Break the curse of Microsoft Office only being installable on the C drive!
Breaking the Curse: Microsoft Office Doesn’t Have to Live on the C Drive!
At some point, it seems Microsoft Office stopped letting us choose where to install it, forcing it onto the C drive instead.
Staring at an Office suite that takes up nearly 4GB, we can only weep in frustration—it feels like there’s no way to move this “mountain of crap” elsewhere.
But in reality, we can use a clever “bait and switch” tactic to relocate Office to another partition or even a different disk entirely.
Today, I’ll walk you through exactly how to move Office to free up space on your C drive!
Table of Contents
Our main approach is to create a directory junction (symbolic link) for the Office installation folder.
What is a directory junction?
Think of it like a shortcut. A shortcut is like a small arrow that points to and opens its target file or folder.
A directory junction is similar to a shortcut, but with a key difference. A directory junction acts as if it has “moved” the file it points to into the location where the junction itself resides.
In fact, directory junctions are just one type of “shortcut” in the Windows system.
I’ll explain how to create one shortly.
- Here’s an example:
Let’s say I create a directory junction for the system32 folder located at C:\Windows\system32 inside D:\000\.
The junction would then appear at D:\000\system32.
When I open this junction, the file explorer’s address bar shows the path as D:\000\system32, unlike a regular shortcut, which would automatically redirect the address bar to C:\Windows\system32.
Moreover, opening this junction reveals all the files inside the system32 folder, exactly as if you had opened C:\Windows\system32 itself.
So, this allows us to trick both the operating system and applications.
Since directory junctions operate at the disk file system level, the OS and applications are completely unaware of their existence. They genuinely believe that the junction they’re accessing is a real folder at that location. In reality, it’s just a pointer.
How to Create a Directory Junction?
You can use a handy third-party tool: Link Shell Extension.
Download Link Shell Extension here:
https://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/HardLinkShellExt_X64.exe
After installation, right-click on any file or folder, and you’ll see an option called “Select as Link Source.” This is LSE’s right-click extension shell.
Once you click “Select as Link Source,” navigate to any other directory on your computer, right-click again, and you’ll see the option “Create as…”
From here, you can create a hard link, symbolic link, directory junction, and more for the file or folder you selected as the source.
Click “Directory Junction,” and you’ve created a junction for that folder.
What happens if you move a directory junction?
The answer: The source folder of that junction gets moved entirely to the new location—not just the junction itself.
This is because any operation you perform on a directory junction is actually performed on its source folder.
How to Move Microsoft Office?
First, locate Office’s installation folder.
For 64-bit Office, the installation folder is at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office.
For 32-bit Office, it’s at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office.
I’ll use the 64-bit version as an example; the 32-bit process is identical, just add (x86) to the new folder name.
- Goal: Move the Office installation folder to the D drive while keeping the software functional.
First, create a folder in the root of the D drive. Name it: program files.
Then, copy the Microsoft Office folder from C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office into the newly created program files folder on the D drive.
Delete the Microsoft Office folder from the C drive.
Right-click on the Microsoft Office folder you just copied to the D drive, and click: “Select as Link Source.”
Go back to the original location of the deleted Microsoft Office folder on the C drive (i.e., C:\Program Files\), right-click, and choose Create as... -> Directory Junction.
Make sure the junction’s name remains Microsoft Office.
If you encounter issues like files being in use or insufficient permissions preventing deletion, perform these steps in a PE environment.
And you’re done.
You’ve successfully moved Microsoft Office to the D drive.
Summary and Extensions
As you can see, this method isn’t limited to Office—it’s quite versatile.
For any folder that can’t normally be relocated (e.g., folders for large games or engineering software), you can use directory junctions to move them. By pulling a “bait and switch,” you can free up C drive space.
In some cases, even critical Windows system folders can be moved using directory junctions, but for those unfamiliar with the process, proceed with caution.
I’ve tried moving Windows system folders via directory junctions to another partition, which caused the system to fail to boot. Linking the user folder to another partition also led to system instability.
However, moving the entire Program Files and Program Files (x86) folders to another location works without issue.