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I have two drives in my computer, one SSD and one HDD, but the SSD was getting full so I moved %AppData% to the HDD to save space, using a symlink to link them, and navigating to %AppData% successfully redirects me. The problems I now have are:

  • All taskbar icons are missing shortcuts, which isn't that bad, but the Explorer and Cortana icons don't create a popup when left-clicking them (right-click works correctly)
  • File search doesn't work and can't even type into the box (not a problem with the mouse)

I'm not sure what this could be caused by and have tried:

# returns no errors
  Sfc /ScanNow

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

I also had a crash two days ago and something happened to the languages installed, as an uninstalled language was still being used, and I thought I fixed this, but looks to be back

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  • IIRC, you cannot move %AppData% or %LocalAppData% as AFAIK they contain hardlinks. If I'm misremembering, the only other cause would ACLs. (FYI: Dism must be ran before Sfc [ explanation ])
    – JW0914
    Commented Jan 1, 2021 at 12:42

1 Answer 1

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Try to find more information in the Event Viewer.

But in general, moving the AppData folder to another drive is a cause for system instability. Not for nothing has Microsoft made it a hidden folder.

I would suggest moving AppData back to its place, hoping that you have not damaged any sensible folder permissions. If the instability is not fixed, Do a Repair Install of Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade.

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  • A repair install will not fix a user profile issue, as the user profiles are not re-created during a repair install [they're merged]; repair installs only deal with %WinDir%. The only way to correct a corrupted user profile that is unable to be fixed is to re-create it.
    – JW0914
    Commented Jan 1, 2021 at 12:46
  • @JW0914: It might fix some permissions.
    – harrymc
    Commented Jan 1, 2021 at 12:46
  • AFAIK, user profiles and the %UserProfile% directories are merged and not touched during a repair install as there's no way for a repair install to modify them since they're not contained within the install.wim/install.esd (a repair install simply replaces the system files on a PC with those contained within the install.wim/.esd and doesn't modify ACLs - the ACLs are set at the time of the master ESD/WIM creation and are maintained within the ESD/WIM.) The only user profile contained within the install.esd/.esd is Default, the base used to create new user profiles.
    – JW0914
    Commented Jan 1, 2021 at 12:53
  • @JW0914: Don't argue too strongly against In-place Upgrade, because it's the last-ditch effort before re-installation from scratch.
    – harrymc
    Commented Jan 1, 2021 at 14:16
  • Stating facts isn't arguing... I didn't advocate against repair installs, I simply explained what you're suggesting will not fix the issue you purport it to fix. If disagreeing, please use Microsoft Docs to understand what occurs during an in-place upgrade to the same OS. To merge user profiles into an OS, USMT is required, which is apart of the ADK, not the Windows install ISO or install.wim/install.esd, intended for use within an LTI/ZTI.
    – JW0914
    Commented Jan 1, 2021 at 14:33

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