of ramifications. I found my old profile gone and ms one in place. I could not redo the ms one so set up a new user name/password, then deleted the ms one.

I'd guess most of you know what else got deleted --- all documents pics etc. in the original account. Glad for good back ups ... and I thought I knew something :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8
did you check under windows.old?

Lesson one, backup everything before doing any kind of repair or upgrade.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I7-3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77
    Memory
    CORSAIR 8GB 2X4 D3 1866
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX680 4GB
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    ASUS 24" LED VG248QE
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG E 256GB SSD 840 PRO -
    SAMSUNG E 120GB SSD840 -
    SEAGATE 1TB PIPELINE
    PSU
    CORSAIR GS800
    Case
    CORSAIR 600T
    Cooling
    CORSAIR HYDRO H100I LIQUID COOLER
    Keyboard
    THERMALTA CHALLENGER ULT GAME-KYBRD
    Mouse
    RAZER DEATHADDER GAME MS BLK-ED
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    APC 1000VA -
    LGELECOEM LG 14X SATA BD BURNER -
    CORSAIR SP120 Fans x 3 -
    NZXT 5.25 USB3 BAY CARD READER -
    HAUPPAUGE COLOSSUS
For individual systems, as opposed to a large network of users, a little program and data organization logic goes a long way...

My 8.1 boot partition (labeled Boot) is 150GBs and I've got 50GBs free...;) (I have two physical drives with a total capacity of two TBs at home--no SSD.) Ideally, the only thing that should go on C:\ should be your Windows installation and all of your OS utilities, gpu drivers, core logic chipset drivers, etc. There is absolutely no need to locate user profiles to any other partition than default (c:\) if you are in the habit of good installation policy, which includes creating as many partitions as you require to logically organize your applications & data. I think that SSD's of ~150GBs are fairly common these days--that's absolutely all the space you need, user profiles included. If you have a larger SSD, well, you can simply have an even larger c:\ Boot drive partition, of course!

By way of example, you might have a boot partition (c:\) with Windows and associated programs (SSD), a d:\ partition containing word processors and other work-related programs that you might label "Work," then another partition e:\ for your CAD programs and data files, etc. that you might label "CAD", and then another partition f:\ for your games and related files that you might label "Games," and so on. The point is to choose the number and labels for your partitions that reflect a logical separation and organization for your programs that is based on your personal needs and/or requirements. You'd also proportionally size them each as a percentage of your total drive space according to your preferences and expected capacities. From that point on, no matter how much local drive space you choose to add, programs like Acronis TrueImage will allow you to preserve the number and labels of your partitions in perpetuity, even though you might add terabytes more drive space in the future.

I've been doing it like this for > 20 years or longer (ever since my first hard drive)...;) Here are the significant advantages as I see them, as compared to the normal 1 or at most 2-partition layouts. (Having a gigantic c:\ drive for everything is just an accident waiting to happen...;))

*Because your programs and data are compartmentalized and organized into separate drive partitions, if one partition experiences a drive error and fails with a read/write error, only that particular partition goes down--the rest of your programs and data are completely unaffected. If you have one or even just two partitions, then the same event will cost you most or possibly all of your currently installed programs and data. (As I said, a monster c:\ drive where everything is dumped is just bad news waiting to happen.)

*Using separate partitions makes backups an order of magnitude simpler, and possibly much quicker, too, because you back up each partition separately. Organizing your programs and data intelligently into separate partitions allows you far more control in selectively backing up your data, and should you choose to, say, backup only your Boot partition on a regular basis--well, backing up ~100GBs (out of my total 150GB partition size) is far faster than backing up 1-2 TBs to get the same coverage, isn't it?

I think that relocating the user profiles to another partition simply reflects a poor or non-existent drive partitioning strategy regardless of what Microsoft OS installation programs require...;) Partitioning intelligently is easier than ever to do these days as Windows (8.1 included) provides standard utilities to make the whole process point & click (See "Computer Management/Storage/Disk Management".) Make your drives work for you instead of against you! If you ever begin this policy, you'll never abandon it.
 

