Installation location spotify

[Delarian]

Is it possible to install Spotify on a different location then in the profile. We are using roaming profiles and it's not really helpfull if a application like this uses about 50mb of profile space.

Best,

Delarian

[krelvinaz]

Way too late and a kludge that Spotify should have come up with.

Canceled my Spotify account and started using Google Music.  Works fine, and no stupid install issues.

[MooT]

For me this issue is not solved. Manually Moving the folder is no clean option. Spotify should allow us to choose the installation folder like every other program out there.

[Jron]

Strange, same thing.

I browsed to the instalalation directory (C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Spotify) and used SpotifyLauncher and Spotify started.

My shortcuts does not work.

[domine]

i want spotify for lesen music

[Trevs_88]

1. Brought Premium.

2. Downloaded Spotify to use on my desktop.

3. Discovered Issue (Filling my SSD pointlessly when I have a dedicated data drive)

4. Cancelled Premium.

5. Uninstalled application.

6. Switched to different provider.

Dear Spotify, listen to your customers requirements and you won't lose money, simple!

[Spartan969]

You can't move the install location, as when you move the spoify folder to C/program Files/Spotify, whenever an update is installed it will install a new spotify version to - C/ and C/Users and it puts an assortment of files in the said locations.

Thus creating a messy install and upon starting windows you recieve a windows error about certian files being in the wrong place and asked to remove them.

Why?

The spotify app on OSX installs to the applications folder, why can't it on windows? It's just lazy development.

[Ak76]

The installer is seriously messed up now.

Like the previous poster said; this is lazy development.

[JeffBuffington]

I have to agree... this install issue should have been fixed 3 years ago.
It's too dangerous to allow applications to run from the appdata directories. We deliberately block this by group policy (per Microsoft's recommendation!!)
Every time I get a notification that a new version is ready... I have to go through the trouble of allowing it to install, then have to manually move it to a legit directory.
It's a pain for me, and I'm a 26 year veteran IT guy (with a degree in programming.) I can only imagine how confusing it is to a typical user. Please fix this. 🙂

[aycek]

I like the functionality and the aesthetics of the desktop app much more than the mobile and/or the web player, and am unable to install due to this issue and my company's network security protocols.

That being said, the webplayer is a (semi) acceptable workaround for any users experiencing this same issue.

https://play.spotify.com/

[JeffBuffington]

I'm sure the webplayer is an "acceptable" alternative... however, if they are serious about getting me to subscribe to their service, they will fix this issue.  Mind you, this is not a "minor" problem.. not from ANYONE in the IT field.
Microsoft themselves have stated that there should be 'NO executables' running from within the APPDATA folders.  So, why does Spotify seem to require such an unnecessary functionality?  There is no legitimate reason to have any program/application/etc. run from within that vulnerable location.  It should install itself within one of the two "Program Files" locations ("C:\Program Files" or "C:\Program Files (x86)"), not within an area that has a known vulnerability.
Moving the "Spotify" directory elsewhere clearly works, therefore, there is no reason to install it into a vulnerable location.  The problem is that this continues to be an issue.  There is really no reason for this issue to remain, asside from stubborness.  Any programmer worth their salt should understand the problems, vulnerabilties, and legitimacy of this issue.  Please, at the very least, add the ability to select an alternative location.  Granted, the correct solution would be to move the install directory to a location that is legitimately accepted, but any minor changes in the correct direction would be greatly appreciated!

[kjstech]

I signed up on this board just to voice my disgust about this practice as well.  I am not only an end user but an IT admin.  We have GPO's in place with software restriction policies to now allow executables to run from the appdata or temp files or folders.  You can follow this thread on Spiceworks forums searching for Cryptolocker prevention kit.  Cryptolocker, a well known piece of ransomware has notoriously stored and ran its executables from this location.  Not to mention numerous other ransomware and malware variants.  I've already seen the software restriction policies events in eventvwr activly mitigate a malware infection because of these safeguards in place.

I was able to copy and paste spotify into a different folder, and it ran without an issue (updated the start menu shortcut as well), but then it said to restart for an update.  Ran the update, provided my admin creds, install worked but then gave an error that it couldn't launch spotify.  Even though I moved it and ran it from a different location, it STILL proceeded to update only the files in the AppData folder.  I had to again copy the data back out to my other folder.  I bet this will be a reoccuring problem with every update.  As an IT guy I know whats going on here, but can you imagine regular end users?  How about AV packages or Cryptolocker prevention toolkits people download at home that block exe's from AppData and other inconspicuous temp folers?  

