Windows 10: Settings not saving for all programs installed on D:

So recently my Windows 10 install crashed so I had to do a clean install on my SSD. (C: Drive)

Normally I install my programs on the HDD (D: Drive). I cleaned out all the old programs along with the reinstall of Windows 10 so both drives are now clean, but now any program I install on the HDD(D: Drive) either fails to run entirely or they start up every time as if they have never ran before with all settings I had set in the previous session reset to default settings.

I'm thinking this is some kind of permission conflict or something between this Windows install and the one that crashed, but I'm not sure how to go about fixing it as I've never had a problem like this before.

Any help or suggestions is appreciated.
Thanks.

:)

 

How do I set applications to install on HDD instead of SSD?

I've set the "Save Locations" for documents, music, photos, even applications to be installed on Data (D, so, everything that I download and install should go to (D, right? No, some programs, after I clicked "install", they'd install themselves on
the SSD (C. Yes, some of them gave me the option to choose where to install, but most of them didn't. Are there anyways to set all the programs to be installed on the HDD? Because I don't want the SSD to go anywhere near full capacity.

 

D drive

Windows is installed on the C:\ drive and certain files will always be on that drive. You can move your personal files under C:\Users\[name]\Documents, Pictures, Music etc. If you right click your personal folder, say Documents (for now) and select Properties
you will see a tab called Location. Select this and it identifies the location of the files you save to the computer. You can select Move and create a new folder on your D:\ drive called Documents and move all documents in the original folder to D:\. Then
repeat for other personal folders. After that Properties should show files are saved on D:\.

If you want to save programs you install to D:\ then you need to uninstall them and then install again and select to save them to the D:\ drive, this may mean you have to select an advanced option during installation, not all programs have this option. Apps
from the Store may have to be installed to C:\.

You can also run Disk Clean-up on C:\ and select to remove temp items and others that are not needed. Run it twice to also scan for System Files.

 

Hi, when you clean installed Win 10, did you do it like this? (See step 13).
Clean Install Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

To confirm, please post a screenshot of your Disk Management
(Windows key + X, click Disk Management)
- and use the Insert Image icon to the left of the video icon above your post. Thanks.

 

I think I did more or less as in step 13. See disk management screenshot.

 

Hi, thanks.

I'll assume your system disk is a SSD.

Just considering your disk partition layout:
1. From a maintenance point of view, all the partitions related to Windows really should be on the same physical disk.
2. You seem to have (I can't see all the text) 3 Windows Recovery partitions on Disk 1. If you had had all your Windows partitions on Disk 0, and followed step 13, and installed Windows to Disk 0 completely, you would have had one recovery partition on Disk 0.
3. Your EFI partition (100 Mb) is on Disk 1, rather than disk 0.
4. There will also be a 16 Mb system partition - which Disk Management is designed not to show.

My definite preference would be to reinstall Win 10 on Disk 0 and delete the Windows related partitions from Disk 1.

The overhead is under 700Mb on Disk 0.

Now you certainly can install programs on D: as an individual choice when installing that program, which is what I assume you do.

However where D: resides on a different physical disk, this means you have to be careful in creating and maintaining a disk image set (we very very strongly and consistently recommend disk imaging for recovery and backup e.g. Macrium Reflect (free) )

Without disk images:
If Disk 0 dies, you would have to delete your programs partition on Disk 1.
If Disk 1 dies, you may then be unable to install programs. This would leave your OS partition a mess.

---------------------------------
How did you 'clean out your programs?' - Did you erase that partition?

When you reinstalled the OS, did you delete the partition(s) on Disk 0?

How did you start the installation of Windows?
- did you boot from a Windows installation disk
- or did you log in, then start the installation from the setup.exe as part of the Win 10 installation files (e..g a mounted iso or a disk containing the installation files)?

 

Ah I get where this is going.

It's a long story which basically boils down to not having anywhere to go with things and laziness... This PC has been through some tough times. xD

Do you think I can safely remove the EFI System Partition and Recovery Partitions on Disk 1, re-partition D:? Inevitably I'll have to reformat C and do a clean install, but there's nothing important on there anyway at the moment.




I installed this from boot disc after the SSD ran out of space and my PC wouldn't boot, but I didn't migrate to the SSD in the cleanest possible way originally which is why there are other old Windows related partitions scattered about.

 

Hi,
1. If you aren't currently using AHCI (see BIOS) protocol for your SSD, you aren't getting the best performance. So in reinstalling Windows you can take care of that if necessary.

2. Until you have reinstalled on Disk 0 with all partitions there, don't start deleting things on Disk 1. Ultimately you can make your PC unbootable.

3. When you have all 4 Windows related partitions on Disk 0:. then clean up Disk 1:
The absolutely easiest way of ensuring you get all on Disk 0: is to remove or disconnect Disk 1:
Format Disk 0 or choose to delete all partitions during installation
Install Win 10.

Questions related to your programs not starting etc were:
How did you 'clean out your programs?' - Did you erase that partition?

When you reinstalled the OS, did you delete the partition(s) on Disk 0?

How did you start the installation of Windows?
- did you boot from a Windows installation disk
- or did you log in, then start the installation from the setup.exe as part of the Win 10 installation files (e..g a mounted iso or a disk containing the installation files)?

 

As mentioned I installed booted from a Windows disc.

I didn't erase the partition, I just formatted it. Created Program Files folders and installed to that. Which is what I find weird, because technically it should still work fine despite the bizarre state in which the partitions are.

 

Ok, so it was a true clean install, and the partition on Disk 1 was empty.

You then created a folder on D: and each time you manually installed a program, you specified an install path such as
D:\Program Files\...........

True, no fundamental reason why installing a program should result in problems.

However, as you say, there may be some permissions issue related to the partition on Disk 1 which you didn't delete.



There's the permissions on my D:, I'm logged in as admin. Do yours make sense?

(For historical reasons, on my SSD I have C: as the OS partition, and D:, into which I install programs in categories).

 

Yes, exactly.

Okay, well since I already did a clean reinstall I might as well try again. Will let you know how it turns out.

Thanks for the help.

 

If you do, suggest you delete the partition on Disk 1 for programs, and recreate it after reinstalling when adjusting partitions on Disk 1.

Don't forget AHCI.

 

This time clean install seems to have worked, so I can now install software the way I used to. I also deleted all unnecessary partitions on disk 1.

I was hoping to at least find the cause as I haven't encountered something like it before, but sometimes the quickest solution is the best. Again many thanks for the help, I will be marking this as solved.

(As an aside, I did try fiddling with the permissions, but had zero luck there so it was probably not the cause.)

 

Great! Now's the time to create a new disk image- a base image. Then you can update that periodically (smaller and faster).

We recommend Macrium Reflect (free) + its boot medium + external storage for images.

Recovery without technical help from (e.g.)
=> disk failure (restore to new disk)
=> ransomware (full backup)
=> unbootable PC
=> lost data (provided it existed when you created and image)
=> 'bad' updates or update failure

- even user error.