Move Desktop, Downloads and Documents to another drive on Windows 10

Most of us save downloaded files to the default Downloads folder, and many of us have dozens of folders and files on our desktops. Since most users have several gigabytes of data in both the Downloads folder and the Desktop folder (all desktop items are saved in the Desktop folder), it makes sense to move these folders to another drive if Windows or your system drive is running out of disk space.

With default settings, folders like Documents, Desktop, Downloads, Picture, and Music are all located on the Windows 10 installation drive. For example, if Windows 10 is installed on the “C” drive, you can find these folders by navigating to the C:\Users\YourUserName folder.

If you're running Windows 10 on a relatively small SSD or on a small partition of your hard drive and are running out of drive space, you might consider moving your Documents, Desktop, and Download folders to another drive.

Many users want to move the User Profile folder to another drive to free up disk space on the system partition, but since moving the User Profile folder to another drive is not supported by Windows, there will be problems when upgrading Windows 10 to a new build. Therefore, the method of moving the Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music and Pictures folders to another drive (via the User Profile folder) where you have plenty of free space is reasonable.

IMPORTANT NOTE : Do not use this guide if the drive is encrypted.

Move Desktop, Downloads and Documents to another drive

Here's how to move the Desktop, Downloads, Pictures, and Music folders to another drive on Windows 10. Note that you can move the folders you want and don't have to move all of them.

Step 1 : Open File Explorer by clicking its icon on the taskbar or clicking the File Explorer icon in the Start menu.

Step 2 : In the left navigation pane of File Explorer, you can see Desktop, Downloads, Pictures and other folders in Quick Access. Right-click on the folder you want to move to another drive and then click Properties.

For example, if you want to move the Desktop folder, right-click the folder and click Properties to open Desktop Properties. Note that you cannot move multiple folders at once.

Step 3 : Switch to the Location tab , click the Move button , then select a location on any drive (not an external hard drive) and finally, click Select Folder , then hit the Apply button to move the selected folder to the new drive.

And if you see the following confirmation dialog box asking “Do you want to move all of the files from the old location to the new location?", click the Yes button to move all the files to the new location.

Using this method, you can move the Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Pictures and Music folders to another drive.

How to restore the original location of folders

In this guide, we will use restoring the Desktop folder to its original location as an example. These instructions also apply to the Downloads, Documents, Music, and Pictures folders.

Step 1 : Open File Explorer, navigate to the location where you saved the Desktop folder. Right-click the Desktop folder, then select Properties .

Step 2 : Click the Location tab , then click the Restore default button to move the selected folder back to its original location. Click the Apply button . Click the Yes button when you see the confirmation dialog.

This method is one of the easiest ways available to free up space on your system drive.

Good luck!

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