I want to relocate my user directory C:\Users\Edwin to a mapped network drive E: (i.e. mapped from a network share \\192.168.22.9\share).
The difficult part is in relocating the user directory itself. I found 2 possible solutions, both of which were not applicable to me due to my use of a network drive.
1.Moving C:\Users\Edwin" to "E:\Users\Edwin and then use junction symlink (mklink -J) to link back to C:\Users\Edwin.
This doesn't work for me because i can't create a junction symlink from a directory on a non-local drive.
2.Changing the value of registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\ProfilesDirectory from %SystemDrive%\Users to E:\Users BEFORE creating the "Edwin" user.
Thereafter, when "Edwin" user first logs in, the profile will be in E:\Users\Edwin.
The problem with this is that I run into a chicken-and-egg problem.
On first login as user "Edwin" the profile will be created in E:. However, at the moment I first login, the mapped network drive E: isn't there.
I've tried the following to no avail:
1.Create a persistent mapped drive as Administrator. Didn't work. The mapped drive is only visible to the Administrator user.
2.Create a persistent mapped drive using system rights (using PsExec -s). Didn't work. The mapped drive isn't "owned" by anyone, not even the current Administrator user.
3.Create a persistent mapped drive using the newly created Edwin user, without logging in as Edwin yet (using PsExec again). Didn't work. While is possible to create a mapped drive as a different user, once i tried to do it persistently (/persistent:yes), i get a Access is Denied error.
Any idea how this can be done? Or whether it even can be done at all?
P.S. I don't want to use roamin profiles and/or folder redirection.
\\servername\sharename\Users
, but again, I doubt this'll work, at least not well. :/