Moving the Users directory

Here are two tutorials explaining how to move your Users folder to a different drive in Windows 8 (very straightforward) and Windows 7 (a bit more difficult). You need two drives or one partitioned drive.
Windows 8 (I did it yesterday, it took 15 minutes, I don't see any difference in terms of performance, and I have now a system drive and a data drive) :
http://www.itnota.com/move-users-directory-to-a-different-drive-in-windows-8/
Windows 7 (not tested) :
http://lifehacker.com/5467758/move-the-users-directory-in-windows-7/
Make sure you have a backup of your current installation before proceeding !
X220t | i7 | 320GB HDD | 8GB RAM | WIN7 PRO
IdeaCenter A520 | i5 | 1 TB HDD | 6GB RAM | WIN8.1
Solved!
Go to Solution.

IMPORTANT UPDATE
Moving the Users directory might stop you from upgrading Windows 8 to 8.1 (the process will fail). If this happens to you, here is what to do.
Please refer to this page (same as above) and repeat steps 2 to 6 to access the command prompt. Then type
C:\Windows\System32>C:
C:\>rmdir Users (this will delete the junction, that is, the link to the Users directory location)
Now, you need to find out which is your Data drive (that you moved your Users directory to).The best way is to type
C:\>dir D:
C:\>dir E:
and so on, until you see your Users directory. Let's say this drive has the letter X.
C:\>robocopy /copyall /mir /xj X:\Users C:\Users
Then reboot, and voilà, the Users directory is back on C: and you are now able to upgrade Windows 8 to WIndows 8.1.
X220t | i7 | 320GB HDD | 8GB RAM | WIN7 PRO
IdeaCenter A520 | i5 | 1 TB HDD | 6GB RAM | WIN8.1

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Thanks.

Hi Andrew,
You need to go to your Users Library...
users/yourname/library/application support/iwork/pages/templates/my templates
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Brand new MBP and the user directory is corrupt?

hi, i just installd my new MBP and did a sync of my G5 settings (all except bookmarks) added a few things to my desktop and when i rebooted the desktop was cleared and the home directory was missing "Movies" "Music" "Pictures" in the left most column. all that is left is "Applications" and my user home symbol.
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thx
Message was edited by: Frank Jacob

Open the Applications folder and drag the Users folder inside to the top level of the hard disk; you may need to press the Command key when dragging the item and/or provide an administrator username and password. When done, log out and back in. If only the home folder is present in the Applications folder, move it to the Users folder. Rename existing items as needed.
(25013)

How to disable the User directory in Shared Services?

Hello,
We need to disable (Not Delete) the User Directory in Hyperion Shared Services. We are using the Hyperion version 9.3.1. Is there a way we can do this?
Thanks
S

From the 9.3.1 docs:
"If you do not want to use a configured user directory that was used for provisioning, remove it from the search order so that the user directory is not searched for users and groups. This action maintains the integrity of provisioning information. It also enables you to use the user directory at a later time, if needed."
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E10530_01/doc/epm.931/html_cas_help/frameset.htm?removesearchord.htm
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http://john-goodwin.blogspot.com/

Is it sufficient to just backup the users directory?

I am backing up my macbook to my Buffalo Linkstation Live. Is it ok if I just backup the users directory to save all the images,movies,files etc? It is a bout 40 gig.
I use garageband, iweb and all the ilife programs and assume all these items including my itunes music/backups is in this directory?
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Thanks

Welcome to the discussion area!
This is the Time Capsule forum.
Was there a question that you had about a Time Capsule or Time Machine?
If not, please re-post in the correct MacBook forum.

Partitioning the HD with the second partition as the Users directory

Please help. Does anybody know how to do this, Boot drive is the first partition and the second partition is the Users directory. Please provide step by step instructions if possible. Thanks

yes you can, but I would advise against doing so.
The purpose is usually to use another disk drive to improve performance. Using a partition on the same drive just adds longer seeks from head movement instead.
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In "Missing Manual" and elsewhere the easy way is to just open NetInfo Manager, click on Users tab, then your short-name. Authenticate and change the value for "home" from /Users/account-name to
/Volumes/vol-name/Users/account-name
Save, update, restart the netinfo database, logout and log back in.
You are better off usually with two drives on separate buses, not on the same bus but different channels to improve I/O and to keep the boot drive free of media files etc to help performance and maintenance.
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G4 MDD WD 320 OEM 9600 1.75GB SoftAID 3 Mac OS X (10.4.7) Mac Pro "rev 2" (hopefully)

I have a 2nd gen Mac book air with Lion. The hard disk has filled up even though i keep my data , music etc on hard drive . I used disk inspector to find where problem was and it is 20GB in the hidden files under the user directory can i resolve this ?

