How to move your Windows User Profile to another drive in Windows 8

I like to have my user folder on a different drive (D:) than my OS is (C:). Reading the following post I decided to give it a try.

All went quite well, untill I found out that my Windows 8 Apps won't execute anymore (other than that I didn't noticed any problems). My apps do work, while using an account that isn't moved.

In the eventviewer I've found error messages like these:

App <Microsoft.MicrosoftSkyDrive> crashed with an unhandled Javascript exception. App details are as follows: Display Name:<SkyDrive>, AppUserModelId: <microsoft.microsoftskydrive_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microsoft.MicrosoftSkyDrive> Package Identity:<microsoft.microsoftskydrive_16.4.4204.712_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe> PID:<4452>. The details of the JavaScript exception are as follows Exception Name:<WinRT error>, Description:<Loading the state store failed.
>
, HTML Document Path:</modernskydrive/product/skydrive/App.html>, Source File Name:<ms-appx://microsoft.microsoftskydrive/jx/jx.js>, Source Line Number:<1>, Source Column Number:<27246>, and Stack Trace: ms-appx://microsoft.microsoftskydrive/jx/jx.js:1:27246           localSettings()
           ms-appx://microsoft.microsoftskydrive/jx/jx.js:1:51544           _initSettings()
           ms-appx://microsoft.microsoftskydrive/jx/jx.js:1:54710           getApplicationStatus(boolean)
           ms-appx://microsoft.microsoftskydrive/jx/jx.js:1:48180           init(object)
           ms-appx://microsoft.microsoftskydrive/jx/jx.js:1:45583           Application(number, boolean)
           ms-appx://microsoft.microsoftskydrive/modernskydrive/product/skydrive/App.html:216:13           Anonymous function(object)

Using ProcMon, I see a lot of access denied messages, like these:

Date & Time:    12-9-2012 9:32:20
Event Class:    File System
Operation:  CreateFile
Result: ACCESS DENIED
Path:   D:\Users\John\AppData\Local\Packages\microsoft.microsoftskydrive_8wekyb3d8bbwe\Settings\settings.dat
TID:    2520
Duration:   0.0000149
Desired Access: Read Data/List Directory, Write Data/Add File, Read Control
Disposition:    OpenIf
Options:    Sequential Access, Synchronous IO Non-Alert, No Compression
Attributes: N
ShareMode:  None
AllocationSize: 0

Any idea how to solve this?

I noticed that the app folders e.g.: D:\Users\john\AppData\Local\Packages\microsoft.microsoftskydrive_8wekyb3d8bbwe had a different owner than the old profile folder had. Old profile folder had john as owner where my new profile folder had the Administrators group as owner. Changing this didn't help unfortunately.

Solution 1:

Here you go. Tested many times by me. It works all the time. I do it every time when I install Windows 8.

If you move the ProgramData folder as it's pointed out in the warning, it will break Start and all apps (also formerly known as Metro)

You can use this guide before finishing installing Windows 8 or after doing so. But I personally prefer to do it before.

You'll have to enter Audit Mode. Use command prompt at one time. Create an answer file (script included) for the System Preparation Tool.

Almost in less than four big steps, you will have it done. The beauty of this? I'm pretty sure this guide uses official system features in Windows 8 for its customization. Everything clean and simple.

I hope this helps, cheers!