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I fucked up my Windows installation by moving AppData to a secondary (1TB HDD) drive... dude... I wish they started a new and better Windows without all the backwards compatibility shit for new computers like mine, so we can do not complex, but not simple shit like freaking moving a "system" folder (that should only be for *apps data*).

Comments
  • 3
    You can do that, but you have to copy the folder while on a bootable system, then create a symlink pointing to the "normal" place.
    It works great for many things, including the Program Files folders. Keep in mind, though, that sometimes windows will "lose" the symlink, hence breaking the system. You will then have remake them.
  • 5
    Pretty sure appdata has a variable like %appdata% that you can just point to another directory somewhere in system settings, just like tmp and such. I've definitely moved some of these folders before when my primary disc was smaller
  • 2
    Its doable but seems to not be recommended.

    Found this

    https://social.technet.microsoft.com/...
  • 1
    Sorry, but what did you expect by moving a system critical directory without telling the OS? At least adjust the environment variables.
  • 2
    So, in linux equivalent, you moved /etc and expected all to be fine?

    I mean, I do exactly this with my Windows system for performance reasons and using a directory symlink for appdata works just fine.
  • 0
    Dudes of course I did it the right way.
    New user, moving, symlink.
  • 2
    “I fucked my Linux computer by moving grub files to /home partition”
    I wish they made a new, modern Linux where I have flexibility to just delete any file I don’t like.

    Okok, I know where the door is
  • 3
    I once had a customer with a similar problem.

    They had previously used mac (the older version not the unix based one) and was used to only see files they created them self.

    Once he got a windows machine, in this case windows 3.1, he got annoyed over all the irrelevant files cluttering the disk but assumed they might be needed.

    But for the sake of some order he tidied up bu moving all all files to subdirectories by type, all exe in one, com in one.

    When we explained how the filesystem worked and why the computer refused to start after a restart he threw a very heartfelt laugh to his mistake. He never even considered that the directories was used by the computer, he believed it was purely for the users benefit.

    And in case some one wonders, no this really happened, sometimes around 1993.
  • 1
    @Voxera I did stuff like this on a weekly basis back in '95-'98, went through win 3.11 and 95 just tearing them apart to see what would break them and what wouldn't - got real good at doing format c: and reinstalling :-p
    Win98 was my first really stable machine but it still got rerolled once a month or so.
  • 1
    @ArcaneEye nice ;)

    The only time I really tried to break an os was msdos 6 when they released double space that compressed the drive to fit more.

    We wanted to know how robust the first compression was and if our customers should avoid it.

    It was very stable, even though it warned to not turn if during compression we just pulled the power snd once restored it just resumed, mot loosing anything.

    But when we repeated it and also made changes to the interim files :P, it got angry and refused to continue.
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