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How to change location for installing applications in Windows

Thursday, May 19, 2011|

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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.

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.

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.

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