to be able to change windows 8.1 apps default drive to external sd card to save fixed drive space

Anonymous
2014-03-01T11:31:46+00:00

Dear sir /madam

I am a new windows user ,

And been disabled after a stroke left me with out right side function, which left me less feeling  a person.

But with windows 8.1 on a tablet has opened up a whole new world .

The only problem is that their are so many types of windows tablet out , and also different specs.

With many People on a budget it is important that the tablet you buy is right.

Their are different CPUs , ram, hdd, sizes .

But I assumed that if the tablet could run windows 8.1 , then the tablet would be pretty good spec.

I brought a 8 inch touch Lenovo mix 2 8. Which is a Intel quid core , with a 2 gb ram and 32 gb had .

And it has windows 8.1 and office student included for £240

The problem I have learnt know after using for one week is the hdd space has dropped from 32gb to just 10gb

And I found out every time I install a windows 8.1 app it installs to the c: drive as default.

and you cannot change drive to install to.

I.e I have put in a micro 64gb ad card and I could install windows apps to that card I would free up main c: drive.

Why can't you change Install  Drive for apps .

It just seems to me that Microsoft don't want you use windows 8.1 and to get so fed up that people shy away from it.

Because of range of different specs from smart phones and tablets , they all have one thin in common , they have expansion slots.

And in order for customers to use windows 8.1 properly people need to have access to their sd card as a drive for windows apps to save to.

At the moment I have had to format my tablet 5 times to free up my main hard drive , just so I can install different apps to try .

And unless I have a massive budget to buy a tablet with a say 250 gb main drive , then I cant enjoy windows properly

.and I would have thought that windows want you to buy as many apps as possible .

I here windows are doing a spring update , I think they should include a patch so people can change the default drive for window's apps

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

55 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2015-02-21T18:06:42+00:00

    I second that. Please can someone from MS give us an answer on this. I spent £400 on a Windows 8.1 tablet but it only has 32gb internal storage. I was not concerned as I knew I would be able to use a 128gb micro SD card and the additional 500gb HDD built into the keyboard. After purchase I realised immediately I was going to have issues. After trying to move apps or change the default install location I got errors every time I tried to install a new app. After a lot of research I found there seemed to be no workaround. I now only have 1.5gb of free data and only have a fraction of what I actually want on there. The end result is me barely using the tablet. Infuriating is not the word.

    Sort it out now please!

    So did I ,spent £400 and I am at my third surface , first one died after 3 months, the second one had all sorts of problems and my third one which is now 10months old is giving me the storage card headache. I am trying everything ,but meeting obstacles all the way.MS ......IS A BIT MUCH NOW....

    PS.    Giulia Regan

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2015-02-21T19:22:46+00:00

    I think this solution only works on a windows phone NOT on a windows 8.1 tablet

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2015-02-23T14:55:51+00:00

    Hello all, I have a desktop PC and a mac book air partitioned and formatted in NTFS, both have windows 8.1 installed. I managed to change permission into the registry to change the downloaded app folder to my external HD but everytime it downloads an app I get an error and it won't install it.

    Unfortunately I can't download them and move them because my HDs are way too small to download big apps, say over 4-500 MBs so it would be wonderful if there was a fix to install them directly into an external HD.

    Thanks.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2015-03-31T08:20:56+00:00

    Hello. What does this guide do exactly? Sorry. A bit of a noob. If I understood correctly, this method turns the sd card into a part of the system thus taking off it's "removable" status. Therefore, I should be able to install metro apps in the sd card because technically it is a part of the c drive now. Was I correct? Just a verification before I try it and screw things up xD

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2015-04-01T05:26:46+00:00

    Ditto to everything everyone above said; except even after reverting to previous settings, I still am not allowed to update or install any apps any longer.

    I found those instructions elsewhere, and had the same issue; then came here.  Very surprised that Microsoft representatives have no response to why they have removed this feature - and in current updates, possibly even added a "feature" which breaks the device entirely when trying to upgrade the program files location.  Why in the world?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments