Safe way to transfer or move programs from c to drive on Windows 11/10?

One proven way to transfer apps from c drive to d drive is by changing the system environment variables.

1. Press Win + R and type sysdm.cpl → Enter → Click on “Advanced System Settings”. In the System Properties window click on the Environment Variables button.

2. In the “System Variables” area, find the following two items (you may need to scroll to find them): Program Files and Common Files.

3. Double-click Program Files. Change the variable value from the default C:\Program Files to D:\Program Files. Click OK.

4. Press Win + R and type cmd → Right click and select “Run as Administrator” to open the Command Prompt.
Enter the following command to check if the path has been modified

5. If the output shows D:\Program Files and D:\Common Files, the modification is successful.

6. Run an installer that is known to support customized paths (e.g. Notepad++, 7-Zip). Observe in the installation wizard that the default installation path automatically points to the D drive.

7. After the installation is complete, open the D drive to verify that the program files exist in D:\Program Files or D:\Common Files.

With this method, you can easily move programs from c to d on Windows 11/10 and control the installation location of new programs in bulk, but you need to weigh the convenience and system stability. If you only need to migrate a few programs, it is recommended that you give priority to using Method 1