Move Users Folder to Another Drive in Windows Server 2012

How do I move the Users folder to another drive in Windows Server 2012?

How do I move my user folder to another drive?

I was wondering if I could move my whole user folder from C:\Users to my D:\ drive. Is there a way to do this? And after I do it would I need to go into every program I have and change the save location or would the AppData all move with it?

- Question from Tomashardware.com

Yes, you can move the entire user folder to another drive with 2 effective methods. I'll introduce you to more about the User folder and why move it to another drive. Please continue to see below for details. 

What is the Users folder and why move it to another drive?

The User folder is a special folder coming along in C: drive when you install the Windows operating system, and you are able to set the user name and password (if necessary). It contains permission settings and subfolders for each Windows account that has logged in, such as Documents, Picture, Downloads, Music, Desktop, etc. And you need to gain access permission if you want to access other users’ folders.

As the data of the Users folder increases, more and more people choose to move the Users folder to another drive in Windows Server 2012. You may ask why. There are two main reasons.

• Folders are easy to lose due to hard drive failure and operating system corruption.

• Save the space of the C: drive and improve the performance of your PC.

Therefore, it’s necessary to sync folders to another drive. Then, how to move the user profile to a different drive? Don’t worry! This article will introduce you to two effective methods.

How to move Users folder to another drive in Windows Server 2012

It’s easy to move the Users folder to another drive, as long as you take the right approach. There are two efficient methods for your reference.

Copy Users folder to another drive with AOMEI Backupper Server

AOMEI Backupper Server is a reliable and easy-to-use file sync software that allows you to move user folders to different drives. You can benefit a lot from the following features:

✧ 4 Sync Solution: you can use "Basic Sync", "Real-Time Sync", "Mirror Sync", and "Two-Way Sync" to sync files between different folders, drives, or even computers. You can also sync local folders to OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.
✧ Scheduled sync: you are able to set automatic sync based on a specified time, events, or devices. This feature makes it easy to sync data between 2 Servers automatically.
✧ Compatibility: This professional software runs smoothly on Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022 (including R2), SBS 2003, 2008, 2011, and all Windows PC systems.

By the way, the simple steps and intuitive interface can make your operation effortless. Want to use this software to move the Users folder to another drive in Windows Server 2012? There is a quick guide for your reference. The good news is that you also can refer to these steps to move the Users folder to another drive in Windows Server 2012 R2/2016/2019/2022.

Step 1. Install and open this software. Choose Sync from the left side. Then click Basic Sync.

Step 2. Edit the task name as per your need. Click Add Folder to add the Users folder that needs to be synced.

Step 3. Select the destination drive (here is E:\My Backups). Then click Start Sync to move user's folder to another drive in Windows Server 2012.

#2: Move user profile to another drive with Windows built-in feature

Windows built-in tool also can help users move Users folder to another drive with the help of the Move feature in the Properties window. If you want to have a try, you can refer to the following steps:

Step 1. Go to the target drive and create all the user folders you want to move, such as Documents, Desktop, Downloads, Pictures, Videos, and Music.

Step 2. Go to C:\Users\User name to find the original Documents folder. or directly type %HOMEPATH% in the search box if you don't know the user name. 

Step 3. Right-click the user profile folder, here is Documents, and then choose Properties.

Step 4. Click on the Location tab. Then click Move to select the Documents folder in the target drive.

Step 5. If everything is correct, you can click Apply > OK to proceed.

For a single folder, you can use this simple method. However, for large numbers of folders, it would be much trouble to move these folders to another drive one by one.

Summary

Now you can move the Users folder to another drive in Windows Server 2012 with these two efficient methods. It’s recommended to use AOMEI Backupper Server, because this useful utility not only helps you move it but also performs a continuous data protection.

What’s more, you can sync desktop to OneDrive and clone the hard drive in Windows Server with AOMEI Backupper. In the meantime, you can do your work without any concern, because all the operations will run in the background.