Forum Discussion

JessicaMuffles's avatar
JessicaMuffles
Newcomer
10 hours ago

Game No Longer Reads User Folder on External Drive (Junction Broken)

Since the March 2026 update, The Sims 4 will no longer read my existing user folder, located on my external Samsung USB hard drive. Before the update, I used a junction/symbolic link from: C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4 to my external drive, and the game loaded normally for years.

After the update, the game now ignores the linked folder completely. It recreates a brand‑new “The Sims 4” folder on C: every time and refuses to read the junction even though Windows recognises the link correctly. The game itself is installed on the external drive and still runs fine. Only the user data folder is being rejected.

I have tested the following: – Recreated the junction, Tried a symbolic link – Verified permissions on the external drive – Copied the folder back to C: (the game loads normally there) – Confirmed the issue only occurs when the user folder is on the external drive

This behaviour started only after the March 2026 update, so it appears the patch introduced a new restriction or bug that prevents the game from reading user data from external/removable drives, even through valid NTFS links.

My C: drive does not have enough space to store my saves, mods, and CC, so this change has made the game unplayable for me. 

Please confirm whether this is an intentional change or a bug, and whether support for linked or external user folders will be restored - as without this I have spent thousands on this game that cannot be played.

hardware

1 Reply

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    9 hours ago

    JessicaMuffles​  Are you saying that the game creates a new Sims 4 user folder in exactly the location of the junction?  Or is the new folder somewhere else, perhaps in a different Documents folder?

    If it is in the same location, the names have to look different to the OS, or else it wouldn't allow the two folders to coexist in the same place.  So in that case, move the new folder to the desktop, copy its name, and paste that name onto the junction (overwriting the existing name).

    If that doesn't help, please list the command you used to create the symlink.

Recent Discussions