Windows 10: What folders should be on the Operating System Volume Drive C: of a brand new Dell PC...

What folders should be on the Operating System Volume Drive C: of a brand new Dell PC running Windows 11. It looks to me like the only folders there should be Apps, Dell, Drivers, and Perflogs but after a failed Carbonite restore there are other folders there which I believe Carbonite put there in error.

:)

 

Volume in drive C is reserved by system

I'm trying to access the directory of my drive C through the cmd (with administration), but instead I get "Volume in drive C is reserved by system".

I can access drive D very easily.

Any suggestions how I may access it?

 

Installing Windows on my new C drive

Current Situation: My C Disk is cramming up and I decided to change a new C disk.

Currently my computer storage is composed of an SSD (being my C disk) and an HDD. I bought a new SSD and desire to somehow transfer my current system into the new SSD along with the current environmental variables, user data, both program files folder, and
various other folders instead of installing a brand new system on my new C drive.

Questions I am currently wondering:

1. I noticed the function provided by windows called "Create a system image". Currently my softwares are distributed evenly in my C drive (SSD) and D drive (HDD). I am not changing my HDD, so softwares installed there will not be removed. If I only choose
   to backup my system in my C drive, can I still run my softwares on my HDD after changing a C drive and reinstalling Windows using the generated ISO file?
2. Does this function "create a system image" pack up the environmental variables, registry, along with all other folders in my C drive, or only the minimal system?
3. If I extract the system image ISO into my new C drive, can I somehow "extract" from the ISO file to create a new system in my new drive? If not, is it possible to make my new C drive a windows Boot USB, and directly installing the windows system onto itself?
4. What is your suggested method of making this move?

Thank you for your help!!

 

Changing the system volume drive letter safe?

It depends. Need some more information. Is your boot volume c: ? If so, then others can be changed around as needed, but there may be collateral damage. Usually, if there are pointers set in the registry, as long as you use the storage management plugin to change the drive letter assignments, most things should work.

Trouble comes in the form of applications that keep file system information (folders, path names, etc) in files that are stored in directories during installation. Those usually cannot be changed easily, unless you know that they are there and where they are....

What drive letters are you trying to change specifically, and what is the operating system