On one of the AWS Windows EC2 machine we faced frequent problem of low disk space issue in C Drive. We figured out that a lot of user accounts were created on the server and from time to time those users used to login and create their content (documents, spreadsheets, images, slides etc) and everything was being saved in C: drive (standard user specific Windows folders like Desktop, My Documents, Pictures, Music etc.).
We solved it by By Changing the Default Location of an Existing User Profile to new drive. Steps to move a user profile to another location are given below:
1. Log on to the user account that you want to move. In Windows Explorer, navigate to it’s C:Users(user-name) folder, right click on the user folder, click on Share with and Nobody.
2. Log off.
3. Log on to an administrator account that you are not moving it’s user folder for.
NOTE: If you do not have another administrator account to use, then you will need to create a new account first and log in to it. When done with the tutorial, you can delete the new account.
4. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the C:Users(user-name) folder (ex: C:UsersUser account to move) that you want to move. Right click on it and click on Copy.
5. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the new location (ex: E: drive) that you want to move the C:Users(user-name) folder to. Right click on a empty space in the main window (middle), and click on Paste.
6. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes or Continue.
7. Open the Start Menu, then type regedit in the search box and press enter.
8. In regedit, navigate to the location below:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileList
9. In the left pane under the Profilelist key, select and look at each S-1-5 key with the long number until you see the user account name and path (step 3) that you want to move in the value Data column of ProfileImagePath in the right pane. When the correct user name is found, right click on ProfileImagePath, and click on Modify.
10. Type in the full path of the location (ex: E:User account to move) that you copied the user profile folder to in step 7, and click on OK.
11. To Verify that the User Profile has been Moved Successfully.
12. Right click on one of the user folders (ex: Desktop), click on Properties, and click on the Location tab
You should see the new location (ex: E:User account to moveDesktop).
13. Delete the User Profile from the Old Location after verification.