How to Change Program Files Location in Windows 8, 10

Normally if you have Windows 8, Windows 10 or any other version of Windows operating systems you will definitely have your program files location in your “C:/” driver where usually the operating system is installed. This is mainly because the system needs to ensure a good correlation between the programs that you are installing and the Windows 8 or Windows 10 operating system.

Of course you can change this location anytime and we will see how to do so by reading the tutorial posted a few rows below. But first of all we will need to know the consequences that may happen if we change the program files location. Mainly the program files folder is put there for a good reason, if you move it and all your programs will be moved to another location you may experience some system errors after a while.

Tutorial for changing program files location in Windows 8 and Windows 10:

1. While on your Desktop in Windows 8 or Windows 10 you will need to press and hold the buttons “Windows” and “R”.
2. Holding the buttons above will open the “Run” window where we will need to type “Regedit”.
3. After typing “Regedit” you will need to press the “Enter” button on the keyboard.
4. Now you should have the “Registry Editor” window in front of you.
5. On the left side of the window left click on the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” folder.
6. In the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” folder left click on the “ SOFTWARE” folder.
7. In the “SOFTWARE” folder left click on the “Microsoft” folder.
8. In the “Microsoft” folder left click on the “Windows” folder.
9. And now in the “Windows” folder left click on the “CurrentVersion” folder.
10. Now that you are in the “CurrentVersion” folder you will have to look in the right side of the window for a “ProgramFilesDir” item.
    Note: if you have a 64 bit system it will be a “ProgramFilesDir (x86)” item.
11. Double click (left click) on it and from there you will be able to change the path of the “Program files” folder by entering a new path in the “Value data” section of the window.
12. After you are done selecting a path you will need to left click on “OK” and then close the “Registry Editor” window.
13. If the changes did not work after you closed the window try a reboot of the Windows 8 or Windows 10 system and try it afterwards.

Now you know how to change the path of the program files folder and you can see that it didn’t took up much of your time but always keep in mind that it may cause malfunctions in the system if you change the path of the program files folder.

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