Changing Default User Data Folders During Install?

Dec 12, 2011

I build, and then support many computers for my friends and family. I have recently started making them feel a bit more "manufactured" by using a factory-style recovery option (press F9 at boot to enter recovery / uses a hidden recovery partition etc...).

The issue I have though, is I often get asked to "wipe" someone's computer following a virus/malware infestation (and yes, I do supply AV, but that isn't always enough).

So, I use Sysprep to install all additional software, drivers etc... but the one problem I have is that I like to have, and usually always configure PC's to store items like Documents/Pictures/Music/Videos etc... on a seperate partition.

The problem is, when I configure this in Sysprep - the settings are lost when the user completes OOBE.

Ideally, I do not want to move the entire "Users" directory, I just want the libraries to never look at any folders on the C: drive, only the ones on D: (D:\%USERNAME%Documents etc...).

I want it so that when files "detect" where to save, it locates the appropriate directory on the D: drive, so they dont have to always manually locate the folders.

The reason I dont want the entire "Users" folder on D: is that following a restore or 2, it will get messy...

I would like to either automate this during setup, or would happily take a manual approach during Sysprep - as long as it applied these settings to all users as and when they are created.

I would like the cleanest way to do this, ideally without junctions/symlinks.

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