Installing Office 365 on a different hard drive to that of the windows installation

Hi Guys,

I have an office 365 account and was using it succesfully on my pre-installed windows 8. My PC crashed and I re-installed windows 7 on it. I put the windows installation on my 20gb SSD and, as you have guessed, there is very little space left over on it for anything else.

I do understand the technology around the installer etc when you download from office365.com, but is there no way to work/get around this problem and install it to my 500gb HDD?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I need my office back up and running for business.

July 29th, 2013 11:53am

There is a registry key that can be set prior to the installation of a retail version of Click-to-Run that allows for changing the default installation location. 

This can be accomplished by setting the InstallPath REG_SZ entry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\ClickToRun\Override

to the absolute path to the folder where you want Microsoft Office 2013 to be installed.

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July 30th, 2013 8:51am

I am having the same problem for office 365 and am a little confused by your answer, could you explain what a registry key is and how one would access it before running the .exe?

Thanks

EDIT: Sorry, I just need to do better research, it is explained here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310516/en-us


January 14th, 2014 5:45pm

I am having the same problem for office 365 and am a little confused by your answer, could you explain what a registry key is and how one would access it before running the .exe?

Thanks

EDIT: Sorry, I just need to do better research, it is explained here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310516/en-us


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January 14th, 2014 5:45pm

I am having the same problem for office 365 and am a little confused by your answer, could you explain what a registry key is and how one would access it before running the .exe?

Thanks

EDIT: Sorry, I just need to do better research, it is explained here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310516/en-us


January 14th, 2014 5:45pm

I am having the same problem for office 365 and am a little confused by your answer, could you explain what a registry key is and how one would access it before running the .exe?

Thanks

EDIT: Sorry, I just need to do better research, it is explained here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310516/en-us


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January 14th, 2014 5:45pm

Having the same issue,  the First off who makes a user change a registry key in order to change an install location, If I wanted complicated installs I would use Linux, secondly the key does not exist in my win 8.1 registry.  


March 26th, 2014 3:21pm

Did not make any difference with the regedit entry. And what if you want to specify which apps to install?
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March 28th, 2014 9:14pm

This key doesn't appear to exist in Windows 8.1.  Are you aware of an alternative?  Can I simply add the key and if so, what are the appropriate parameters/values?
March 4th, 2015 4:51pm

This key doesn't appear to exist in Windows 8.1.  Are you aware of an alternative?  Can I simply add the key and if so, what are the appropriate parameters/values?

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\InstallRoot]
"Path"="D:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\Office15\\"


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March 18th, 2015 10:10pm

Thanks Tony.  But wait.  The HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common branch doesn't exist in the registry unless Office has already been installed.  And, by then, the product is probably already installed on c:

Are you saying one should Uninstall the product from C:, then go back and, creating registry keys as needed, create the InstallRoot key you mention above with a value specifying the desired path to another drive?  Then try to reinstall?

Earlier in this thread, there's a reference to "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\ClickToRun\Override" but I can't find such a key on my tablet.  The closest I can find is HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\ClickToRun, which does indeed contain a REG_SZ "InstallPath" with a value pointing to C:.  But there's no "Override" key on that branch.

So do I need to add an Override REG_SZ to the ClickToRun node?  With a value equal to the desired path to the D drive?  Do I also need to add the path as the value for the (Default) REG_SZ within the ...\Common\InstallRoot key?  If not, what's the name of the REG_SZ I need to add to ...\Common\InstallRoot?

Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

March 21st, 2015 5:45pm

Did you ever find your answer Charlie?
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April 24th, 2015 9:52am

No I did not.  And I tried all sorts of things.  I reset my Tablet to the factory-new image.  Then I added every registry key I could find in a bunch of posts to different threads, including this one.  Then I went thru the entire registry and changed every entry I could find that referenced Office to point from C: to D: - there were literally dozens of them.  Then I restarted the Tablet.  Then I (re)activated the Office-365 product.  Sadly, it STILL installed itself to C:. 

In order to prevent Windows from chewing up what little free-space remains on the C: partition, I disabled Windows Update.  Now I can still use the thing, though I connect to the Internet only rarely so as to "protect" myself from bad things.  It's a shame. 

I'm still exploring my ability to restore the Tablet from an image I created using Windows restore.  If I can do that (an earlier attempt to restore such a Windows-created image failed and I almost had to send the device back to the factory to be re-imaged before I was able to recover it to working condition again) then I plan to delete the Factory restore partition on the C: drive and expand the basic System partition.  That will add about 7GB of space to the System partition which I hope will allow me to turn Windows Update back on and use the thing properly.  And I can still recover back to factory-new using the Windows-created restore image.  Haven't worked up the nerve to do that yet, though, because once I delete the factory-restore partition, there's no going back unless I have some sort of a backup image to fall back to in an emergency.

Sigh.

April 24th, 2015 11:07am

Thanks for getting back to me, that's unfortunate. I was about to try the exact same thing you did so you saved me lot of time. I'm about to try mklink with the command prompt and move the directory contents. I'll let you know if I get that working. Right now I just can't use office - the install isn't leaving enough breathing room for windows on my SSD.
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April 24th, 2015 2:34pm

Alright CharlieWright I think I have a solution to this problem!
It's weird, and it's kind of hacked together, but it seems to be working. Use this solution at your own risk, I have it working and i'm quite happy with it. With this solution windows basically *thinks* office is where it's supposed to be (C:) but it's not there, instead there's an automatic pointer to where it actually is (your other storage device). It's called a junction.. hence the /J later.. anyway, here's what I did:

1. Create a backup of everything in case this breaks your device. It shouldn't, but you never know.

2. Download and install LockHunter (lockhunter.com), it's a software I used to simplify the process. Without LockHunter you'll have to manually end process on everything that keeps you from accessing the office directory.

3. Empty your recycle bin.

4. Find every directory that office references, I only had one, some people have 2, I don't know if there are ever 3. They're commonly found at:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office

5. Run CMD Prompt as administrator

6. For each Directory:
- right click it (ie Microsoft Office 15 folder) and select "what is locking this folder?"
- unlock it and navigate back to that directory.
- delete the directory (send it to your recycle bin to relax)
- in the cmd prompt type: MKLINK /J "Full original directory" "Desired destination directory"
for example:
MKLINK /J "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15" "D:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15"
MKLINK /J "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office" "D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office"

7. Create the destination directories manually.

8. Test the junction, if you did everything right, when you navigate to the original directory it will look like a shortcut folder and clicking it will look as if you're still on the C drive but you're not, you are actually in the destination directory. If you did something wrong you'll get an error.

9. Open your recycle bin, click the directory and click restore

  • Proposed as answer by Turner88 11 hours 3 minutes ago
  • Edited by Turner88 9 hours 44 minutes ago
April 24th, 2015 4:19pm

Alright CharlieWright I think I have a solution to this problem!
It's weird, and it's kind of hacked together, but it seems to be working. Use this solution at your own risk, I have it working and i'm quite happy with it. With this solution windows basically *thinks* office is where it's supposed to be (C:) but it's not there, instead there's an automatic pointer to where it actually is (your other storage device). It's called a junction.. hence the /J later.. anyway, here's what I did:

1. Create a backup of everything in case this breaks your device. It shouldn't, but you never know.

2. Download and install LockHunter (lockhunter.com), it's a software I used to simplify the process. Without LockHunter you'll have to manually end process on everything that keeps you from accessing the office directory.

3. Empty your recycle bin.

4. Find every directory that office references, I only had one, some people have 2, I don't know if there are ever 3. They're commonly found at:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office

5. Run CMD Prompt as administrator

6. For each Directory:
- right click it (ie Microsoft Office 15 folder) and select "what is locking this folder?"
- unlock it and navigate back to that directory.
- delete the directory (send it to your recycle bin to relax)
- in the cmd prompt type: MKLINK /J "Full original directory" "Desired destination directory"
for example:
MKLINK /J "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15" "D:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15"
MKLINK /J "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office" "D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office"

7. Create the destination directories manually.

8. Test the junction, if you did everything right, when you navigate to the original directory it will look like a shortcut folder and clicking it will look as if you're still on the C drive but you're not, you are actually in the destination directory. If you did something wrong you'll get an error.

9. Open your recycle bin, click the directory and click restore

  • Proposed as answer by Turner88 Friday, April 24, 2015 8:25 PM
  • Edited by Turner88 Friday, April 24, 2015 9:44 PM
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April 24th, 2015 8:17pm

Alright CharlieWright I think I have a solution to this problem!
It's weird, and it's kind of hacked together, but it seems to be working. Use this solution at your own risk, I have it working and i'm quite happy with it. With this solution windows basically *thinks* office is where it's supposed to be (C:) but it's not there, instead there's an automatic pointer to where it actually is (your other storage device). It's called a junction.. hence the /J later.. anyway, here's what I did:

1. Create a backup of everything in case this breaks your device. It shouldn't, but you never know.

2. Download and install LockHunter (lockhunter.com), it's a software I used to simplify the process. Without LockHunter you'll have to manually end process on everything that keeps you from accessing the office directory.

3. Empty your recycle bin.

4. Find every directory that office references, I only had one, some people have 2, I don't know if there are ever 3. They're commonly found at:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office

5. Run CMD Prompt as administrator

6. For each Directory:
- right click it (ie Microsoft Office 15 folder) and select "what is locking this folder?"
- unlock it and navigate back to that directory.
- delete the directory (send it to your recycle bin to relax)
- in the cmd prompt type: MKLINK /J "Full original directory" "Desired destination directory"
for example:
MKLINK /J "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15" "D:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15"
MKLINK /J "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office" "D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office"

7. Create the destination directories manually.

8. Test the junction, if you did everything right, when you navigate to the original directory it will look like a shortcut folder and clicking it will look as if you're still on the C drive but you're not, you are actually in the destination directory. If you did something wrong you'll get an error.

9. Open your recycle bin, click the directory and click restore

  • Proposed as answer by Turner88 Friday, April 24, 2015 8:25 PM
  • Edited by Turner88 Friday, April 24, 2015 9:44 PM
April 24th, 2015 8:17pm

Thanks Turner88.  I had considered researching links and junctions as I had seen a number of posts elsewhere indicating that may be the solution.  I just hadn't had the energy to take a deep breath and plunge into that deep water yet.  I'll file your post away as the next avenue of attack.

It's a serious thing to consider - particularly hard after 30 years of using MS Office - but, as much as I prefer MS Office, I've been thinking more and more lately about abandoning it in favor of OpenOffice. 

cw

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April 25th, 2015 9:16am

Thanks Turner88.  Your MKLINK solution worked for me.  Sadly, the above registry entry proposed by Max Meng did not.
July 13th, 2015 3:45pm

Thanks Turner88.  Your MKLINK solution worked for me.  Sadly, the above registry entry proposed by Max Meng did not.
  • Proposed as answer by Craig Worley Monday, July 13, 2015 7:44 PM
  • Unproposed as answer by Craig Worley Monday, July 13, 2015 7:44 PM
  • Edited by Craig Worley Monday, July 13, 2015 7:45 PM
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July 13th, 2015 7:44pm

Thanks guys.  I'll try the LockHunter/MKLINK combo and see if it works for me.  I've been limping along.  But I have had to disable Windows Update, and I have no idea how many security updates I've had to forego as a result. 

cw

July 14th, 2015 9:35am

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