Move Users Folder Location in Windows 11

Decius · Dec 23, 2023

Well I get to be the next in a line of folks resurrecting this thread due to the sad state that this tutorial doesn't seem to work with my Windows 11 install, after years of using it for deploying multi-drive Windows 10 boxes.

I have 2x AMD Ryzen based gaming machines, with a NVMe as primary boot and SATA connected drive as secondary storage. In both cases trying to use this tutorial only results in the same OOBE error plaguing others. I've tried using audit mode, and setting the drives there. I've tried partitioning and formating the drives at drive selection. I've removed the optical drive. I've made sure to unplug the USB. I just don't know to do anymore. I had a ray of hope with this post from TenForums, but it doesn't really elaborate on where to insert the XML and I'm not familiar enough with modifying Windows boot and install.

At this point the only way this works is to install Win10 using Kari's tutorial, and do a Win11 upgrade. It's a pain in the ass, but it does acheive the end goal.

Megahertz · Dec 24, 2023

Decius said:
Well I get to be the next in a line of folks resurrecting this thread due to the sad state that this tutorial doesn't seem to work with my Windows 11 install, after years of using it for deploying multi-drive Windows 10 boxes.

I have 2x AMD Ryzen based gaming machines, with a NVMe as primary boot and SATA connected drive as secondary storage. In both cases trying to use this tutorial only results in the same OOBE error plaguing others. I've tried using audit mode, and setting the drives there. I've tried partitioning and formating the drives at drive selection. I've removed the optical drive. I've made sure to unplug the USB. I just don't know to do anymore. I had a ray of hope with this post from TenForums, but it doesn't really elaborate on where to insert the XML and I'm not familiar enough with modifying Windows boot and install.

At this point the only way this works is to install Win10 using Kari's tutorial, and do a Win11 upgrade. It's a pain in the ass, but it does acheive the end goal.

There are two ways to move \Users to another drive: During a clean install and after Win is installed.
During installation is the best and easiest way but it can be done after installation.

See my earlier post Move Users Folder Location in Windows 11
On the attached zip file you will find all the needed CMD and files
I suggest you open a new thread,

appraisalguy · Jan 10, 2024

I just built a new box and installed Windows 11 to do some testing on it but since Windows 7 I have always relocated the Users folder. So I went to re-install Windows and I got to the run Sysprep section and it tells me "If no command-line arguments are provided a graphical user interface is used to select Sysprep operations" then nothing. I am using %windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /reboot/unattend

: \relocate.exe
Any idea what might have gone wrong? I did tell Windows to format that partition before installing the 2nd time but it did appear to keep the other 2 partitions.