Installing on the D drive

[Tringa]

I have a PC with two hard drives(separate drives, not a partitioned single drive) The C drive is 80Gig with XP Pro installed, the D is 250Gig.

When I install applications/programs/games there is often the option to install at the default location, ie C:/Program Files/ ?.. or to choose another location.

With some apps/progs/games there is no option (CoD4 for example), so they get installed at C:/Program Files/etc., even though I would like them installed on the D drive because there is more room.

I have copied all the files and the folder structure for CoD4 from the C to the D drive (so I have two copies of game now) and it seems to run OK from the D drive? I created a shortcut to point to its location on the D.

However, is this likely to cause any problems in the future? Registry entries would have been created when the original installation on the C drive was done. I wonder if things will go wrong if I uninstall the C drive copy as, I assume, the registry entries will be linked with its original location.

Alternatively does anyone know how to install to the D drive when the usual installation process does not give the option of choosing the location?

TIA

[MadduckUK]

start -> run -> regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> MICROSOFT -> WINDOWS -> CURRENTVERSION -> (then change the key "ProgramFilesDir" from c:\program files to d:\program files)

all done

[shaithis]

I have never seen an application that didn't allow me to point it to a location.....including COD4.

I think you need to check the installer screens more thoroughly.

[MadduckUK]

I have never seen an application that didn't allow me to point it to a location

i have, they do exist. and at any rate, this means you can just do it and not have to mess about changing it ever again

[directhex]

want to watch a windows box choke? make d: your hard disk, and c: your cd drive

they try installing, well, pretty much anything. the hard-coded assumption really cause havoc

[fredered]

Thanks madduck, this has bugged me before but I never though there was anything to do about it.

[vinnyT]

I've got cod4 on my g:\, sometimes the option to change the destination drive isn't that obvious (I've had installations where there was a tiny box to click on next to the C:/Program Files/etc. that you had to use to change the install drive).

[Tringa]

Thanks all

[Giraffe]

start -> run -> regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> MICROSOFT -> WINDOWS -> CURRENTVERSION -> (then change the key "ProgramFilesDir" from c:\program files to d:\program files)

all done

Looks good, as I have a few things that gave no choice at all - start the installer, OK the licence and away it goes.

BUT there's also ProgramFilesPath that's set to C:\. Would there be any confusion in XXP's tiny mind?

[RRRuss]

COD4 does have this option, but it's not obvious where it is.

When installing, you need to choose Custom Install, rather than Quick Install, and you can change location in that menu.

[Tringa]

Thanks Russ

[Magnets]

want to watch a windows box choke? make d: your hard disk, and c: your cd drive

they try installing, well, pretty much anything. the hard-coded assumption really cause havoc

I managed to do similar, when i built my PC i plugged in my USB card reader (internal usb headers). installed winxp, then noticed that C: E: F: G: are the memory card slots, H:, I:, J: are the main HDD partitions.
I run windows from H:, and the only problem i have is with some programs that when you open something, will default to c:/path/, and it kicks up a windows disk error.
I never got around to reinstalling, so i just put up with it

95% of the time it's fine though.