moving "Program Files" to another drive / partition help

[Jasonholt]

Hello, I want to know how to move "Program Files" to another drive / partition because I want to make my drive C simple so when I create an image of the partition where my OS is, it will be clean and simple. I am on Windows XP OS. Thank you for any comments.

[nitesh mehta]

The way I have had my past several machines configured is to have a number of different drives/partitions configured eg 'System' (C, 'Programs (P, Files (F which contains 'My Documents', downloads, Setup and other files etc.

On XP this was achieved by the brute force method - boot to 'Safe Mode', move the 'Program Files' folder from C: to P: and then edit the registry, changing every occurence of 'C:\Pro' to 'P:\Pro'. After this and rebooting the machine worked fine and all new programs installed to the new drive.

I've recently downloaded 'Vista Ultimate' and have attempted to do the same as formerly on XP as detailed, but after rebooting many programs will not work, and running a Setup file from CD throws up an error.

[newtech]

Defrag your drive - more than once if needed, and yes, move the paging file to a different drive or partition. The page file should not be a big problem seeing as how you have 512MB of RAM.
To change your Paging File:- click Start, Settings, Control Panel, System icon, Advanced tab. On the Advanced tab, click Performance Options, and under Virtual memory, click Change. Because you have a number of partitions, a drive list will be dispalyed. In the Drive list, click the drive that contains the paging file. If you have not changed it before, it should be on C: Have a good look at the settings already there, make a note of them on paper. Then under Paging file size for selected drive, change to zero both in the Initial size (MB) and Maximum size (MB) box, and then click Set. Then select another partition and type in the recommended amount in both Max and Min and then click Set. Even though there is a max and a min, your computer will perform better if the values are the same.
You must restart your computer to see the effects of those changes. Hope this helps.

[Zachary]

It can be done, but you'd be best advised to just ghost the entire contents of the current drive to the new one.

To do what you're asking, you'd have to manipulate the reparse points for the Program Files folder and probably also for most programs contained within.

[Expertz]

use partition magic to expand your partition....so that u can increase space in your c drive..

and the next time when you install new softwares...then install them on some other partition...just create a Program Files folder for that in other partition

in Partition Magic...there is a drive mapping feature...i think you can use that...that will correct all the registry entries pointing to your c drive program files...to any other drive where you copied all data

[reaver277]

Actually, it is possible to move the "Program Files" directory anywhere. (with a little bit of work).

I've done it a couple times.

1) You first need to boot into Safe modem (Command line)....do not load the Explorer or it will lock too many files.
2) Copy (not move) all the files/folders. Use something like XCOPY. Don't forget to use the parameters to tell it to copy hidden and system files and such.
3) Delete the contents of the "Program Files". You will NOT usually be able to delete the directly itself. If you have difficulties, use a tool like "Unlocker", or attempt to Move the folder somewhere else (to be deleted after you reboot). Note that often Move or Rename commands work when delete does not.
4) Now create a "Junction" or map the NTFS partition to the "Program Files" directory. Sysinternals has a free app to help create "Junction"s (like symbolic links in Linux). Personally I prefer the later option (NTFS partition).


What this achieves, is EVERYTHING still thinks the directory is in the same, so by creating a Junction (symbolic link), you are just redirecting requests to this new location. This avoids the nasty task of having to update the Registry and INI files like a lot of people do.


WARNING: Do not reboot your PC till you complete all this steps. If anything goes wrong in step 3, copy all the files and folders back, and call it a day. You don't want to leave your system unstable with missing files.

Personally, I only had to reinstall Outlook one time because I missed a few files.

[SalVatore]

Thanks for sharing this useful information, reaver277..!!!

Many times, we need to format our local and most important C drive (storing all our Program files) to keep it up-to-date and free from virus. So for that, we have to move it to another drive as a backup.