The desktop moves. How do I move my desktop and my documents to the D:\ drive? Transferring the Desktop to Windows XP

Data stored on a computer is very important to users, and its safety is of the highest priority. But with a standard Windows installation, such important folders as “My Documents” and in particular “Desktop” end up on the system drive, which is most susceptible to all sorts of sudden data corruption. In order to avoid losing data in them, it is best to move the “Desktop” folder to any of the logical drives that are not involved in the constant operation of the OS. Such disks are often considered to be all hard drive partitions from “D” to “Z”.

Transferring the Desktop to Windows XP

There are several methods that you can use to solve the problem of how to move your desktop. Let's look at the simplest of them.

Using "Properties"

This method is the simplest and does not require any special skills. You need to go to the “My Documents” folder and find the “Desktop” directory in it. After this, you need to right-click on it and select “Properties” from the context menu. In the window that opens, you need to open a tab called “Destination”, then specify a new path to the future desktop folder and click the “Move” button.

When the transfer process is completed, click on the “OK” button. If some files from the previous desktop were not moved automatically, then you will need to carry out the process of copying them manually.

Via the registry

This method will be useful to you if you cannot use the previous one. It is the most universal for moving the desktop in Windows XP the first time and without any problems. To launch the Registry Editor, go to the “Start” menu, select “Run” and in the window that opens, write “regedit” without using quotes, then press Enter. Now, in the editor window that opens (in the left pane), go to: “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders”.

A list of directories will be displayed in the left panel, among which will be the “Desktop” folder. Right-click on it and select “Edit String Parameter”. Now a window will open in front of you in which you need to replace the current path with a new one and click the “OK” button. After you close Registry Editor, be sure to move all files from your old desktop to your new one.

Transferring the Desktop to Windows 7

Here all these operations can be done much easier. In order to move the desktop, you need to go to the current user's folder. After this, you should right-click on the “Desktop” folder and go to the “Destination” tab. Now specify a new path to the location of the future desktop and save it by clicking the “Apply” button. After that, click the “Move” button. Ready!

Answers:

Korsar:
It's simple! Run Regedit, find the value \Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Desktop of the string parameter Desktop, change it to your own, then, using the same principle, change the value %USERPROFILE%\Desktop to your own for the Desktop parameter. In general, yes. You load Regedit, Edit - Find, enter Desktop, and where the Desktop appears, like %USERPROFILE%\Desktop or \Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Desktop, enter your path. You overload - VOILA! You can do the same for Favorites, Quick Launch, etc.

Doctor Michael:
Windows keeps track of the location of the My Documents and Desktop folders. If you carefully move these folders in Explorer to another drive and even rename them there, Windows will find them after the reboot. But this can only be done in Explorer, not in Far\"e or any other file manager. Naturally, other applications must be closed. I have been using this feature for a very long time, since the days of win98.

This is a question from the archives. Adding replies is disabled.

Let's see how to move the Documents, Downloads, Desktop folders to another computer drive in Windows using different methods. In the Windows operating system, system user folders are located on the drive on which the system is installed (usually the “C:” drive), and they are used to operate the computer.

Some system folders are hidden from the user by default. In a normal situation, the user has no need to access hidden folders, including for security purposes. Incorrect actions by an inexperienced user can cause Windows to malfunction, which will require you to perform a system restore.

Other system folders: “Documents” (My Documents), “Downloads”, “Desktop”, etc., on the contrary, are open because they are necessary for everyday use on the computer. These folders are located in the computer user profile. If there are several users on a PC, then each user has their own system user folders.

The Documents folder (My Documents) is used to store saved documents and files. Files of many programs are saved in this folder (browser profiles, settings and program files, etc.), unless a different location for saving data is selected in the settings of a particular application. Here, with default settings, computer games are saved.

Files downloaded from the Internet are saved in the Downloads folder until the user transfers them to another location on his computer.

Work in the Windows operating system begins with the Desktop folder. Here the user performs everyday work: launches applications, accesses the Internet, etc., from here the computer is controlled, after going to the system settings.

The folders Desktop, Downloads, Documents, Images, Videos, Music, etc., by default, are located on the system disk on which the Windows operating system is installed. In most cases, this is justified and convenient; this state of affairs often completely satisfies the user.

In some cases, it becomes necessary to transfer system folders to another computer drive. Possible reasons for moving user folders to another drive (disk partition):

There is not enough space on the system disk
Saving important data in case of system reinstallation
The system is installed on an SSD disk (solid state drive)

Many users divide the disk into two or more partitions for convenient storage of information on the computer. Typically, the system partition of a hard drive is made relatively small in size compared to the partition for storing files.

If the user actively works with programs, saves certain data, or plays games on the computer, a large volume of files accumulates in the Documents folder. Over time, the space on the system disk becomes less and less, so user data must be moved to another location.

In the event of Windows failure, or exposure to viruses, the user will have to reinstall the operating system on the computer. No one is immune from problems caused by various reasons. In this case, the user will lose all of his data that is located in user folders (usually on the system drive “C:”). If this data were on another disk (disk partition), then it would not be lost.

