- Moving the My Documents folder to another hard drive or partition keeps the System partition from running out of disk space and isolates the folder if I need to reinstall Windows without losing any personal data stored in the folder. The default location of My Documents folder is located at C: Documents and Settings X My Documents, where 'X' is the name of the user. Two methods can be used to move the folder.
- In Windows XP, the My documents folder of a user normally points to the location Systemdrive: Documents and Settings username My documents. If the system drive (which is usually C:) becomes full and there is no free space available further to store more documents, then we can move the my documents folder to another drive.
- In Windows XP, open Windows Explorer and go to it's Tools, Folder Options menu. Click on the View tab and change the settings to show all hidden files and folders. After changing the setting, you can use Windows Explorer to navigate to your user folder then to the folder containing the files.
Jul 31, 2019 Microsoft Windows operating systems have some user profile folders that are known as user shell folders. These user shell folders can be redirected to any path. You can use Profile Maker to redirect a user shell folder by creating a new registry item in a user configuration. Windows XP and 2000: Open 'Folder Options' from the Windows Control Panel (or from the Windows Explorer or My Computer 'Tools' menu). In Folder Options, click the 'View' tab and, under 'Hidden files and folders', select 'Show hidden files and folders'. Nov 12, 2014 Create an unattended answer file. Line 6: The value in ProfilesDirectory tags is the new location for the Users folder, in this example answer file it will be moved to D:Users.Be sure that the drive into which you are relocating the Users folder is empty or at least does not contain any Windows system folders.
On modern versions of Windows, you’ll see a “ProgramData” folder on your system drive—usually the C: drive. This folder is hidden, so you’ll only see it if you show hidden files in File Explorer.
Application Data, the Registry, and Other Places Programs Store Data
RELATED:How to Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows 7, 8, or 10
Programs store data in a number of different places in Windows. It depends on how the developers coded the program. They can include:
- Application Data Folders: Most applications store their settings in the Application Data folders at C:UsersusernameAppData, by default. Each Windows user account has its own Application Data folders, so each Windows user account can have its own application data and settings if programs use this folder.
- Documents Folders: Some applications—especially PC games—choose to store their settings under the Documents folder at C:UsersusernameDocuments. This makes it even easier for people to find, back up, and edit these files.
- The Registry: Many applications store various settings in the Windows registry. Registry settings can be either system-wide or per-user. However, the registry is just a place for individual settings—applications can’t store files or other larger pieces of data here.
- The Application’s Own Program Folder: Back in the days of Windows 95, 98, and XP, programs often stored their settings and other data in their own folders. So, if you installed a program named “Example” to C:Program FilesExample, that application might just store its own settings and other data files at C:Program FilesExample, too. This isn’t great for security. Modern versions of Windows limit the permissions programs have, and applications shouldn’t be able to write to system folders during normal operation. However, some applications—Steam, for example—still store their settings and other data files in their Program Files directory.
What Do Programs Store in ProgramData?
There’s also the ProgramData folder. This folder has most in common with the Application Data folders, but—instead of having an individual folder for each user—the ProgramData folder is shared among all the user accounts on your PC.
On Windows XP, there was no C:ProgramData folder. Instead, there was a “C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication Data” folder. Starting with Windows Vista, the All Users application data folder was moved to C:ProgramData.
You can still see this today. If you plug C:UsersAll Users into File Explorer or Windows Explorer on Windows 10, Windows will automatically redirect you to the C:Program Data folder. It’ll redirect any program that tries to write to C:UsersAll Users to the C:ProgramData folder, too.
As Microsoft puts it, “this folder is used for application data that is not user specific”. For example, a program you use might download a spelling dictionary file when you run it. Rather than store that spelling dictionary file under a user-specific Application Data folder, it should store it in the ProgramData folder. It can then share that spelling dictionary with all users on the computer, instead of storing multiple copies in a bunch of different Application Data folders.
User Folder Location Windows 10
Tools that run with system permissions may also store their settings here. For example, an antivirus application may store its settings, virus logs, and quarantined files at C:ProgramData. These settings are then shared system-wide for all users of the PC.
While this folder is conceptually just an Application Data folder shared for all users of the computer, it’s also a modern, more secure alternative to the old idea of storing an application’s settings in its own program folder.
Is There Anything Important to Back Up in the ProgramData Folder?
RELATED:Which Files Should You Back Up On Your Windows PC?
Windows Xp User Folder Location List
In general, you likely won’t find a lot of important settings you need to back up in the ProgramData folder. Most programs use this as a caching location for data that should be available to all users, or to configure some basic settings.
Your most important application data, if you want to back it up, will likely be stored under C:UsersusernameAppDataRoaming. However, if you’re concerned there might be some important settings or data under the ProgramData folder, you might want to go inspect and and see which programs are storing data there. It’s up to each program’s developer to choose where that program stores its data, so there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.
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Hi,
In Windows XP, the My documents folder of a user normally points to the location [Systemdrive]:Documents and SettingsusernameMy documents. If the system drive (which is usually C:) becomes full and there is no free space available further to store more documents, then we can move the my documents folder to another drive.
a.Click on the Start button.
b.Right click on My Documents link displayed in the start menu (If you don’t see My documents link in start menu, open your my documents folder in explorer and then right click and select Properties)
c.Select Properties.
d.Here you can change the value in the Target to the path of the new location. But this will not copy existing data/documents to the new location. If you want to do this skip this and do the steps mentioned below.
e.Click on Move button. Now this will open a small window where you need to select the destination folder. You can create a new folder if you want so using Make new folder button. Click on OK button after selecting the destination folder.
f.Now you are back to My documents properties window. Click on ‘Apply’ button.
g.Now you will be asked ‘would you like to move all of the documents in your old location to the new location you have chosen?’ Click on Yes button.
Windows Xp Folders
h. Close My Documents properties window.
For more information, refer to the links:
How to Change the Default Location of the My Documents Folder
You cannot view or change the Read-only or the System attributes of folders in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, or in Windows Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326549 Let us know if it helps!