How To Change Windows Store Install Location

By default, all apps – including traditional Win32 apps, every bit well equally the ones yous tin get from the Store – will end upward on your PC's principal hard drive. This is usually the "C:" bulldoze. Changing the locations of these apps is easy and it can be very useful in some cases.

How to Change the Install Folder Location for Windows 10 Apps

The about typical reason to change the default install drive is that you are running out of storage space, which is especially mutual on laptops with SSD drives. Unusually demanding apps are best installed on SSD drives, so yous may want to set the fastest drive equally a default for apps. All of this is very piece of cake to do on Windows 10.

Irresolute the Install Binder for Windows Store Apps

Windows Shop apps are built completely differently than Win32 apps. First of all, the way they're installed and downloaded is more akin to using a smartphone store. Microsoft has come up with this in order to emphasize the responsive design of their tablets and mobile phones. Whether this was a smart move or non is debatable, only making sure that all Windows Store apps are installed in one place can help you make better use of your storage.

Installing on a Separate Bulldoze

If Windows 10 has made one thing easier, it's tweaking its new features. Although they didn't desire to change likewise much about how the traditional programs and apps work, the new features that they introduced are much more straightforward to tweak. Changing the default install location of these apps is an excellent example.

Click on the search bar and type in "Settings."
From the search results, select the Settings
Select System from the menu.
In the menu on the left, select Storage.
At present, under More than storage settings, click Change where new content is saved.
Select your new default location.

Every app you download from the Windows Shop volition now automatically install in your new default location. Proceed in mind that you can likewise use this menu to change the location where other file types become saved, such as documents, music, photos and videos, films and Television receiver programs, etc.

Moving Apps to Some other Bulldoze

Fifty-fifty though yous've created your new default install location, the Windows apps that yous've previously installed will notwithstanding be located on your chief drive. Yous don't accept to uninstall them and install them again in order to movement them to another drive. Instead, you tin can move the apps ane by 1, leaving some on the master drive if yous want to.

Open Settings.
Select Apps.
Find Apps & features.
From the list of apps, select the one that you desire to move to a new location.
Click the app and select Move.
Choose the drive you want the app to exist moved to

Proceed in listen that the Apps & features list displays both Windows Store and Win32 apps. You can merely move the Windows Store apps this way. If you lot attempt to move a Win32 app, the Movement button will be replaced by Change.

Irresolute the Install Folder for Win32 Apps

The more traditional apps, familiar to decade-long Windows users, can also be installed in a separate drive. In fact, when Windows runs a Win32 app, it prompts you to select the install binder.

With Windows Shop apps, y'all could only select the drive you desire an app to be installed on, while the Win32 Install Magician offers yous to select the exact location of the file. This means that you tin create a new binder for your new app and install it there.

Merely dissimilar Windows Store apps, Win32 apps cannot be moved to some other bulldoze. The only way to do and then is to uninstall and and then select a different destination folder when reinstalling. This is mostly considering the style these apps are installed is completely different.

Irresolute the Default Location for Apps

Instead of changing the drive and location every time you lot try to install a Win32 app, you tin can modify the default location. Although this allows you to besides select the exact default install folder, unlike the case was with Windows Store apps, this process is a chip less user-friendly. Here is what yous need to exercise:

Press Win + R to bring upward the Run
Open Regedit by typing the word in the Open:
Navigate to the post-obit in the listing to the left: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersion"
In the correct pane, open the value ProgramFilesDir/ProgramFilesDir (x86), depending on whether your Windows is 32-chip or 64-scrap.
Once you double-click it, the value volition open an edit box.
Under Value data: type in your new desired default location.

Should You Install Your Apps on a Separate Drive?

As yous may know, tech-savvy Windows users tend to recommend that you add at least one drive on your PC. This is useful for two main reasons: more storage and backup possibilities. That is to say, by adding a drive, you're automatically increasing the infinite on your PC and making sure that there is a hard deejay to dorsum things up on.

That beingness said, you should always keep in mind that installing apps on different drives volition but add up to the number of failure points on your computer. The more than different variables there are on a PC, the better the chances are of a complication or an error occurring. It is suggested that you apply i of your drives for apps (Windows Shop and Win32) while using the other for storing things such as movies, music, documents, files – essentially, use your 2nd drive for everything that doesn't require an install.

Managing Your Storage

It is very important that yous learn how to manage your storage properly, especially if you don't have a lot of it to go nigh. Brand a program before deciding where you want your apps installed, and make sure you know where everything is in instance you ever demand to showtime using external storage.

Practise you adopt using Windows Shop or Win32 apps? How practice you manage your storage? Do yous employ an external hard drive for fill-in? Let u.s. know in the comments.