Move Offline files location in Windows 7
When you have offline files enabled but want to move the cache location to a 2nd hard disk with more space (or just a faster one), here’s how you do it:
Note: I would advise to create a restore point prior to doing the following.
- Create a folder for your offline file cache. Something like D:\Offline.
- From an elevated command prompt type the following: Takeown /r /f C:\Windows\CSC
- Open the Sync Center and go to Manage Offline Files.
- Click Disable Offline Files and restart the machine.
- From an elevated command prompt issue the following commands:
rd /s C:\Windows\CSC
mklink /J C:\Windows\CSC “D:\Offline” (or whatever you folder name is, but be sure to use the quotations if you have a space in the name) - Reopen the Manage Offline Files window and Enable Offline Files.
- Restart the machine
All files/folders that are made available offline should now be redirected to whichever folder you specified.
Peter posted this response on April 11th, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Works a treat!
Windows 7 SP1
alex posted this response on August 9th, 2011 at 10:52 am
I followed the instructions and it seemed successfully implemented. However I have lost “make available online” option on mapped disk and unable to use offline files. Any ideas how to correct it or at least how to reverse CSC to C drive?
Benjamin Surkyn posted this response on August 10th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Alex, you need to enable offline files again.
Sergio posted this response on November 5th, 2011 at 8:41 am
rd /s C:\Windows\CSC did not work swiftly (but I managed anyway to delete the CSC folder content).
the whole procedure works perfectly anyway: the result is that I now have the offline files perfectly accessible from my D: drive!
thanks!