Disabling saving files on Win7 DESKTOP

[Kursun]

Hello,
Is there anyway to disable any Win7 user to save anything on his/her desktop?

The reason I want this is because I a RAID 0 SSD boot disk and I don't want unnecessary writes on the SSDs.

 

[WR2]

Hello Kursun;

Did you mean desktop as in the computer? Or as desktop as in the file folder?

How would that prevent unnecessary writes to your SSDs?
How would you determine what is necessary and what is unnecessary?
Did you buy a set of poor quality SSDs?

 

[mystery42]

Change the save path to your D drive assuming you have one any drive will work i just call mine the D drive. I force all files to be saved on the D drive even temp files are saved there. All you have to do is change the save path for the users files. Right click all there folders and change it, very simple in windows 7.

 

[Kursun]

@ WR2
Desktop as in the file folder I presume...

All my documents and other data are on a second drive D:. But the desktop folders of all accounts are on drive C.

I don't want anyone download a document or some video to his/her desktop folder. Besides my C drive is only 2*64 gb.

What do you mean , "Did you buy a set of poor quality SSDs?"?
Don't you know SSDs deteriorate in performance over time with frequent writes? TRIM function of Windows help keep the original performance. But TRIM function doesn't support RAID drives. To bring back the performance of RAID SSD drives you have to backup, unmount the RAID drives, overwrite all data with zeros, then reform the RAID and restore back.

 

[asnorton44]

Yeah go into libraries and right click then change location.

 

[maxinexus]

you can also set desktop folder to read only

 

[mystery42]

@ WR2
Desktop as in the file folder I presume...

All my documents and other data are on a second drive D:. But the desktop folders of all accounts are on drive C.

I don't want anyone download a document or some video to his/her desktop folder. Besides my C drive is only 2*64 gb.

What do you mean , "Did you buy a set of poor quality SSDs?"?
Don't you know SSDs deteriorate in performance over time with frequent writes? TRIM function of Windows help keep the original performance. But TRIM function doesn't support RAID drives. To bring back the performance of RAID SSD drives you have to backup, unmount the RAID drives, overwrite all data with zeros, then reform the RAID and restore back.

This is what you want its in each users personal files folder. i.e. john doe

Revoking Write permission entirely can have unforseen consequences. I don't recommend it.

 

[WR2]

Don't you know SSDs deteriorate in performance over time with frequent writes?

If you had asked over in the Storage section of the forums I'm thinking they would have recommended a single 128GB SSD as the better option.

 

[DXRick]

You would think that by now Windows would let you relocated the C:Users\ directory to another drive.

 

[mystery42]

You would think that by now Windows would let you relocated the C:Users\ directory to another drive.

I read somewhere that for win7 pro and up you can, but since i'm the only one who uses this PC i never bothered to find out how.

 

[Kursun]

If you had asked over in the Storage section of the forums I'm thinking they would have recommended a single 128GB SSD as the better option.

It's a matter of choice. I'm very happy with the speed of RAID 0 boot drives. I have used RAID 0 boot drives for at least 10 years.

 

[WR2]

Choices are fine.
You presumably choose the RAID setup for performance. But you're looking to give back a fair amount of that by relocating quite a bit of stuff I would have though you'd want to be high performance for a better user experience.

 

[Kursun]

If I open Window Explorer and right-click Libraries\Documents or Music or Pictures or Videos, select properties I can remove the links directing to the C drive and enter the drive, directory and sub-directory I want. Then all Microsoft Office software use by default the directories I have written. Clicking any component of Libraries (Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos) point to the directories I want.

But desktop is something different. It’s always in your eyesight. When downloading, selecting Desktop icon may produce similar results. But it doesn’t prevent anybody to copy a file and right-click on actual desktop and select paste. It must be something about the rights of users.

BTW I use Win7 Ultimate 64 bits.
Thank you to everybody who have answered

 

[Kursun]

@WR2
"...relocating quite a bit of stuff"

No, even if I hadn't RAID 0 I would relocate all the documents and other data on disks other than the boot drive. OS and data drives should always be separate.

