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I have a 137 GB c:\ drive on a Remote Desktop Services server that is full to the brink with user files. I have a 1.2TB e:\ drive that is totally empty.

I need to move the c:\users directory from c:\ to e:\.

As usual, the Microsoft article on this is totally not helpful, and the Technet forums make me want to throw up. A good resolution now posted on SO should do much good for the world.

It's obviously a messy cycle, so I can:

  1. Manually do the move and then update the %userprofile% environmental variables, etc. Scary.

  2. Easier but lazier, copy the Users folder and then create a symbolic link, which I might just do.

Either way, I have to move/copy the Users directory.

Now, in Windows, by default, Administrator does not have ownership of the user files for Security purposes, and messing with that is... messy.

My question

Can I copy the parent Users directory without messing with all the junior permissions below it? I really have no idea.

Or, if someone else has some great solution to this problem, I'll take it.

Update - Folder Redirection

I wouldn't mind setting up Folder Redirection, however i've never set this up after the fact on a server with 350 user profiles already set up. What would happen to their existing profiles? Seems messy.

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  • 1. Roaming profiles? 2. Folder Redirection? 3. Both?
    – joeqwerty
    Nov 25, 2014 at 19:50
  • I was thinking about that... I didn't get into that, but I guess I can set that from the Domain Controller (another server), and create the e:\users as a 'share' the domain controller can refer to.... But then what about the existing files?
    – dthree
    Nov 25, 2014 at 19:51
  • Roaming profiles wouldn't really apply, I think. This is a single RDS server - not multiple computers.
    – dthree
    Nov 25, 2014 at 19:54
  • They would. There's no requirement that you have two or more RDS servers to use Roaming Profiles. Roaming Profiles get the profiles off of the server, except for the local copy whenever someone has a session. The not in use local copies can be removed on a predefined time interval through Group Policy.
    – joeqwerty
    Nov 25, 2014 at 19:58

2 Answers 2

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Yes, you can move or copy the directories without changing any of the permissions.

I would use robocopy and the /b and /copyall switches. /copyall will maintain the permissions (and other attributes) on the copied files, and /b will do it in backup mode, so you don't need to take ownership or change permissions to access the files.

That said, setting up folder redirection is probably the way to go, like Joe suggested. After setting that up, you can still, and probably should, use robocopy and those switches I mentioned to populate the redirected folder locations (on the new, bigger drive, I assume) with the existing data.

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  • Thanks a million and that makes sense. So I guess I should do it all at once - take the server offline to stop writing, robocopy the files, and set the folder redirection, do a forced GP update and then put the server back online?
    – dthree
    Nov 25, 2014 at 20:39
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    Folder Redirection is a user setting. Running gpupdate /force on the server isn't going to do anything. When your users logon the Folder Redirection will occur. Additionally, running gpupdate /force on the DC doesn't "activate" the GPO setting (unless it's a computer setting that's being applied to the DC or a user setting being applied to the user you're logged onto the DC as).
    – joeqwerty
    Nov 25, 2014 at 20:42
  • Ah - you're right. I guess I can just let it roll then.
    – dthree
    Nov 25, 2014 at 20:43
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As a first step, I would recommend using Folder Redirection to redirect the Documents folder for your users to a network share. This will probably offer the biggest return on remediating the problem.

Folder Redirection would redirect the folder(s) to the location you set up for them. When a user logs in for the first time after you've set up redirection, the contents of the redirected folder(s) would be moved to the redirected location. Upon first logon it may take a while to move the contents, but this is a one time operation.

Redirecting the Documents folder will have no other impact on the user profiles, except for redirecting the Documents folder "out" of the profile. The user profiles will remain otherwise unaffected, which will reduce the size of the user profiles, thereby freeing up disk space.

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