Cannot change location of Documents from C drive to D drive

Question

I want to change the location of "Documents" (under "This PC") from the standard 'C:\Users\Guy\Documents' to 'D:\Documents'. The main reason being that the disk capacity of my C drive is quite small. I tried changing the location in properties for 'C:\Users\Guy\Documents' to 'D:\Documents' but I get this which tells me that 'C:\Users\Guy' is read-only....so is there something else I can try. I could setup a Library pointing to 'D:\Documents' I guess?

Answer 1

Hi spl1nternet,

I am Dave, I will help you with this.

Click your Start Button, type regedit and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.

Click View and make sure 'Address Bar' is turned on.

Paste this into the Address Bar at the top and hit Enter.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Please provide a screenshot of that Registry Editor page.

Answer 2

Thanks Dave. Here's the screenshot....

Answer 3

Hi spl1nternet

Thank you for that screenshot, that indicates you have already moved your Documents folder to a folder named D:\Documents, does that folder now exist on your D drive and does that contain all your personal files and folders?

Please provide a screenshot of this location in your registry (it is a different registry location)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

Answer 4

Hi Dave, I see on the D drive two Documents folders, the second contains all my personal files and subfolders (too long a list to screenshot)....

I ran HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders and here's the screenshot..

Answer 5

Hi spl1nternet

Thank you for that screenshot, everything seems to be okay.

If you open the Documents folder on your C drive in your Users folder, does that folder now not contain all your personal files and folders and so is not taking up space on that C drive?