Can you remap "C:\Program Files" like you can with "My Documents"?

I'm not sure if this is possible, but I'm hoping you guys will know one way or the other!

I'm going to be reinstalling windows xp, and the primary master IDE is a smaller 10 gig drive.

I'm pretty sure that if I tried to install all my programs back onto the C:\ drive that they'd not all fit.

Is it possible to get my Program Files directory to point to a partition on one of my larger drives, so I don't end up with some of my programs on C:\ and others on D:\, E:\, etc?

If you would prefer to set those folders during install, you will have to use an attended installation. UNATTEND.TXT is an INI file that contains the unattended setup settings for Windows XP. Specifically to set system folders to non-default locations, you would add this into your UNATTEND.TXT:

[Unattended]
CommonProgramFilesDir="D:\Programs\Common Files"
ProgramFilesDir=D:\Programs
TargetPath=\WINDOWS

[GuiUnattended]
ProfilesDir=C:\Users

This site is a great references for creating an unattend installation of Windows XP: unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/

More reference material can be found in the Windows XP Deployment Tools from the Microsoft Downloads site microsoft.com/downloads

The way people typically accomplish this is to use a symlink. The process is something along the lines of:

create a bootable windows live CD (bart PE or similar) with the Sysinternals Junction utility on it: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx
boot onto the CD
move your program files directory from C:\ to wherever you want it
create a symlink from C:\Program Files to the new location
reboot into windows and everything should be good

Can you remap "C:\Program Files" like you can with "My Documents"?

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