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  • OS
    UEFI install of Win8.1 x64
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    self-crafted
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    FX-6300 @4.515Ghz
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    MSI 970a-G46
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    8 GB DDR3 (2x4) 1600 @ 1800
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    RealTek 892
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    HannsG HZ281
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    1920x1200
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    Seagate 320GB sata2 boot UEFI install of 8.1 x64;
    1TB WD Blue SATA 3;
    Seagate 2x 500GB sata2's in RAID 0
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    Corsair GS600
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    LIan Li
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    stock
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    Logitech Internet k-board
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    Microsoft Sidewinder
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    VDSL
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    Firefox
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    built into OS MSE/Defender
    Other Info
    Had a brain amputation followed up by an all-lobe "clean-up" lobotomy last year, am doing fine. Life is so much simpler, now.

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center (64-bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom-build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-2600K @ 4.3 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 PRO Rev 3.0
    Memory
    16 GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (4 banks 4GB DIMM DDR3 8-8-8-24 5-32-12-7 1T 1.5V)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 440
    Sound Card
    Firewire Focusrite Saffire Pro 14
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG W2353V
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 of Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS (2TB ea.);
    1 of Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 (2TB);
    1 of Hitachi Deskstar HDS722020ALA330 (2TB);
    2 of Seagate Desktop ST4000DM000-1F2168 (4TB)
    PSU
    Corsair AX850 Gold
    Case
    Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced
    Cooling
    ThermalTake Silent 1156
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520
    Mouse
    Logitech M310
    Internet Speed
    7Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky
    Other Info
    Event Studio Precision 6 powered audio monitors;
    Boston Acoustics CS Sub 10 Powered Subwoofer;
    NI Kore controller;
    NI Maschine controller;
    M-Audio Axiom 61 keyboard controller; expression pedal; sustain pedal;

    ... and tons of audio software ...

    I also keep two USB 3 thumb drives (A: and B:) attached with boot recovery and security stuff that I can boot into from BIOS in case of emergency
actually, just the opposite
looks like they finally removed documents and settings symbolic links?

look up work folders

To add the new Work Folders, head to the Charms menu, click search and type “work folders” then click the first of the two options that appear. Note that I am using Windows 8.1 Pro, and could find no documentation on the feature in the consumer release of the OS.
...
Files placed inside this folder get automatically synced in the background similar to SkyDrive or Dropbox.
Make Tech Easier
Work Folders Bring Synced Storage to Windows 8.1 - Make Tech Easier

I see no mention of moving a User Profile (not User Folders) to the "Work Folders".

oh, i forget, doesn't matter to you haters

Did you even read this thread's title or the linked article?
 

My Computer

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  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (64 bit), Linux Mint 18.3 MATE (64 bit)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
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    n/a
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II x6 1055T, 2.8 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASRock 880GMH-LE/USB3
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 1333 G-Skill Ares F3-1333C9D-8GAO (4GB x 2)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD6450
    Sound Card
    Realtek?
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung S23B350
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital 1.5 TB (SATA), Western Digital 2 TB (SATA), Western Digital 3 TB (SATA)
    Case
    Tower
    Mouse
    Wired Optical
    Other Info
    Linux Mint 16 MATE (64 bit) replaced with Linux Mint 17 MATE (64 bit) - 2014-05-17
    Linux Mint 14 MATE (64 bit) replaced with Linux Mint 16 MATE (64 bit) - 2013-11-13
    Ubuntu 10.04 (64 bit) replaced with Linux Mint 14 MATE (64 bit) - 2013-01-14
    RAM & Graphics Card Upgraded - 2013-01-13
    Monitor Upgraded - 2012-04-20
    System Upgraded - 2011-05-21, 2010-07-14
    HDD Upgraded - 2010-08-11, 2011-08-24,
The first thing I did after install 8.1 proper was move my folders to the other drive. And then I immediately started having problems.

I restored it from a restore point, but I kept having problems. So did a(nother) fresh install.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
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