Change Default Program Files Installation Directory Location

Change Default Program Files Installation Directory Location

If you have a SSD or small Hard Drive with very little space and you want to install your programs to another Hard Drive, then watch my video on how to do this., its simple and easy to do and will install all your programs to another hard drive of your choice.

I will be in Changing the Default Program Files Installation Directory Location in Windows 10. But this works in any Microsoft operating system.
We will be editing the registry and ProgramFilesDir, so its a good idea to make a backup of your data and registry before you begin.

Open Regedit and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

On the right pane window, look for the value ProgramFilesDir and ProgramFilesDir (x86) these two option are for Windows 32-bit or 64-bit.

Now click on ProgramFilesDir and change the Value data to what ever you new drive letter is. Example: C:\Program Files and change to D:\Program Files.

Click Ok. Exit. job done.

Need help with your computer problems? join my forum for help and support.

[dovahkiin]

Tip to everybody who want to use this tutorial: DON'T CARELESSLY TRANSFER ANY C: FILES AS MOST OF IT ARE PART OF YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM!!! This is the reason why the computer stops working as the OS will get corrupted. Downloads files and some others are safe to transfer as it is not part of your system.

[laungmagawa]

Damn. Judging by the comments, you should probably address the situation where people's PC stops working after doing this and make a tutorial on how to solve that.

[FlickFlag]

With the latest Windows 10, this is very easy now.

Go into your settings, click on the search bar, type "default save location", and change the directory.

[Napk]

This works fine btw, however for windows updates you are gonna have to temp change it back to C, or else it wont update.

[ImOrcaWhale]

Fucked Up Alot Of My Files And Had To Re-Set Their Paths And Really Fucked Me Over! Thanks Man, Just Wish I Read The Comments First

[vrxdical]

I'm lucky I changed them back to C drive before entering thanks to the comments. I was just about to close my program lmao. Stay safe guys

[edifine]

all my applications stopped working after this!!! for anyone reading, please don't try it!

[idiothoved]

omfg youre a lifesaver... i was sitting an hour trying to install my oculus to another drive but the run command didnt work. then i found your video and i changed 3 values in the registry and now it worked :D

[freman]

I think the best use for this is if you have a program that forces you to install it to C: when you don't have space, so change the registry to a drive you do have space, install the program, then immediately switch the registry back.

[MoralDecay]

Be very careful when messing with registry, this can corrupt your windows and make your computer malfunction

[Greengod]

Thank you for this video! I see a lot of comments saying it broke my computer...What exactly is happening? I feel they don't realize the system is looking for their programs in a different folder. So some programs will not work, depending on where they were originally installed. This is what happened to me. So I suggest you uninstall the programs and reinstall them to the drive you want.

Then I saw a comment saying "Go into your settings, click on the search bar, type "default save location", and change the directory." - Easy for everyone!

Also before you install a program, most of them allow you to choose where to install it.

[Bowdon]

Thanks for the video mate. I recently asked for something like this on the forums. It's good to see it explained in a video. Its a shame windows doesnt give a proper option to click, especially because a lot of people are using 2+ drive setup these days.

[ban]

good thing i read the comments bar first

[KenGITV]

Brilliant. Just what I needed after SSD update. Thanks.

[saramarr-spellmaker]

ALWAYS... Before changing anything in the registry, at the top of Regedit you will find the option to be able to back up your registry. Do so on a USB stick for your own peace of mind. To restore from the back up, just double click on the USB backup.
It will restore your computer back to the way it was before.

[husker_nation]

Thank you. I knew you could do this in the registry, but wasn't sure where the file path was at. I have Windows 10 Pro installed on my 256 GB NVME SSD and I wanted to direct all my programs to install on my 1 TB Samsung SSD.

[monday]

It's weird that still in Windows 10, this isn't a configurable option.

[mahmoody]

I watched 3 videos before I watched this, but this one is the first that truly helped me. Bug thanks. Thumbs

[knighthunter]

Solution for problem *"windows cant find PROGRAM.exe"*

Lets suppose u changed program files directory to *Drive X* . Now copy program files folder from *Drive C* to *Drive X* .

Now other programs as well as *regedit* will run just fine

[Kolade-kypf]

So I had the same issue most people had here. DESKTOP =D DRIVE.
SOLUTION

Right click on the D drive, Properties, Location, Restore to default--- Pop up about transfer files, Click This worked for me.