How to set ProgramFiles on %SYSTEMDRIVE%

[Camarade_Tux]

Hi,

I'm quite annoyed right now.

In winnt.sif, I use ProgramFileDir=C:\Programs.

Now, I'd like not to use C:\Programs, but %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Programs and as far as I've seen, it is not possible.

Do you confirm this ?

Today, while I was walking back home, I had an idea.

Maybe that it is possible to use DetachedProgram to change ProgramFiles' location. I think it would run early enough so that nothing has been put into the 'old' directory.

However, i still wonder if this is possible because of the registry : windows has already loaded the hives (ultrasonic sound, sorry ) and I don't know what happens to entries which contain %ProgramFiles%. It seems some get hardcoded but not others ?!

Then I should use an autohotkey/autoit script that would search the registry (hopefully it is still light at this moment) and replace every C:\Programs with X:\Programs.

Has anybody any info on this ?

Some experience, do you think it can be done this way or do you know of a better one ?

Thanks a lot guys.

[ZileXa]

why not just leave it like it was... what's the difference between Program Files and Programs? If there is a difference, is it worth it?

if you want program files to be on %systemdrive%, no problem its standard there.

and renaming program files can also be done with tweakui.

[Yzöwl]

Its only a thought, but if TargetPath accepts \WINDOWS why not try

    ProgramFilesDir = \Programs
    CommonProgramFilesDir = \Programs\Common

[Camarade_Tux]

In "Program Files", there's a space.

And the name is shorter.

I'm using lots of command-line tools, some mingw packages... and there, spaces are not your friends.

Really I've been using the Programs name and I can't live without it now.

Its only a thought, but if TargetPath accepts \WINDOWS why not try

    ProgramFilesDir = \Programs
    CommonProgramFilesDir = \Programs\Common

I'll try that one asap.

Edited March 28, 2006 by Camarade_Tux

[InTheWayBoy]

Well if you copy the tools to your system folder (Typically C:\Windows\System32) then they will be in the 'path', so you can run them by just calling the name. If you put them in a sub-folder of the system folder like you are wanting then you will need to add that manually to the 'path'. There are several ways to do that, but generally I avoid that as it's more things to go wrong.

To get an idea of what you need to do if you want to manually edit the 'path', right-click on My Computer, then Properties, then Advanced. Click the 'Environment Variables' button and you'll see a listing of different variables. You can manually add new items to the list, such as your System32\Programs...I'm sure there is a way to automate this, but I don't know off hand how to do that. Good luck!

[Camarade_Tux]

Its only a thought, but if TargetPath accepts \WINDOWS why not try

    ProgramFilesDir = \Programs
    CommonProgramFilesDir = \Programs\Common

I'll try that one asap.

It seems to work.

InTheWayBoy, I have many tools and mingw packages are far from being light : tons of files.

I'll add some subfolders of Programs to the PATH, but IMHO it's not a good idea to add so many things to SYSTEM32.

Another reason is that when using commandline, 'programs' is faster to type. B)

I just created a 4MB C:, a 6MB D: and a 1423MB E:.

Windows insisted on installing to C:. I selected E: but it formatted C: and then told me C: was to small and that the only partition available was E:.

I love Windows.

[Rambler]

Another reason is that when using commandline, 'programs' is faster to type. B)

I assume you are talking about the Windows command interpreter aka "cmd" - are you aware of the fact that it supports name completion? IMHO that's even faster than typing usually

Not that I have anything against short names - the ones including space(s) can really sometimes be annoying.

[Camarade_Tux]

I often use 'cd pr*' which is enough, howerver I really find it useful to have this.

And it is more compatible.

[Mikka]

I just created a 4MB C:, a 6MB D: and a 1423MB E:.

You want to separate boot from root?

I'm not sure if this is still possible (messed around with this six years ago) or have ever been possible in conjunction with setup automation.

[Camarade_Tux]

I just created a 4MB C:, a 6MB D: and a 1423MB E:.

You want to separate boot from root?

I'm not sure if this is still possible (messed around with this six years ago) or have ever been possible in conjunction with setup automation.

I had a virtual driver in VMWare and didn't want to create another one cause it takes too long.

I partitionned it and installed on D.

Now, we see how silly is XP : it installed boot.ini, ntldr... to C:

But it works.

I installed this for a friend on his D: and all those boot files went to C:.

Once again, it works with no problem.

PS: I did, but I didn't want to.