Altering program files from SAP Data drive to C drive

[former_member912992]

Dear Forum,

I am trying to alter the 'program files' in SAP Data drive folder that was created during installation to free up some space. In this case the SAP Data drive is the 'E' drive and the 'program files' folder is altered to 'C' drive.

Here are the steps:

1. stopped SAP, then all SQL services

2. regedit to look for registry entries pointing to the E:\ drive:

3. Copied over from E:\ to C:\ drive all non-duplicate folders contained in E:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DW

4. renamed the registry entries to reflect their new location.

So, for example in the registry 'My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders' the entry 'E:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DW\' is altered to 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DW\'. All entries are altered one by one.

So far the first trial works. Is it secure to do it in this way. Will it be a problem when the SQL needs to be patched, for example?

Please kindly advice.

Regards,

Agoes

[markus_doehr2 · Accepted solution]

This will work for just the programs, for COM-DLLs, that are stored in the registry via "regsvr32" this won´t work.

You may experience all sort of problems during execution of programs, that make use of COM (e. g. Enterprise Manager, Profiler etc.) if you relocate the DLLs.

The safe way is to detach, uninstall, reinstall and attach your database.

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Markus

[former_member912992 · Accepted solution]

Hi Markus,

It is on the running SAP system. Isn't it too risky?

Regards,

Agoes

[markus_doehr2 · Accepted solution]

It´s the same procedure as doing a homogeneous system copy. Of course you need to take down the system for that.

Windows is unfortunately very specific in that area, it´s not that easy to relocate files from A to B without affecting functionality. It´s not really documented, which of the SQL Server DLLs are COM DLLs.

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Markus

[former_member912992 · Accepted solution]

Hi Markus,

Your input is highly appreciated :-).

My concern here is related to the database growth. Sometime the space is not enough.

Previously, we had a system that the drive was out of space. Say, the data is located in 'H' drive. We did the following things:

1. Rename 'H' drive to (for example) 'J'.

2. Assign bigger drive size as 'H'.

3. Copy all from 'J' (the old 'H') to 'H'.

So far the SAP system is working fine. In this case, there was only for SAPDATA. Can we do the same thing if 'program files' is involved? Is it secure to do in this way?

Regards,

Agoes

[markus_doehr2 · Accepted solution]

With DATA files it´s VERY different. They are pretty isolated seen from an operating system perspective, you can put them anywhere and just point the database to the right path.

However, everything on "C:" must reside there, especially %SYSTEMROOT% and %PROGRAM FILES%. On Unix system you could copy them somwhere, create a soft link and you were done, on Windows, this is possible because depending on the installed software (SAPGUI, Backup software etc.) you will have LOTS of registry entries pointing to "c:program files", including the COM and ActiveX objects (e. g. a SAPGUI registers > 2000 ActiveX objects in the registry).

Since almost no vendor has documentation about which piece of software is installed where and what is put where in the registry the only way of safely relocating something from C: (if C: is your system drive) is to reinstall the OS and do a homogeneous system copy.

Welcome to the world of Windows

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Markus

[former_member912992]

Thanks

Regards,

Agoes