How to change the default location for installing applications in Windows

Posted on May 27, 2008 at 5:31 am

If you’re like me, you like to keep your computer running smooth and hassle-free. One way to do this is to install applications on a drive other than the drive where Windows is installed. So by default, most computers will have Windows installed on the C partition and most programs will be installed in C:\Program Files.

Of course, whenever you install an application, there are some system files that have to be installed into Windows directories on your C drive, but it still can take a major load off your Windows partition if you’re running very data intensive applications like Photoshop, video editing software, etc.

If you have a desktop computer, it might actually be much better because you could pop in a secondary drive that is much faster than the original drive. Also, you might be asking yourself “Well why would I change the path in the registry when I can choose the path I want to install to during the program setup?”

Good question! Well, for two reasons: some programs don’t give you an option of where to install the app to and sometimes you might just forget to change it manually.

How to change default install path for applications in Windows

You can do this by making a quick change to the registry. Firstly, you’re going to want to make a backup of your registry before making any changes. You can back it up by opening the registry editor and choosing File and then Export.

export registry

To get into the registry, click on Start, then click on Run and type in regedit. In Windows Vista, just type in regedit into the instant search box and press Enter. Now navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

Now look for a key in the right pane called ProgramFilesDir. You should see that the value is C:\Program Files.

programfilesdir

Now you can simply double-click on the value and edit it to whatever you like, i.e. “D:\My Apps\”. Whenever you install a new program, Windows will use the new location as the default installation directory. Nifty! Source: TechBold

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9 Responses to “How to change the default location for installing applications in Windows”

  1. abhishek said on : May 28th, 2008 at 5:06 am

    I also used to think like that, it is better to install applications some where else other than the os drive…as it may increase the system speed and decrease the space on the os drive.

    as far as space saving is considered its good…but if we are installing apps somewhere else for the sake of system speed i would say it is nothing but illusion.

    Let me know if you want to discuss abt this… :)


  2. akishore said on : May 28th, 2008 at 10:42 pm

    Abhishek - Can you clarify why you think installing applications on a different drive other than the OS is not good? I know that most programs will still put files on the system partition anyway, but if a majority are moved to a secondary hard disk, it could help with the speed of the computer.

    I agree that if both partitions are on the same physical hard drive, it may not make a difference, but definitely if you have a second hard drive in your computer, the OS running on one and the programs running on another will increase system performance.


  3. Shankar Ganesh said on : May 29th, 2008 at 2:33 am

    I’m guessing this: [By default] The more programs you install, the more the files on the partition where the OS is present in. This causes ‘fragmentation’ and should eventually slow down your PC.

    Changing the Program Files location to some other location might keep the primary partition much less fragmented, and this could aid in a speed boost.

    Right?


  4. Shankar Ganesh said on : May 29th, 2008 at 2:35 am

    I’m planning to implement this when I do a Windows reinstall/install it on a new computer.

    Thanks for the tip, Aseem :)


  5. Ajay Pathak @ readerszone said on : May 30th, 2008 at 2:10 am

    when we take backup all installed programs are also added in the backup if i use this method?


  6. thomas said on : June 7th, 2008 at 12:57 am

    useful tip!


  7. Bene said on : July 1st, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    na instalação do vista business é possivel eu mudar o diretório de DADOS onde o padrão é no C:\Users para outra partição , por Exemplo: D: ? ou seja eu gostaria que os aplicativos ficassem no C: e os dados no D:
    é possivel.


  8. Marc Sheffner said on : July 6th, 2008 at 9:25 am

    I want to change the default drive for my user files in Windows Vista. Can you tell me how to do that?


  9. Haree | ഹരീ said on : September 4th, 2008 at 11:43 pm

    I too used to do the same; edit the registry and change the Program Files directory. In XP it worked fine, BUT in Vista:
    > Some programs are not working including the default picture viewer is NOT working after changing the Program Files location.
    > IE, Media Player etc. are working fine. (The icons will not appear, but once you run it the icons will be restored.)

    Is there anyway to change the Program Files location without troubling the Windows Vista default programs?
    –


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