How Do I Stop Programs From Installing on My C Drive

I was trying to install a program, but it didn't offer me the option to choose which drive to install. The program is just automatically installed on the C drive. I don't want it to be on my system partition since it's already out of space. How do I stop programs from installing on my C drive? Thanks in advance!

To prevent programs from installing on the C drive, you can modify the registry to change the default installation path. Here's how:

Step 1. Press "Win" + "R" to open the Run box and enter regedit.

Step 2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion and select "ProgramFilesDir" and "ProgramFilesDir x86"(for 64-bit users).

Step 3. Right-click on it and choose "Modify…" to change the location by inputting the destination path in the box under Value data.

By doing so, you can install those programs on the target drive to free up space on the C drive.

If you have already installed the program on your C drive and you are tired of reinstallation, there's another option - EaseUS Todo PCTrans Professional.

This tool has the ability to transfer apps on your C drive to another drive so that you don't need to go through uninstallation and reinstallation. Follow the instructions here to move apps between drives:

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Todo PCTrans and go to the "App Migration" section.

Step 2. Click "Start" and select the target apps on the C drive.

Step 3. Set the destination drive and hit "Transfer" to start.

Related article: How to Move Programs Between Hard Drives [2024 Full Guide]