How do I easily move my Documents folder to a different drive?

Question

My windows 10 installation got hosed during an update. I've installed a new SSD drive and reinstalled Windows 10 from scratch. My old hard drive is still attached to my computer and I'd like to use it for Documents, Downloads. etc. to save space on the SSD.

I've followed the instructions to move the location of the Documents folder but I keep getting a message that it can't move the folder because there is already in the same location that can't be redirected. I've tried unlinking OneDrive but it didn't help.

How do I easily change the location of the Documents folder? (why does this have to be so difficult?)

Answer 1

To move the user shell folder to a different drive you need to right-click the user shell folder > Properties > Location tab > select the folder which will allocate that folder (not the drive). If this is not working, you need to do it on the registry.

Create the folder you want to move on the other disk, (Documents, Pictures)

On the Start Menu type regedit and press enter.

On the Registry editor go to this key (you can copy and paste on the address bar):

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

You will see these values in the image below:

Double-click and change the values circled in green to change the Documents folder location. (Use the location of the folder you created before)

E.g.: D:\Documents

Double-click and change the values circle in red to change the Pictures folder location. (Use the location of the folder you created before)

E.g.: D:\Pictures

After the procedure, you need to manually move the files to the new location, restart the computer to apply the changes in the registry.

Answer 2

Hi, I’m Nicole, I’ll be happy to help you out today.

Moving the location of the Documents folder can be a bit tricky, especially if you're trying to move it to a different drive that already contains a folder with the same name. One possible solution is to rename the existing Documents folder on the new drive before attempting to move the folder from the old drive. Here are the steps to do this:

Open File Explorer and navigate to the new drive where you want to move the Documents folder to.

Locate the existing Documents folder on the new drive and rename it to something like "Old Documents".

Navigate to the location of the Documents folder on the old drive.

Right-click on the Documents folder and select "Properties".

In the Properties window, select the "Location" tab.

Click on the "Move" button and select the new drive where you want to move the Documents folder to.

Click "Apply" and "OK" to save the changes.

Windows will prompt you to confirm that you want to move all the files and folders inside the Documents folder to the new location. Click "Yes" to proceed.

If this still doesnt work, you can try to move the Documents folder by using a command prompt or PowerShell.

Open Command prompt or PowerShell as administrator.

Type the following command: "robocopy <path of old Documents folder> <path of new Documents folder> /E"

Press Enter. This will copy all the files and folders from the old Documents folder to the new location.

Once the copying process is completed, you can delete the old Documents folder.

It's possible that there might be some other issues with your system that are preventing the move. It might be helpful to check if there are any errors in the Event Viewer or to check if there are any permissions issue.

Regards.

Answer 3

I managed to move the Documents folder to a OneDrive folder on my E drive. I also moved the Pictures and Desktop folders there. I also managed to move my Downloads folder to my E drive. However, I managed to screw up the Music and Downloads folders.

I now have E drives listed listed with both a music icon and a download icon. How do I get rid of these and move the Music folder to the OneDrive folder?

Also, I have a system folder there (Public Videos on F) that doesn't exist. I've tried deleting the target but it just comes back.

I've included a screenshot.

Thanks

Answer 4

Can you take a screenshot of the properties of the E drive with a download icon and music? Take a screenshot of the location tab in the properties of E drive with those icons so I can check it.

Thank you.

Answer 5

Thanks