I have a 2nd Gen MAc book Air with Lion . The 60GB hard disc has quickly filled up despite me keeping most of my data on a portable hard drive . I used disk inspector to locate the problem but found that it was was in 20 GB of hidden files in my user directory . Is this correct and is there anything i can do about it ? Using disk inspector you can not see individual hudden diretories or files. I did unhide them but there is a mass of diretories etc and so no way i could see if this is one or multiple files using the space. Library System and Applications are at 4 3 and 3 GB respectvely. The data I actually keep on there is 9GB Thanks for any help

I think the problem is Quick Time Player. I am using OS 10.6.8 by the way.
I tried it out again.
I had about 26 GB of space before I played an .avi video.
After the movie started to play (it was slow to load), I got a warning message that my startup disk was full. I opened Disk Utility and it told me I had no space left (about 20 MB or something like that was left).
I watched to the end of the movie.
Then I quit Quicktime Player.
And I shut down the computer.
I turned on the computer and checked Disk Utility. I have about 26 GB of space.
I think for some reason Quicktime Player uses up a lot of the disk space when it runs movies that are problematic. This movie I was watching did not open with vlc.
I normally use vlc to watch movies.
Probably it doesn't use up this much space when the movie is OK.
I think there's a problem with this particular movie. It is about 50 MB so it's not that big a file. I watch .smi subtitles with it. The Quicktime Player automatically loads the subtitle file in this case because the subtitle file has the same name as the movie file.
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The user Directory publishing service reported an error

Some but not all of my users get this error when trying to
connect to my CPS managed server:
Directory publishing service reported an error.
Error Details: End of file or no input:'Operation interupted
or timed out'
I've deleted, and recreated the users, but they get the same
error. The users connect via file share, and are located at one
site where this occours?
Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,
The corresponding entry MAC is available in the following
file:
<User>/Library/Preferences/Contribute 4.1 preferences.
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How do I relocate the user directory?

I have a new iMac with SSD and HHD. I want to just leave the OS and apps on SSD and relocate user directories to the HHD, but Migration Assistant doesn't recognize trhe HDD. How do I do this properly?

Do not perform the following steps while the account you are working with is active. Create a new administrator account with a different account name to perform all these steps.
1- Boot using the HD (i.e. the platter drive, what you're alternately calling the HHD and HDD). Create a user account with the exact same name and password as the one you're using on the SSD. Then reboot into the SSD.
2- Go to System Preferences->Accounts. Look for the account you want to work with. Right-click on the account name in the left sidebar and choose ADVANCED OPTIONS.
3- Look for the line that is labeled HOME DIRECTORY. Click on the CHOOSE button to the right of the entry field of this line. Navigate to the UserAccountName folder you created on the HD and select it. Then click the OK button at the lower-right of the ADVANCED OPTIONS window and close the System Preferences application.
4- Now copy the UserAccountName folder from the SSD to the HD, overwriting the one currently on the HD.
5- Restart the computer, booting into the SSD. You can now log into the copied/moved user account.
6- Perform some tests to be sure this "took" properly. You might want to perform a Permissions Repair using the Disk Utility application.
edit: You can see an earlier discussion about this here:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/9932616#9932616
Message was edited by: John Hammer1

Lync 2010 to 2013 migration - Moving the conferencing directory ?

I am in the process of finishing our migration from Lync 2010 to 2013.
Reading the technet page, I don't see any mention to migrate the Lync 2010 Conferencing Directory to 2013.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj204998.aspx
But doing some quick research, I see that some blog are suggesting of doing it:
http://www.oiboran.com/?p=1219
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But I am still wondering if the Lync 2010 conferencing should be move or not?
thanks
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In step 7,
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj688011.aspx
The following user account information does not move to the new server.
Meeting content. In order to move the content shared during a meeting, for example PowerPoint, Whiteboard, attachments or poll data, use the
-MoveConferenceData parameter as part of the Move-CsUser cmdlet.
====
Did you move users with the GUI or with move-csuser -MoveConferenceData?
If you moved with the GUI, the conference data noted above isn't moved. If you think your users would care about this, you could move the directory to 2013 and forget about it. Otherwise, you could just remove it as you decommission the 2010
pool. It's rare that people would care about this data.
Please remember, if you see a post that helped you please click "Vote As Helpful" and if it answered your question please click "Mark As Answer".
SWC Unified Communications

Moving the USR directory?

Hi All
I would like to know if it is possible to move the usr from one drive to another. Currentely it resides on our D drive and I want to move to the E drive, does anyone know what has to be changed in order for this to work?
Many Thanks for your help
Phil

Hi Phil,
did you check out the information in <a href="https://forums.sdn.sap.com/click.jspa?searchID=449785&messageID=87789">this thread</a>?
I believe the process is still not officially supported but should also work on NW04(s).
Hope this helps,
Robert

User directory-move does not run.

I moved the user directory to a second hd. Inside the user settings (right-click on the username) i maintained the new path.
OS X confirmed it and shows the standard home icon to the new directory, but every new file or directory will be saved to the old location to /users/username.
From my point of view, here we have a bug.

