Windows – Putting User Directory on Mapped Network Drive on Windows 7

network-sharesshared-foldersuser-profileswindows 7

I want to relocate my user directory C:\Users\Edwin to a mapped network drive E: (i.e. mapped from a network share \\\\192.168.22.9\share).

The difficult part is in relocating the user directory itself. I found 2 possible solutions, both of which were not applicable to me due to my use of a network drive.

  1. Moving C:\Users\Edwin" to "E:\Users\Edwin and then use junction symlink (mklink -J) to link back to C:\Users\Edwin.

    This doesn't work for me because i can't create a junction symlink from a directory on a non-local drive.

  2. Changing the value of registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\ProfilesDirectory from %SystemDrive%\Users to E:\Users BEFORE creating the "Edwin" user.

    Thereafter, when "Edwin" user first logs in, the profile will be in E:\Users\Edwin.

The problem with this is that I run into a chicken-and-egg problem.

On first login as user "Edwin" the profile will be created in E:. However, at the moment I first login, the mapped network drive E: isn't there.

I've tried the following to no avail:

  1. Create a persistent mapped drive as Administrator. Didn't work. The mapped drive is only visible to the Administrator user.

  2. Create a persistent mapped drive using system rights (using PsExec -s). Didn't work. The mapped drive isn't "owned" by anyone, not even the current Administrator user.

  3. Create a persistent mapped drive using the newly created Edwin user, without logging in as Edwin yet (using PsExec again). Didn't work. While is possible to create a mapped drive as a different user, once i tried to do it persistently (/persistent:yes), i get a Access is Denied error.

Any idea how this can be done? Or whether it even can be done at all?

Best Answer

This is a bad idea. The problem is mapped drives can vary per user, and so you don't know what mapped drive E: means until after you've already logged in and loaded your profile. You might get it working via UNC path (\\server\share), but I still don't recommend this for the whole profile.

A better alternative is either using Roaming Profiles (but IIRC that requires Active Directory) or mapping only specific folders (Documents, Desktop, etc).

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