How do I default Install programmes to the D: drive under XP

[Jim.bob]

I have put together a PC for a family member in another town. It is to used for University study.
I have put the 40gig drive into 2 partitions with XP on the first or C:/ with Office and other essentials

C: can then be Ghosted to enable rapid repair without my input

What I would like is to have any non essential programmes and user installed progammes now to default to a "Drogramme Files" when they install. (the user is not PC friendly) How do I do it?

Secondly I would like data ie My documents to also be on the D: drive so a reinstalled image would not overwrite study data etc. I know she should and will back up but I am looking for a neat virtually fail safe system to let me off the hook for the inevitable glitch

Thank you
Jim.bob

 

[Hobbes28]

I'd like to know how to do this also.

Thanks...

 

[ryejay98]

Dunno about the first, but you can easily set the My Documents folder anywhere you like.

Right click the My Documents folder on the desktop and then move... and navigate to where you want it.

 

[MrChad]

Link

By default, most programs written for Windows will install to the folder "c:\program files." However, if you have a second hard drive or volume that you would prefer to have programs install to, you can make a Registry change that will help.

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
Name: ProgramFilesDir
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value: d:\Program Files

You can actually enter any folder name and location in for the value; it doesn't have to be named "Program Files." Of course, you should make sure you have a good backup before you edit the Registry, just in case.

 

[Hobbes28]

Thanks ryejay98 and MrChad,

That takes care of what I needed!

Thanks again...

 

[Jim.bob]

Thank you guys,
You have answered my questions brilliantly and now I can set up the perfect no fail system.
Have one on me,::beer:
Jimbob

 

[Jim.bob]

Back again,

If I change the install directory to D: in registry as per the Win Tip #552 it seems to stop Outlook express from opening.

Just for fun I transfered the Outlook programme to D:/Programme Files and the mail store to D:\ Documents etc. Still no go.
I get an error message that says in effect that Outlook Express could not open its Message Store.


Any help would be appreciated and what other utilities will give problems I havent found yet?

Jimbob

 

[Jim.bob]

Back again,

If I change the install directory to D: in registry as per the Win Tip #552 it seems to stop Outlook express from opening.

Just for fun I transfered the Outlook programme to D:/Programme Files and the mail store to D:\ Documents etc. Still no go.
I get an error message that says in effect that Outlook Express could not open its Message Store.


Any help would be appreciated and what other utilities will give problems I havent found yet?

Jimbob

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: MrChad
Link

By default, most programs written for Windows will install to the folder "c:\program files." However, if you have a second hard drive or volume that you would prefer to have programs install to, you can make a Registry change that will help.

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
Name: ProgramFilesDir
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value: d:\Program Files

You can actually enter any folder name and location in for the value; it doesn't have to be named "Program Files." Of course, you should make sure you have a good backup before you edit the Registry, just in case.

Hold up, if you restore your system and you've installed programs on the D: drive, surely the registry won't know about them?
I can think of one way to accomplish this - use the Recovery Console to restore your latest registry files. However, the end-user mentioned in the first post won't really want to do this...

 

[Jim.bob]

The only reason to install programmes onto the D partition is because C partition is too small and will clog quickly.
Programmes added to D are expendable. Usually they will be games or odd Utilities that are secondary to the compters main purpose. A side effect though is that data they generate within their subdirectory will be saved. For example MIRC downloads.

The Ghosted C: drive will have an operateing system and nessecary utilities ie Office , Photoshop etc.

For a student these and the generated data ( My Documents) are all that needs restoreing after a catastrophic failure.

The fly in the ointment is that the if i depend on the student or some other well meaning person installing a large game they will probably forget and use the default to install to C: Result C runs out of space Student panics at error message.

If I do the registry tweak, as per the link, Outlook Express wont open. Hence where I am at the moment

Jimbob