Tech-Recipes - Latest Comments in XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

adam — Sat, 21 May 2011 06:46:06 -0000

I got this working on Windows 7 64 bit. Here’s what I did:
In addition to the registry keys in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion you also need to change the ones in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion.
Then, you need to copy all the files in c:\Program files (x86) and c:\program files to where ever your new locations are. Then don’t delete the original directories, since not all programs are smart enough to make the switch.
Obviously, this works best on a fresh install where the program file directories are only a few hundred megabytes.
Any (well, most) new programs you install will figure out that your new location is the default program files directory.

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Phil — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 19:13:23 -0000

Great information. Thank you.

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Christa — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 07:46:20 -0000

Just wondering if the two hard drive idea works with a hard drive that's partitioned or if it has to be two separate pieces of hardware. I'm thinking about doing this but if it only keeps things faster when it's two separate pieces of hardware, then I can't do it right now.

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Josejijo172 — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:35:51 -0000

thkzz man u r my hero

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Benallott — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:46:46 -0000

keep in mind this will move all shortcuts of already installed programs
so go to (original location):\Program Files and copy all the (New Location):\(Folder Name)

e.g. (old) C:\Program Files -> D:\Me App Files

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

lewis — Sat, 22 May 2010 04:49:57 -0000

hey this would fix all my problems but i tried to do it i cant find any file called programfiledr in program files in my c: drive , i use windows xp but i cant find that file , is there somewere else it could be ?

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

fatemeh — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:37:35 -0000

Thank you so much ! It helped me a lot !!!

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

JamesSilver — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:51:19 -0000

Hello, to anybody that looks at this and can possibly solve my problem. I realize that this changes the default installation directory for programs you download off the internet. What I desperately and dearly need to know is how to change it for a CD. If anyone has the answer, I would be very greatful if you could tell me. Thank you.

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Jack Richard — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:18:35 -0000

Thank you very much.

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

noobachu — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:57:51 -0000

meaning, when everything i download, always has that winrar logo, and won't install properly

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

noobachu — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:56:53 -0000

my problem is probably simple to fix but, when i was about to install something, i accidently click 'open with' then picked 'winrar' is there away to fix this?

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Cedo — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:46:09 -0000

http://support.microsoft.co...

Tells you MS doesn't support the change for a few reasons that are listed in the article. However, it also tells you how to do it. If you don't mind being experimental, I say give it a shot.

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Name — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:28:14 -0000

Disregard my last comment...I forgot to reboot after edit the registry. All fine after a reboot. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Name — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:16:55 -0000

I tried this on windows 7 in my case it works....sorta because whenever i install something new it installs it to my "D:\" drive in the program files there but the short cuts in the start menu still revert to the C:\ drive for whatever reason....I'm looking into it but i'm not sure where to start... any help would be appreciated greatly. NOTE : Error "C:\Program Files\ProgramNameHere\Program.exe
The specified path does not exist.
Check path name, and then try again"
I have manually reset the shortcut in the start menu and then "tried again" to have it work but doing this for every program is a hassle and unexceptionable in the long run once again any help would be great.

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

nitechaos — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:04:39 -0000

Thank you very much!!! This is very useful to me.

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

pnptechnology — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:23:55 -0000

what do you do w/ the ProgramFilesPath that formerly listed %c:\program files% after changing the above?

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

fastfinger — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:34:55 -0000

Does this mean I can put some programs on a memory stick - my Dell Mini 9 has almost o room left on it's tiny 8GB SSD ! It would be great to have some other programs available if I could somehow install them onto the memory card yet still get their ICON to show on desktop or in the PROGRAMS list.

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

jmswain — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:29:37 -0000

What if you want it to default to the current user's profile? Would this work?

%USERPROFILE%\Program Files

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Joseph Patrick Durand — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:15:17 -0000

Thnx! this was EXACTLY what I was looking for!

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

ryzendigo — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:35:56 -0000

Very Nice Thankyou, was looking for a while but your instructions are simple and easy to follow, Good Job.

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Tom — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:55:14 -0000

It always says that there was an error when modifying it. Could this have to do with administrative privileges?

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

max — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 05:06:44 -0000

thank you thank you thank you

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

nagaraj — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:50:44 -0000

Nice to know

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:43:11 -0000

Is this change supported by MS ?

Re: XP: Change Default Installation Directory

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:39:08 -0000

Is this change supported by MS ?