Please note the following:

After reinstalling Windows, the following folders will be created on the system disk: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc. Therefore, these folders will have to be moved again to another disk or disk partition.

Many computers (laptops) use a high-speed SSD drive on which the operating system is installed. On such computers, the hard drive (HDD) is used to store files. In addition to all its advantages, a solid-state drive has one weak point: an SSD drive has a limited data write/rewrite cycle.

If the user constantly works with programs or plays games, then a huge amount of new data is constantly written, overwritten and erased on the disk, which negatively affects the service life of the solid-state drive (SSD). You can correct the situation as follows: you need to move the system folders (Documents, Desktop, Downloads, Videos, Pictures, Music, etc.) to another drive (hard drive) of the computer.

In the article I will tell you how to move system folders in Windows (Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7) using the Documents, Desktop and Downloads folders as an example. We will look at 3 ways to transfer system folders to another local disk (volume): using folder properties, moving in Explorer, using registry changes in Registry Editor.

How to transfer “Documents” to another drive (method 1)

First, let's see how to move the Documents folder to another drive using the first method. Other folders from the user profile are moved in the same way.

To transfer Documents to another computer drive, follow these steps:

On another local drive on your computer (usually the “D:” drive), create a folder named “Documents”.

If there are several users on the computer, first create folders with user names on another local drive, and then create folders in the user folders (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc.) to transfer system folders.
If the newly created folder on another drive has a different name than the system name, the folder will still be renamed. This folder will be named after the corresponding system folder.

Right-click on the Documents folder and click “Properties” in the context menu.

In the “Properties: Documents” window, open the “Location” tab, click on the “Move...” button.

In the Select Destination Folder window, select a folder. In our case, the “Documents” folder was created on drive “D”. Click on the "Select folder" button.

The Documents folder properties window will open again. Here you will see the new location of the folder, on a different drive. Click on the "Apply" button.

In the “Move Folder” window, agree to the new folder location and click on the “Yes” button.

Wait until the files are copied. Open Explorer, go to another drive, there you will see the Documents system folder.

How to move the desktop to another disk (method 2)

Let's look at how to move the Desktop to another disk in a different way. The Desktop folder is located in the user profile on the system drive. Many users store folders and files on their desktop that take up a lot of space; there is a possibility of losing this data if the system is reinstalled. Therefore, it makes sense to move the Desktop folder to another drive.

Now we will move the Desktop folder to another drive using Registry Editor:

Press the keyboard keys “Win” + “R”, in the “Run” window enter the command: “regedit” (without quotes).

In the Registry Editor window, go to the following path:

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

Select the “Desktop” parameter in the registry branch (names of parameters related to folders, here in English), right-click on it, click “Change...”.

In the "Change String Parameter" window, in the "Value" field, enter the path to another local drive, and then click the "OK" button.

Close Registry Editor. Restart your computer.

After the reboot, the Desktop will be on another computer drive.

How to move “Downloads” to another drive (3rd method)

Now, let's see how to move the Downloads folder to another computer drive.

Moving the Downloads folder to another disk or disk partition is quite simple:

Open an Explorer window and create a “Downloads” folder on another drive on your computer.

In another Explorer window, go to the user profile on the system drive:

C:\Users\User (C:\Users\Username)

Press the "Shift" key on your keyboard.

Left-click and drag the Downloads folder into the open Explorer window onto another drive. Under the folder being moved, the message “Move to “Local Disk (D:)” will be displayed. In your case, the drive letter may be different. You can select multiple folders at once, and then move the selected folders using drag and drop.

After the file transfer process is completed, the Downloads folder will be on another local drive on the computer.

Conclusion

Using three different methods, the user can transfer system folders from the user profile (Documents, Downloads, Desktop, Music, Pictures, Videos, etc.) of the computer to another local drive.

As you guessed, today we’ll talk again about setting up your computer and operating system. To be more precise, I want to tell you about how you can move, in different types of Windows, the folder in which “ Desktop" And " My Documents"to disk" D:\».

Perhaps you may be wondering why this is necessary? There are so many reasons for this that you don’t need to think long about it. Every day, someone's Windwos or file system flies, which leads to or.

Such cases often lead to the loss of important files that were stored on the “C:” drive, in the desktop and document folders. Of course, you can try those that were lost, but after they are restored they may be damaged. Well, disappointed users, with sadness before their eyes, begin to reinstall the system.

In this article, I will show you how you can prevent yourself from losing important files when Windows is damaged. I’ll also show you in detail, how to move the “Desktop” and “My Documents” folders for storage, on the “D:\” drive, so that later, after installation, you don’t have to worry about losing them.

Moving Desktop and My Documents Folders in Windows XP

So, to change the location in Windows XP we need, you can see how to do this here. Now, in the registry that opens, go to the following branch:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

Pressing " Shell Folders» A large list of different properties and values will appear on the right. Here, we look for those folders in which we want to change their storage location. So, we move “Desktop” and “My Documents”, respectively, we find the items “” and “”.

