1
1
I'm refurbishing a computer for my brother and his family. The main drive is split into 4 partitions:
- WinXP C: drive;
- Ubuntu system partition;
- Ubuntu swap partition;
- NTFS data partition (currently D:)
I've configured users for each of the family members, and if it were my machine I'd leave the data partition mounted at D:, and access it manually. But I think it'll be easier for them if they don't need to take drive letters into account before deciding where to save a file. Instead, I'd like to configure it so their user profiles are all on that partition automatically.
I see two ways of doing this:
Make a D:\Users directory, containing a "My Documents" folder for each user, and follow the directions in this question to redirect each user's "My Documents" folder to D: (ideally ending up with D:\Users\user1's Documents, D:\Users\user2's Documents, etc).
Migrate the entire contents of "C:\Documents and Settings" into the root of D:, remove the D: drive letter, and mount that partition at the C:\Documents and Settings" folder.
#1 seems easier to accomplish, but #2 seems more complete -- not only do you get the individual "My Documents" folders, but you get the Desktop folder, program settings folders, and user registry hives automatically. But I'm unsure of how to accomplish #2 without screwing up the file permissions.
Am I missing an option? What's the best way? If it's #2, can I just copy the profile directories from the Administrator account in Safe Mode, or will that create a permissions mess?
hmmm. so option #1, but not limited to "My Documents". nice find. – quack quixote – 2010-01-05T14:01:27.657
well, it saves you from 'hacking' the registry. – None – 2010-01-05T14:02:42.863
well, my machete's always sharpened and by the computer just in case. but for option #2 i was hoping the mount-to-folder-name of the data drive would let me avoid any actual registry hacking. – quack quixote – 2010-01-05T14:13:08.717
maybe JUNCTION.EXE is for you: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx
– None – 2010-01-05T14:16:46.513that's the tech, yeah.
– quack quixote – 2010-01-05T15:14:07.840mountvol.exe
comes with WinXP and does the same thing, and you can do it within the Disk Administration MMC.. sojunction.exe
itself isn't necessary. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=205524thanks for the tip. i ended up using TweakUI for everything but the Shared folders; for some reason it wouldn't set them properly. FolderRedirector worked though. – quack quixote – 2010-01-05T22:20:08.480