Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Many, but not all programs allow you to specify their install location. In some, however, that ability is somewhat hidden in the install process.
How can I install applications to the D: drive in Windows Vista? The C: drive is full and every program wants to load itself into it. I tried saving the application on the D: drive and running it from there, hoping I would get a prompt saying "setup will install this program in C:\Program Files..... if you want to install it elsewhere browse for the location" but the application just automatically installs itself in the C: drive without giving me another option. It then gives an error message saying not enough disc space in C:. How can I do this?
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You may not be able to.
But then again, depending on the application, you may.
And that phrase is kind of what it boils down to: "depending on the application".
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In your situation, I'd make sure to first have cleaned up that C: drive as much as you can. Even though we may install applications onto other drives, there's still no getting around the fact that Windows, and programs running under Windows, will need some amount of space on C:.
I'd point you toWhere's my disk space going? as a place to start. It includes references to a couple of tools that may help you identify exactly what's eating up all the space on your C: drive. Knowing that you may be able to make some decisions on what steps to take to free some of it up.
Where you download your install program actually makes no difference at all to where that program may try to install itself. The key is that at some point in the installation process it must ask you where you want it to install. If it doesn't ask, then there's almost nothing you can do. It'll install where it installs, and that's likely going to be C:.
Many programs are nice enough to just ask:
That's PDFCreator asking where you want it to be installed. No special steps were required, it simply includes this as part of the normal setup process. If you want to install it to a different drive you can simply enter the new location here.
Another common scenario has that setting available, but hidden.
Here's a step in the Open Office installation process:
As I said, this particular scenario is very common as setup designers want to make it easy for people to simply take the default settings that might otherwise confuse or concern them.
Hint: don't. 
In this case, choose Custom, and the next step looks something like this:
As you can see, the setup program now displays where it will install the software, as well as a Change... button so you can alter that. Click that and:
You can select exactly where the installation should happen.
The specifics of this scenario will vary from application to application, but the big take-away is to choose the "advanced" or "custom" installation option if it's offered. Nine times out of ten, the install location is hidden therein.
Unfortunately, if it's not, and there's no other place to specify it as part of the install, then there's little you can do.
Article C3799 - July 1, 2009
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
"""""""""""Posted by: JH at July 8, 2009 2:10 AM
In the registry in the key
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion] there is a sting called ProgramFilesDir, by default with the value C:\ProgramFiles. If the value is changed to D:\ProgramFiles, I feel sure Windows wil propose this directory for installeng new programs. I have not tried this, and there might be a risk to confuse Windows with respect to allready installed programs, but why should there?"""""""""""""
Posted by: NoName at January 3, 2010 11:06 AMI have tried this on my computer and this is possible, you just need change the path from C: to D: and restart computer and then all your program by default go to d: drive or a particular folder in it
I have also heard that installing the os to the c: drive and programs to another drive is a good idea, particularly on a server. In fact, I believe that Dell offers this as an option when you order a server from them. I agree that it's a good idea to keep data on a separate drive, but most of my saved data exists in the "My Docs" folder. Can you move the location of "My Docs" to another drive, or will this confuse Windows?
Posted by: Mike at January 27, 2010 1:16 PMThank you so very much for the registry tip. I absolutely hate when a program doesn't give you the choice. I shouldn't have to delete programs on C drive when I have 200 gigs to use on D!!!!
Posted by: kiwi888 at February 14, 2010 8:54 AMIf the C-drive and the D-drive are on different physical drives, there likely would be some gain in speed. If D is merely a partition, there would be little, if any gain.
BTW, if you have separate drives, moving the switch file (virtual memory) to the D drive can provide significant gains.
Posted by: loboloco at August 12, 2010 1:51 PMOh, the irony! I arrived here when trying to figure out how to install the first example (PDF Creator) to a drive other than C:. Alas, they no longer give an installation prompt.
Posted by: Bevin Meadows at March 20, 2012 11:38 AM