How can I achieve this?

Hi,

I recently got my Vista Home Premium x64 SP1 disc from Dell to upgrade from my 32bit. I have all the necessary 64-bit drivers, and have an ideal setup in mind. I just don't know how to get there, and whether or not it's an ideal setup (please give me your suggestions as well).

I want to:

Have my documents, personal files, etc. on C:/
Install Vista to partition D:/ (call it Vista OS)

Basically, I don't want any of Vista's files getting into my data and vice versa, as I just like things to be tidy/categorized.

Thanks!

 

You cannot upgrade from 32bit to 64bit OS mate , you need to install in freshly so i would suggest you to take backup of your personal stuffs ..

 

Yeah, sorry for the confusion. I'll format the hd and I have everything backed up and ready to go. So I install Vista to D:/ partition after I make the partition (or can Vista installation disc do that now? and how much space should I give x64 Vista home premium?).

And then how do I set Vista to look into C:/ partition where my data's at, so if I install a program it'll install in C:/ for instance?

 

Vista Requires 24GB free space and that you can change within vista where you would have your installed programs.

or when installing the app the you could select the location where you to install .

 

I see, thanks Didn't know Vista took that much space. But yeah, I was just wondering how I would change this in Vista so that installation directory defaults to C:/ and not D:/ on Vista. Where can I find this in Vista?

 

Open Registry Editor (regedit)
then Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

On the right side, find the string called ProgramFilesDir and modify it to the desired
path.

then for changing default installation dir for 32bit apps

open 32bit regedit from here

c:\windows\syswow64\regedit.exe

and do the same as above

 

Excellent! And when I open programs or save documents, will it open the C:/ partition by default?

+rep

 

Thanks

No Docs will be in the partition where you installed Vista .... But you can change it to

How-to : Start-(Right Click) Documents - Properties. That will give you the Documents Properties dialogue. Click on the "Location" tab and change the drive letter to the drive you want to have your documents actually stored on

 

I am afraid you are trying to swim up stream. Why not let Vista install on C: and put your data on D:? This is much easier to accomplish AND some application installers are too stupid to realize that you have the OS on any drive other than C:. They are hard coded to install on C:\Program Files.

In the long run I think C: for the OS and applications and D: for data will give you many fewer headaches.

Gary

 

^^ Exactly. Windows MUST be on C:. Even in a dual boot situation, the drive letters will change to make the current operating system be on the C: partition.

For example, I am dual booting Vista and Windows 7 right now. Vista is on my internal HDD, while 7 is on my eSATA external HDD. When I boot Vista, it is on the C: partition, and the external drive is seen as drive D:. When I boot Windows 7, it is on the C: partition, and the internal drive is seen as D:.

Greg

 

I see, thanks for your suggestion.

 

As mentioned before it is possible to move the Documents, Music, etc... folders by right-clicking on the folder and changing the path in the Location tab. The problem with this solution is that it does not move the hidden AppData folder.

Another way (completely unsupported so do it at your own risk) is to use symbolic links.

- Log in with the Administrator account
- use Robocopy to copy the entire \users\UserToBeMoved to another drive with the following options:
robocopy /COPYALL /S c:\users\TheUser d:\users\TheUser

the reason to use Robocopy is to preserve all security settings by using the /COPYALL argument
- then rename the original c:\users\TheUser to TheUserOld
- then from a command prompt window type
c:
cd \users
mklink /D TheUser d:\users\TheUser
- now if you navigate from Windows Explorer to c:\users you will see the folder TheUser underneath, but in reality this folder is redirected to the one in the D: drive.
- login with TheUser. If everything works as expected, you can delete the "TheUserOld" folder.

Just be aware that there are some poorly written software that does not play well with symbolic links and/or expects the user folder to be in the same drive as the windows installation, so this may cause some unpredictable side effects.