I like the look of Spotify over the competition, but iTunes does not do this, and with an Apple music subscription you basically get the same dang thing.  Time to re-evaluate which service is more secure and deserving of my time and money.

[hurtynoob]

this thread started in 2012 they dont care, just stop using spotify thats what im going to do.

[Bronek]

Just moved to Deezer and closed my Spotify Premium account, after having used it 5 years (or was it more?). I'm fed up with Spotify developers knowing "better" how to install applications on Windows. I'm a developer myself. Spotify need to learn that listening to users is important. 

[BigDaddyMusic]

Not only is it the wrong place to install it, but it tweaks some anti-virus software which says no no no!

[cticer]

Not sure how to quote in this forum, but this...

Since nobody posted this solution:
 
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx
 
You can create junctions to refer to different locations. Hence you can change the install location.
 
With friendly regards,
 
TCR

This is the solution. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Junctions do work (whereas standard shortcuts are just another type of file and would not work).

For those encountering error 17 after creating the junction, make sure the directory that the junction points to (C:\Program Files (x86)\Spotify\ for me) has permissions that allow the currently logged in user to write / modify it. The permissions errors are not caused by permissions to the junction itself (or shouldn't be since it's the currently logged in users appdata folder). 

Hope this helps someone else. This solution worked for me and has been deployed on 3 workstations so far in our environment without any issues. Also, if this works for you, leave the junction in place after the install. This should allow any future Spotify updates to work as well as long as they don't change the install location on us again.

Thanks again!

[Hedkandi]

This is really techy and all but not so convenient in a multiuser-setup.

Users should have their own cache and private file for applications in their profile but as an admin you need the option to install an application in "Program Files" to avoid duplication of files and different users running different versions.

[gs10000]

SOLUTION??  I'm not a tech wizard, but my spotify stopped working at work. some of the stuff mentioned here is way over my head. anyway, i found spotify in my AppData>Local, by also in my AppData> Roaming. In the later was the exe file.  I copied the entire file in the Roaming into a SanDisk. Then opened spotify from that SanDisk. Seems to work (so far one day only).  The local IT had done something b/c my coworker and i both lost Spot.   His came back for some reason. Mine would open to a black window.  I wonder if updates will ruin this. if so, i will try to copy again.  I did not copy the AppData>Local>spotify.  Not sure what effect this will have. i also use Spot on phone and at home.  Will test later when i leave work. Sorry i can't explain more or why it worked or consequences. I'm only a Doctor and not an IT genius. That whole juntioning files thing blew my mind.

[bkard]

can you please elaborate how to do this?

tried to do it myself but I think I missing something cause all I got is a shortcut to APPDATA folder...

UPDATE: nevermind, I just copied spotify folder from %appdata% to C:\Program Files as suggested. 

[Takashi4602]

Hey guys

Just a quick hint to all the non-it-folks out there. There's a neat little utility called Junction Link Magic that lets you create folder junctions in a GUI. It's free and can be downloaded here:

http://www.rekenwonder.com/linkmagic.htm

Here's what resolved my space issues on my c-drive.

- Close Spotify

- Create a new directory on an alternate drive (e.g. D:\Spotify > this will be the destination directory for the junction)

- Open Windows Explorer and head to the source directory (e.g. C:\Users\Takashi\appdata\local\Spotify\Data). If you can't find the hidden Appdata directory, you can also paste the following line directly into the explorer window in order to get there:

%userprofile%\Appdata\Local\Spotify\Data

- move all the folders from this directory to the new location (e.g. from C:\Users\Takashi\appdata\local\Spotify\Data to D:\Spotify)

  > alternatively you can also delete the whole local content (cache) since it will be downloaded again automatically after the spotify relaunch

- Now that the source directory is empty, it is time to create the link with junction-link-magic. In my case this was:

Source: C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Spotify (source has to be empty)
Desitination: D:\Spotify

Optional: If you need more infos about Junction Link Magic check out this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuTzbQlykZo

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Takashi

[-XzavieR-]

The symlink trick is admittedly useful for moving large folders elsewhere to solve space issues (but I would use the built-in mklink instead of trusting a third-party tool). However, since Spotify stores user-specific data in its installation folder, it's only really useful if you're the only user of your computer, or if you are okay with every other user on that computer getting access to your Spotify account.