I didn't change my shortcut.
But after your answer, i switched off and switched on again the shortcuts and now it runs. From my point of view it is a little bit crazy, because the previous OS X versions didn't need such kind of steps.
Thank you for your support ;-)

Help! i broke my user directory

mac mini mid 2011 running latest mavericks.
i have an ssd boot disk inside. my user directory is on a 1tb external usb disk. today, i moved my office around and disconnected everything. when i connected everything again—probably to different usb ports—my user files wouldn't load. i can see the external disk, and all the data is still there, but it's not mounting as the user file. i've tried directing a new user to that directory, no luck.
i've tried redirecting the old user to that directory, no luck.
i've tried booting into recovery mode and fixing user permissions through the reset password tool—nothing happens. 'done' stays grayed out forever. when i click on something else, the reset p/w tool goes away.
i've tried the terminal entries at this discussion: Reset Home Folder permissions and ACLs Error—i got the number 4 after the first entry. the 2d entry didn't take any time at all and just gave me a $ prompt after hitting enter.
any help or thoughts? i'm afraid i'm going to have to rebuild a user directory on a new drive. i'd really like to avoid that.
thanks, in advance, for any advice or suggestions.

Thank you for responding.
What do you mean by…
i've tried directing a new user to that directory, no luck.
By this I mean I created a new user, gave it admin privileges, and directed it's home directory (in advanced options) to the external drive. When I tried to boot into that user, it didn't work.
The first step in the linked instructions you posted was intended to be done inside the account in question - how did you do that if the account is not working?
My guess is that you applied that to the admin account?
I don't think the user permissions repair (step 2) works when the user home folder is on another disk.
Sometimes it boots up under the user name, but it's not using the user files it should be using—apparent by various user settings not being set the way they should be in the user files. The last time I did this, I ran the first step. But I understand how it might not work if I'm not really in the user directory.
Please explain how are you setting the user account to be on the external disk. Are you using the advanced user setting, symlinks or something else?
I am using the advanced user setting—right click on the user from the user window in settings.
Is the external disk mounting as read & write?
Yes.
Use 'File > Get info…' on the disk in Finder & check that the 'ignore ownership' option is off.
I just tried to log in, and it didn't let me. So I logged in as under my other administrator account. With that, I have R/W privileges. But the 'ignore ownership' option was checked. When I unchecked it, it changed my privileges to Read only. Although 'system' and 'wheel' have R/W privileges.
One other note. The name of the drive is—uncreatively—1tb. But in the info window, I've noticed that the name has been 1tb 1, then 1tb 2, and now, it's 1tb 3. that's got to contribute to not being able to login—if the drive name is changing?
I unchecked the 'ignore ownership' box and tried rebooting. The user wouldn't mount and it wouldn't let me login. I changed the address from 1tb 2 to 1tb 3 in the advanced user options and tried to login, still no love.

Is it sufficient to just backup users directory in time machine?

I am backing up my macbook to my Buffalo Linkstation Live. Is it ok if I just backup the users directory to save all the images,movies,files etc? It is a bout 40 gig.
I use garageband, iweb and all the ilife programs and assume all these items including my itunes music/backups is in this directory?
I am not concerned about the system files as I can restore them if need be.
Thanks

doobias123 wrote:
I am backing up my macbook to my Buffalo Linkstation Live. Is it ok if I just backup the users directory to save all the images,movies,files etc? It is a bout 40 gig.
I use garageband, iweb and all the ilife programs and assume all these items including my itunes music/backups is in this directory?
The data for those apps is probably there (unless you've moved it), but the apps aren't.
I am not concerned about the system files as I can restore them if need be.
Please reconsider. Strongly consider letting Time Machine back up your entire system. You're only saving a few GBs (10 - 20) by omitting your System and Applications folders, and only on the first backup, because very little changes there, but here's what you'll have to do when (not if) your internal HD fails, or something else awful happens to your Mac:
Install OSX from your Leopard or Snow Leopard Install disc.
Go through the set-up procedure: setup your Internet connection(s), server names, etc.
Download and install the "combo" update, to get back to your current version of OSX.
If you upgraded iLife since purchasing your Mac, find and restore your iLife apps.
Find all the discs for 3rd-party apps and install them. Re-enter any purchase keys.
Find the websites for all downloaded 3rd-party apps, download and install them. Re-enter any purchase keys.
Restore whatever data you saved.
Wonder what you missed, and find out the hard way . . . for months or longer.
In most cases, this is a no-brainer.

How to use External Drive for Users Directory

I just did a clean install on my Mac Mini - I have over 4 TB of storage attached, but the main drive (160 GB) keeps filling up. What is the best way to have the Users directory located on an external drive?
Thanks for your help,
Chris

Think about it for a second. What would happen if that external drive wasn't connected for some reason? Maybe it died the night before, as external drives have a habit of doing. How are you going to log into the system?
If the main drive is filling up, it says that you aren't making effective use of the attached storage. There's nothing saying you have to keep video files in the Movies folder, and music in the Music folder, etc. Find some things, that aren't your user profile, and move them to your external storage. Or consider putting in a larger internal drive.
< Edited by Host >

Moving the Users directory

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