Moving user profile location in Windows Vista

  • Section(s): Deployment, Administration
  • Published on Jul 08, 2008.
  • Last Modified on Jul 03, 2008.
  • Last Modified by Mitch Tulloch.
  • Rated 1.8 out of 5 based on 8 votes.
How to move the location where user profiles are stored in Windows Vista.

A common question is how you can move the default location where user profiles are stored in Windows Visty from the C:\Users directory to some other location, for example a second hard drive named D: or perhaps elsewhere.

Unfortunately, if you want to do this after you’ve installed Vista on the system, the answer is you can’t. Or more specifically, there’s no supported way of doing this, so don’t even try hacking around in this regard.

However, you can do this during the installation process by configuring a setting named ProfilesDirectory in your unattend.xml answer file, and this is the only supported method for moving the profile directory in Vista.

About Mitch Tulloch

Mitch Tulloch is a widely recognized expert on Windows administration, networking, and security. He has been repeatedly awarded Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status by Microsoft for his outstanding contributions in supporting users who deploy and use Microsoft platforms, products and solutions. Mitch has published over two hundred articles on different IT websites and magazines, and he has written or contributed to almost two dozen books and is lead author for the Windows 7 Resource Kit from Microsoft Press. For more information, see www.mtit.com .


Article not looking right or info is missing? Let us know so that we can fix it: .


Receive all the latest articles by email!

Receive Real-Time & Monthly WindowsNetworking.com article updates in your mailbox. Enter your email below!
Click for Real-Time sample & Monthly sample

Become a WindowsNetworking.com member!

Discuss your network issues with thousands of other network administrators. Click here to join!

Community Area

Log in | Register

Readers' Choice

Which is your preferred Anti Spam Hardware solution?

Follow TechGenix on Twitter