By clicking on “” twice, in the window that opens, enter a new value, namely the path where our desktop will be stored.

We do the same with “”, open and enter the folder address. For example, I will store folders immediately in the root of the drive “D:\”, accordingly I will write the following value: D:\My Documents. If this is some other folder on the disk, then the path will look something like this: D:\Folder name\My Documents.

By clicking " OK», save the changes made. And in order for them to fully take effect, you must restart the computer. After this, everything that you save on your desktop will be automatically duplicated in the above-mentioned folder on the “D:\” drive.

Changing the desktop storage location on Windows 7 and 8

In the situation with Windows 7, everything is much simpler. To do this, we do not need to go into the registry or manually change the storage location of the user folders. All we have to do is simply select all the folders and cut them out.

Then, go to the desired folder on another drive and paste them there. After copying is completed, restart the computer and check the result. To do this, having created any file on the desktop, it should appear in the copied folder. If so, then everything was done correctly.

By moving the folders to another local drive, we can protect ourselves from losing our files. And we won’t bother with this during the next Windows update. By the way, I regularly use transferring user folders at work, and I want to say that this has saved me more than once in various situations. Thanks to the fact that I moved the desktop to another drive, I saved a huge amount of time that I could have spent on restoring files. So, think about whether you should change your storage location or not?

In this very important and useful article I will tell you how to transfer the “My Documents”, “Downloads” and “Desktop” folders from the system drive to another drive and why is it generally advisable for all users to do this immediately after installing the Windows operating system.

In fact, transferring these system folders is very simple and easy; it is much more important to understand why it is desirable to do this. My task in this article is to convince you of the feasibility of this operation and its necessity.

Why move system folders

Here are a few reasons why I strongly recommend that you move the “My Documents”, “Downloads” and “Desktop” folders from the system drive to another...

The first reason is that their content very quickly and heavily fills the “C” drive with secondary files, which slows down the system over time...

The fact is that for normal, fast operation of the Windows operating system 10% free space required on your disk.

Most computer programs shove the fruits of their work into the “My Documents” folder by default. For example, photo and video editors. No, the system, of course, asks where to save the file, but usually users, simply out of laziness, immediately press “Ok” agreeing to the default location.

All browsers by default save files you download from the Internet to the “Downloads” folder, which is located on the system drive.

In general, everything is very bad with the “Desktop” folder. For many years, I have not been able to convince even one user (even my own wife) to give up placing movies and photo albums on the desktop. And this is understandable - it’s just more convenient for everyone.

Maybe someone didn’t know that when you “throw” a film of several gigabytes in size onto the desktop, among the shortcuts, you thereby place it in the “Desktop” folder, which is “mounted” in the system drive?

The second reason is that after your operating system suddenly quietly dies from abuse, it will take all your downloads, projects, saved programs and games to the land of cartoons...

If you transfer the “My Documents”, “Downloads” and “Desktop” folders to another drive, all your documents and files will truly become YOUR documents and files. After reinstalling the system, they will remain the most alive.

The third reason will be useful to owners of SSD drives. By transferring these folders, you will extend the life of your favorite hustler.

I already wrote that these fast drives have a limited number of write cycles. So, the frequency of data overwriting in these three folders breaks all records... take pity on the miracle of technology - move the “My Documents”, “Downloads” and “Desktop” folders to a second, regular hard drive.

We can continue to list the reasons, but I think it’s time to move on to practice.

How to move the “My Documents” “Downloads” “Desktop” folders

If you noticed, I called these three folders system folders a couple of times. This means that simply dragging it with the mouse to another drive (like regular folders) will only copy them, not move them. There will be no changes in the system registry and it will continue to “see” them on its disk.

I already said above that moving these system folders can be very simple, so don’t be afraid of anything and feel free to proceed...

First we need to create, let’s say on drive “D”, new folders “My Documents”, “Downloads” and “Desktop”...

In order not to clutter up the disk with “extra” folders (and accidentally delete them after a while), I created one “Users” folder and placed the heroes of this article in it.

Let me remind you that you can create a folder by right-clicking anywhere and selecting “Create” - “Folder” in the context menu that appears.

Now go to the system drive “C” and find the “Users” folder (I have Russian Windows 7)…

In it we find a folder with our system user name and there we find the heroes of the occasion...

Further actions are identical for all folders, so I show them using the example of one - “My Documents”. Click the RIGHT mouse button on the folder and go to “Properties” in the context menu...

...go to the “Location” tab and click “Move”. The system will ask where to move it - indicate our new folder “My Documents” on drive “D”...

Oh, screenshot with “Desktop”, but nothing, I hope you understand what needs to be specified?

Be careful - you need to specify “My Documents” by clicking on it (it should be empty).

Now all that remains is to click on “Select folder”. In the folder properties window, the path to it will change - click on “Apply” (and not again on “Move”) and agree to transfer all the contents...