 

[mystery42]

If you switch the directory like i showed in the picture, they cannot save to the C drive it will by default save everything to the other drive whether they like it or not. Now if they go to the C drive and paste something to there user folder well then there just blatantly going against what you want so i would kick them off the PC.

 

[mystery42]

This is what happens when someone is on my PC.

C:\Users\John Doe <---- There is still a user folder on the C drive but it is not used except for AppData and temp information the majority of which can also be switched over to save to the D drive.
D:\Users\John Doe <---- Actual save location
John Doe <----- This is what they see in the address bar. There name that is all.

By default windows will not allow them to change the setting. Unless you make them admin.

 

[Kursun]

This is what happens when someone is on my PC.

C:\Users\John Doe <---- There is still a user folder on the C drive but it is not used except for AppData and temp information the majority of which can also be switched over to save to the D drive.
D:\Users\John Doe <---- Actual save location
John Doe <----- This is what they see in the address bar. There name that is all.

By default windows will not allow them to change the setting. Unless you make them admin.

If you copy a file and click paste on actual desktop does it save?

 

[mystery42]

Yes to the D drive. It will not save to C unless they go into the C drive and paste said file and by default windows should prevent this. In the event that the D drive is not availabe windows will default back to the C drive to prevent the user account from not starting up. You have to change the location for all there folders or else it will only save desktop items to the D drive. I recommend just changing the drive letter on all there user folders makes it much simpler. I would make a video but i don't have a recorder for my PC. XD

 

[mystery42]

If you want everything on the D drive here is how but this requires you to use RegEdit. If anything happens to the D drive i'm not sure how windows will react as this saves "everything" to the D drive including all profile information for windows. The way i setup my PC is so appdata is still on the C drive so if i disconnect the D drive i can still use the PC to some extent.

http://www.windows7hacker.com/index.php/2009/05/how-to-change-user-profile-default-location-in-windows-7/

 

[Kursun]

I have tried this. When you paste a file directly on the actual (by right-click/paste) desktop it saves in the C:\Users\account directory, not the directory I've pointed to.

It does work when anybody downloads to "Desktop". It will be downloaded not to the actual desktop but to the directory that is specified.

Well I will work more on it. Thank you.

 

[mystery42]

I have tried this. When you paste a file directly on the actual (by right-click/paste) desktop it saves in the C:\Users\account directory, not the directory I've pointed to.

It does work when anybody downloads to "Desktop". It will be downloaded not to the actual desktop but to the directory that is specified.

Well I will work more on it. Thank you.

Make sure it made a desktop folder on your D drive if so windows sometimes leaves a kind of shadow in the c drive and won't start doing it right until you restart. I have no idea why it does this but after restart it should lose the animation on the folder and you can delete it. I'll try to post screens of what it should look like when your done.

 

[mystery42]

Should be empty. Notice the stuck desktop folder it will unlock for deletion after a restart.

Should have all the folders in it now on the D Drive. As far as windows is concerned this is the new user folder.

 

[Kursun]

If you want everything on the D drive here is how but this requires you to use RegEdit. If anything happens to the D drive i'm not sure how windows will react as this saves "everything" to the D drive including all profile information for windows. The way i setup my PC is so appdata is still on the C drive so if i disconnect the D drive i can still use the PC to some extent.

http://www.windows7hacker.com/index.php/2009/05/how-to-change-user-profile-default-location-in-windows-7/

This link is really something! I see you have all the right links!

I think I can manage regedit. But as you say this method may lead to other complications. The least that comes to mind is then I have to be more careful with my backups. Now I backup my OS and data disks at different times. If I do this change I guess I should better backup C and D drives together.

OK. Thank you very much. I will first try your first method. I will keep a watch over wife. But the real test will be when brother-in-law comes in April. He is the desktop menace!

Meanwhile I will look for a way to deny rights saving on the desktop for standard users.
If I don’t get the results I want this way then I will go the moving the users directory route. I have saved the link you gave to my favorites.
Thank you again!

 

[Kursun]

Best answer selected by Kursun.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

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