In Windows Vista, the public folder is a location where you can store files that are not owned by your user account. This location is located in the following location: C:\Users<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon If you want to move a file from one public folder to another, you must first create a new public folder and then move the file to it. To create a new public folder, open the Windows Explorer and click on the New Folder button. In the New Folder dialog box, enter C:\Users<username>.local into the name field and click on OK. Then, open the Public Folder Properties dialog box and set the following properties: The Public Folder should be named something other than “C:\Users<username>.local”. The Public Folder should be located in your user’s home directory. The Public Folder should be accessible to all users. The Public Folder should be visible to everyone who has access to your computer. The Public Folder should be able to contain files that are not owned by your user account.
Important Note: This change should not be done lightly, as a number of readers have encountered issues with this tweak. You’ll want to carefully check file permissions and make sure you have a backup before even attempting this.
If you click the Public link on the Favorite Links, you’ll see the list of folders. You can copy them to a new location.
For the sake of this example, we’re going to move the C:\Users\Public folder to D:\Public. First copy all the folders inside of the current Public folder into the new D:\Public folder.
Update – Important
You should turn on the option to show hidden files and folders in order to make sure you copy all the folders. There are hidden Public Desktop and Favorites folders that need to be copied as well. (thanks to steve in the comments for this)
Now we’ll open up the registry editor by typing regedit into the start menu search box.
Browse down to this key:
You should see a key called Public. Double-click it to open it and change it to D:\Public, or whatever location you want to move the public folder to.
Reboot, and your public folder will now be moved. You should be able to remove the old public folder if you want to. (Make sure you verify the location of the new public folder before you do)
