Change iCloud Photos Location on Windows 10

Hi all,

My setup involves both a Google Workspace subscription (previously named GSuite - used for my email and documents) and an iCloud subscription (for photos/videos taken with my iPhone/iPad). The problem is that they both use the Pictures folder and I don't want to sync all of my iCloud media to Google.

If you download the newest version of iCloud from the Windows Store you do not get the option to choose the directory where it will sync your media, it will always choose your Pictures folder:

Instructions on installing the new version of iCloud can be found here: https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201391

INTRODUCING: SYMBOLIC LINKS

In Windows you can create something called a symbolic link or symlink for short. They act similar to shortcuts, which are files that are linked to another place on your PC. Symlinks are more like a wormhole from one place to another on your PC, whenever you put files into one folder, Windows will teleport that file to a different folder. You can use symlinks to change where iCloud media ends up on your PC.

SYMLINKS: PREPARATIONS

Before we create the symlink, we need to make sure iCloud isn't syncing photos. If it is, disable this in iCloud and delete the iCloud Photos folder inside the Pictures folder:

TAKE NOTE: ORIGIN FOLDER

Before we start, we need to note the origin folder location. This is the the start of the wormhole, where files enter before being transported. Take note of your origin folder (including the quotation marks!) which is:

"C:\Users\YOUR-USERNAME\Pictures\iCloud Photos"

TAKE NOTE: DESTINATION FOLDER

Now browse to the location you'd like the files to be stored within and either create a new folder or choose an existing folder - we'll call this the destination folder in this example. When the files enter the wormhole, they're transported to this location. Keep this window open so we can use it a little later.

CREATING THE SYMBOLIC LINK

1. Locate the Windows Key in the bottom-left corner of your keyboard (between the Ctrl and Alt keys)
2. Hold down the Windows Key and tap R on your keyboard
3. In the Run box that we just opened, type the word cmd and press enter
4. A black command terminal will appear. Type the following text: mklink /D
5. Hit the spacebar to put a space after the /D
6. Enter the origin location from above, including the quotation marks
7. Now hit the spacebar to put a space after the origin location
8. We now need to enter the destination location. You can type this by hand (with quotation marks) but you can also simply drag and drop this folder into the command prompt to enter the entire destination location
9. Now just hit enter and you're done! Here's what my example looks like:

You can now open iCloud and tick the checkbox next to Photos and click the Apply button to start syncing. The iCloud program thinks it's putting them in the iCloud Photos folder within the Pictures folder but if you check your destination folder you'll find all of the content from your iCloud account starting to appear.

I hope this helped some people out there, if you have any feedback on my writing or teaching style, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll take your advice onboard.

Thank you all,

Eli