Change location of TEMP files folder to another drive

Question

1. What are the steps (dialogue) to change Windows7 system TEMP files on C-drive to one of my other local HHD drives? I now have only a 160GB SSD for my boot (C-drv) and want to keep the WRITE/ERASE ops down to a minimum.
2. Is it a security risk to change the Internet TEMP file Folder from the hidden/protected area on the C-drive to another local HHD? I have read that there are built-in virtual paths and protectors both on the system and registry which tends to protect from internet TEMP files contains viruses, rootkits, etc from reaching the critical areas easily. Also Norton likely checks signatures in these default areas for TEMP files.

Thanks in advance.

---

Core i7-975 3.33GHz, 12GB RAM, nVidia GTX280m, Win7 Ultimate64

Answer 1

Hi Mike,

To change the location of the System Temp folder, follow the steps given below.

1.       Right click on Computer and click on Properties. In the resulting window with the basic information about your computer

2.       Click on Advanced system settings on the left panel resulting in a dialog box click on the Advanced tab a

3.       Click on the button near the bottom labeled Environment Variables.

4.       You may see both TMP and TEMP listed in the section labeled User variables for (account). That's the common location; each different login account is assigned its own temporary location.

5.       In the Variable value Edit box you may specify the path to the directory that Windows and many other programs will use for temporary files.

Be sure and repeat that process for both TMP and TEMP.

You'll need to restart any running programs for the new value to take effect. In fact, you'll need to restart Windows for it to begin using the new value for its own temporary files.

To change the location of the Internet Temp folder, follow the steps given below.

Note: That Internet Explorer moves cookies to the new folder and the old folder is removed. Additionally, the following message is displayed when you attempt to move the Temporary Internet Files folder:

Warning: Moving the location of your Temporary Internet Files folder will delete all your subscription data.

1. Create a new folder to store the files. For example, if you want to store the files in a folder named Ietemp on drive D, create the following folder:

D:\Ietemp

For information about how to create a folder, click Start, click Help, click the Index tab, type new folder, and then double-click the "New Folders" topic.

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
3. On the General tab, click Settings.
4. Click Move Folder.
5. Click the folder you created in Step 1.
6. Click OK, click OK, and then click OK again.
7. Restart your computer

You can change the location of Internet explorer temp folder; there is no security threat to your computer.

Hope this information is helpful.

Amrita M

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

Answer 2

Warning: Moving the location of your Temporary Internet Files folder will delete all your subscription data.

Thank you for your swift reply.

1... What exactly comprises the "subscription data"? Subscriptions to what?  What would be compromised and what problems will it cause me if it's lost? Past history I don't care about, or should I? The thing I mostly use the internet for on the PC in question is for downloading Windows and application software updates.

2... And if I change the internet Temp folder locations, do you think Norton will know where to look for these relocated files/folders?

The last nodes of the filenames I plan to relocated are: **Content.IE5,index.dat, Content.IE5index.dat, Low\index.dat.

I assume no problems changing these file's locations?

Thanks again,

Mike

---

Core i7-975 3.33GHz, 12GB RAM, nVidia GTX280m, Win7 Ultimate64

Answer 3

It would be great if Windows allowed these sort of settings during installation.

With the growing use of SSD (flash) drives, which are relatively small, the need for changing the location of temporary and data files, becomes more important.

Personally, I also find it convenient to have my data files in one partition, as this also aids ease of access and backup. Accordingly, I would love it if I could re-locate the Application Data files in the same way as described for the temp files.

I may go over the top in my organisation of my PC, but I have separate partitions for the following:

• Windows
• Programs (this is used for biggies like Office, PaintShop Pro, etc. (ie programs which not only take a lot of space, but ones where I can't - easily - set the program's temp or cache data locations)
• Data (which includes Outlook files, etc)
• General (which includes Windows temp and tmp files)
• Web (which includes IE temp files as well as the Chrome and Firefox caches)
• Images
• Music
• Videos
• Movies (that means films for you guys in the US of A...)

Any thoughts on this?

Answer 4

Help!!!!!!

Ok, so maybe that was a bit dramatic.  I am trying to accomplish the same thing (moving the Windows Temp, User Temp & IE Temp folders to a seperate HDD).

So I have a question and a problem:

The Question:  If I want to move all of the temp files (Windows Temp, User Temp & IE Temp) to a seperate hard drive, what would the recommended size of this "spare" hard drive be.  I have plenty of 10-60gb HDD's laying around.  What would the recommendation be for the maximum size needed to NEVER run into a problem.

The Problem:

Here's what I ran into while following the procedure outlined above:

I Have:

User 1: Administrator (Built in)

User 2: Admin (Administrator)

User 3: User (Standard User)

User 4: Guest (Built in)

I logged in as User 2 and was successful in moving the Windows Temp (both Temp & TMP) folders to T:\Windows.  Then I moved the User folders to T:\Admin

I logged out and logged back in as user 3.  When I went to the "Advanced settings", I was prompted for my Administrator priviledges, and put in the password of user 2.  I pressed Enviromental Variables, expecting to see User Variables (User 3), but was greeted with User Variables (User 2) and the values for Temp & TMP were already T:\Admin (user 2).

Are ALL of the user temp data now going to the T:\Admin folder OR are the other users temp data not being moved?????  I wanted T:\Windows (for windows temp data), T:\Admin (for Admin User temp data), T:\User3 (for User 3 Temp data, etc.), but it looks like ALL user temp data is now going into the 1 temp folder, OR was not moved properly, and I can't tell.

Any thoughts???

Answer 5

> Are ALL of the user temp data now going to the T:\Admin folder OR are the other users temp data not being moved?????  I wanted T:\Windows (for windows temp data), T:\Admin (for Admin User temp data), T:\User3 (for User 3 Temp data, etc.), but it looks like ALL user temp data is now going into the 1 temp folder, OR was not moved properly, and I can't tell.

 

> Any thoughts???

 

all your temp data is going to that directory now, you can use per-user directories on temp by adding %USERNAME% entry on temp path.. example d:\tempdirs%USERNAME%\temp

don't forget to add "full control"-rights to users for their own tempdirs.. and for d: and d:\tempdirs to all users "read and execute"-rights.