Copy folder structure on Windows

Many IT administrators often need to copy the folder structure of one computer to another. This is usually necessary when a new computer is being set up or when a new user is added to a network. It can be a tedious and time consuming process to manually create the same folder structure on the new computer or user’s profile. Fortunately, there are tools available that make this process easier.

The first step in copying a folder structure is to locate the source folder. This should be the folder that contains the folder structure you need to copy. Once you have located the source folder, you can use the Windows xcopy command to copy the folder structure. This command will recursively copy the contents of the source folder, including all subfolders and their contents, to the destination folder.

For example, if you wanted to copy the folder structure of C:\\Source to C:\\Destination, you would use the following command:

xcopy C:\\Source C:\\Destination /e /i

The /e flag tells xcopy to copy all subfolders and the /i flag tells it to assume that the destination folder is an empty folder. If the destination folder is not empty, you can use the /s flag to tell xcopy to overwrite any existing files.

Once the xcopy command has completed, the destination folder will contain the same folder structure as the source folder. However, any security settings and permissions will not have been copied. To copy these, you will need to use the “robocopy” command.

Robocopy is a command line utility that is included with Windows. It can be used to copy files and folders, including the security settings and permissions. To use robocopy to copy the folder structure and security settings, you would use the following command:

robocopy C:\\Source C:\\Destination /e /copyall

The /e flag tells robocopy to copy all subfolders and the /copyall flag tells it to copy all security settings and permissions.

Once robocopy has completed, the destination folder will contain the same folder structure and security settings as the source folder. This process can save IT administrators a lot of time when setting up new computers or users.

In summary, copying a folder structure from one computer to another can be a tedious and time consuming process. Fortunately, there are tools available that make this process easier. The Windows xcopy command can be used to copy the folder structure and the robocopy command can be used to copy the security settings and permissions. By using these commands, IT administrators can quickly and easily copy the folder structure of one computer to another.