Windows 10: Moving Public Folder to another drive

I have been asked to install an HDD in a church pc which only has a 224GB SanDisk SSD which is running out of space.
The problem I can foresee is that the church uses an application called SongPro which insists to install in the C:\Users\Programs File (x86) and the data files in the
C:\Users\Public\SongPro5 folder and does not give the option to be installed software
on another drive.
I have searched the web if and how the Public folder can be moved to another drive and found that it can be done using the following steps;

• COPY (don’t MOVE) the C:\USERS\PUBLIC folder to a different disk or partition
• Click the START button and type REGEDIT (not case sensitive) and press enter
• Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > MICROSOFT > WINDOWS NT > CURRENT VERSION > PROFILE LIST
• Double click on PUBLIC
• Correct the path
• Reboot the PC
• Go to C:\USERS\PUBLIC and delete everything

Can someone here please confirm if the SongPro software is installed in C:\Users\Programs File (x86) (the SSD) and the path Public\SongPro5 folder moved to another folder will work?












:)

 

Duplicate Public Folders

Hope this helps someone identify the problem.

• Q: What happens when you delete the duplicate folders?
• A: Nothing. They're successfully deleted.

• Q: Does it happen to all of your folders or only those with pictures?
  • A: Only the default Public Folders (Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos).
  • A: All of the Public Folders have customized folder icons.
  • A: The above image shows yellow, empty folder icons (duplicates).

• Q: Any steps you've tried to troubleshoot this issue?
  • Actually, this has been a problem since Windows 7.
  • What I noticed then is that certain Windows programs created the duplicates:
    • Windows Media Player (stopped using)
    • Internet Explorer (stopped using)
    • Plus others, which I can't recall.
  • Only certain programs for Windows 10, as well:
    • Microsoft Edge (don't use it often)
      
    • Groove Music (never intentionally use it)
      
    • Plus others, which I haven't tracked.
      • I only notice it when I go to Public Folders.
      • By then, I've long since forgotten what was accessed.
  • I've googled for answers but most of those only address
    moving the Public Folders to another Drive.

 

Moving the Public Folders to another drive under Windows 10

I'm asking this question in parallel to one I raised to resolve an issue I have with Windows Media Player which continuously loses its library settings as I think it may be related.

I installed a bootable SSD on my PC and remapped the existing HDD to hold just my data (I've called it my M: drive). Following one of numerous threads that I must have read, I eventually managed to work out how to move the location of the Public folders
to the HDD - by running File explorer in safe mode and using the move location button under the location tab. That seemed to work well. However, I now notice that Windows seems to have recreated my Public folders on the C: drive. This time, if I boot into
safe mode, there is no location tab on these folders to even try to replicate the process. I'm sure this is related to the problems I'm having with WMP - whereby it keeps resorting to using the public folders on the C: drive rather than the M: drive.

What process is likely to have recreated the public folders on the C: Drive? How can I stop it recurring?

How can I ensure that these folders on the C: drive are ignored on only the public folders on the M: drive are considered?

Thanks

BR

 

Moving the Public Folders to another drive under Windows 10


You can, but the Public directory can be a little tricky to move.

You will need to takeownership of it as well as a couple sub directories that will be owned by SYSTEM. Once you've taken ownership you will then need to grant your account full access recursively.
At that point you should be able to move the directory.
Last step, from an elevated command prompt run mklink /J C:\Users\Public M:\PathtoPublic

Optionally you can change the owner back to system

Going this route will allow the OS to still have the C:\Users\Public directory, but behind the scenes the data is stored on the other drive.