Forum Discussion

imjuliewaters's avatar
imjuliewaters
2 years ago
Solved

Changing drives

I was running out of space on the C: drive on my gaming laptop so I uninstalled the EA app and reinstalled it onto the D: drive. My Electronic Arts folder is also on the D: drive. On the EA app, the d...
pc
  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    2 years ago

    @imjuliewaters  Thanks for the info, and the in-game screenshot is helpful as confirmation.  First, please go into the Electronic Arts folder in your first screenshot (the one on C), right-click the Sims 4 folder, and select Cut.  Open D:\Electronic Arts, in your second screenshot, right-click the empty space, and select Paste.  There should now be a Sims 4 folder there, and no Sims 4 folder in your first screenshot.

    Next, use this exact command to create the symlink:

    MKLINK /J “C:\Users\water\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4” “D:\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4”

    Then test the game.

puzzlezaddict's avatar
puzzlezaddict
Hero+
2 years ago

@imjuliewaters  Here's how to stop OneDrive from syncing your Documents folder:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/CURRENT-ISSUE-Sims-4-saves-user-content-disappearing-PC/m-p/12475370#Disabled

If you want OneDrive gone entirely, please see the next section ("I want to get rid of OneDrive") of that guide.

With OneDrive still in the picture, the proper command here, assuming your username is "water,", would be this if there's an Electronic Arts folder in Documents:

MKLINK /J “C:\Users\water\OneDrive\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4” “D:\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4”

or this if there's no Electronic Arts folder in Documents:

MKLINK /J “C:\Users\water\OneDrive\Documents\Electronic Arts” “D:\Electronic Arts”

There cannot be a Sims 4 folder in Documents > Electronic Arts, or else Windows won't be able to create the symlink there.

If you do stop OneDrive from syncing Documents, one way or the other, the proper command will be this:

MKLINK /J “C:\Users\water\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4” “D:\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4”

One more thing:  Under no circumstances should you involve D:\Origin Games\The Sims 4 in any of this.  That is, presumably, where the game's program files are located, and mixing those with the user folder will only cause more problems.

imjuliewaters's avatar
imjuliewaters
2 years ago

I didn't think the Origin folder was what I needed to use in the command but thought I'd give it a go since nothing else was working. I haven't messed with that folder on its own though.

I was able to move my Documents folder so that it is no longer in the One Drive folder. So now it's just in the D: drive. There is no Electronic Arts folder in the Documents folder or anywhere in the D: drive. Or in the C: drive.

I tried this "MKLINK /J "D:\Documents” “D:\Electronic Arts” and got the message "Cannot create a file when that file already exists." If they mean an EA file I'm really confused because that file/folder doesn't exist on either drive on my laptop. So now I'm just more confused.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @imjuliewaters  Please run this command in Command Prompt:

    reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "Personal"

    and post the result here.  I want to be extra careful with the command now that you've changed some settings.

    • imjuliewaters's avatar
      imjuliewaters
      2 years ago
      I ran
      "reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "Personal"

      and got

      "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders Personal REG_SZ C:\Users\water\Documents"

      in return.

      (edited to make everything easier to read)
      • puzzlezaddict's avatar
        puzzlezaddict
        Hero+
        2 years ago

        @imjuliewaters  Okay, please go into Documents and make sure there is NOT an Electronic Arts folder inside.  If there is, move or rename it.  Then use this command:

        MKLINK /J “C:\Users\water\Documents\Electronic Arts” “D:\Electronic Arts”

        This will create a symlink pointing the Electronic Arts folder to D, where it currently should be.  If the command doesn't work, open D, find the Electronic Arts folder, right-click it, select Properties > General, and you'll see its Location.  That should be the second part of the command, e.g. if the file path is D:\Games\Electronic Arts, you'd use this:

        MKLINK /J “C:\Users\water\Documents\Electronic Arts” “D:\Games\Electronic Arts”

        If you'd really rather only use a symlink for the Sims 4 folder, this is the command:

        MKLINK /J “C:\Users\water\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4” “D:\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4”

        Here, make sure there's currently an Electronic Arts folder inside Documents, but that there is NOT a Sims 4 folder inside that.  And here again, if the command doesn't work, make sure you have the proper path to the Sims 4 folder on D.

        Either approach is valid, so pick the one you like.  I prefer the first because it makes troubleshooting a bit simpler down the line, just one less step at each turn.  But it's not a big deal either way.

About The Sims 4 Technical Issues - PC

PC players get help with their technical issues in The Sims 4 here.51,848 PostsLatest Activity: 34 minutes ago