I just bought the upgrade from C11P to C12P and am trying to install on my E: drive. Yet it seems the installer doesn’t give the option to install anywhere but the default C: drive now. I have C11P on my E drive with the rest of my audio software. C is strictly OS.
How do I get C12P to install to a different location beyond default on the C: drive?
Cubase is storing all its settings in the users Appdata and Documents folder on C: and in the registry, so I am not sure how good of an idea it is to install it on another drive.
Out of curiosity, why would you want to install it on another drive? If no sufficient space is the reason, then I’d suggest to simply upgrade your C disk. 
Indeed, rather a pointless exercise to move the actual Cubase install to another location. The application folder is only 1Gb and the AppData is around 250Mb, (Documents are a few Mb).
However: It is worth noting that of course using Library Manager you can move the content to any drive or location that you wish. For example, I have 106Gb of Cubase and Nuendo Content on my F: Drive.
Gentlemen, I’m not looking for opinions on why I separate the application from my C drive, but am only asking for solutions on how to direct this via the installer (or through other means).
Older installers from C11 and down used to allow this. I’m not seeing the option to chose in the C12 installer and am asking if there was something I’m missing or if you knew of a means to have it install on a different drive letter?
Yes, I’m aware the settings remain on C regardless. Please keep it on topic and not try to force a debate on my reasonings.
If we understood the reasoning, we may help you find a solution.
It could very well be possible, that Steinberg decided to not let users choose anymore, as installing the program on another drive could cause certain issues.
Thanks. If you find a way to get the installer to behave like previous installers please let me know!
I figured it out! Skip the Setup.exe and go into the "Additional Content\Installer" folder and click on the Cubase12.msi
This Cubase12.msi will let you chose the location to install the Cubase app!
The reason behind this is very simple - the Cubase 12 Pro with its standard plugins eats about 30GB of the C drive. That’s despite the fact that I’ve chosen a “Downloads” folder on another drive.
I don’t know how you guys came up with that 1GB estimate - not even close.
Most people have a smaller SSD for C and a large HDD for large stuff like Cubase. And forcing users to use C is a pretty bad thing to do.
I paid a ton of money for that SSD few years ago, it was the biggest one available, sure I can upgrade it again, but price aside, reinstalling everyhing is not always immediately possible.
So it would be really nice if we can have an official way of moving the installation to another drive.
And another problem is that uninstalling Cubase still leaves 20GB of “hidden” data behind. So I had to search for “Steinberg” and manually delete every match in order to recover that disk space.
I found a way to move most of the stuff.
I’m using Steinberg Download Manager (v 1.34.3) and it installs everything on C, you can’t change that, even if you’ve specified a different download folder.
But before you click “Download and install”, do the following:
Open another app - Steinberg Library Manager and specify a different “Library default location”. In my case the libraries seem to be what occupies most of the space.
And after that go to the download manager and install the components.
So in my case this took only 5GB of disk space on C, compared to 40GB before. I guess the software is still on C, but at least it’s much better.
This may seem obvious, but not if you’re a Cubase newbie and solely rely on the Download Manager to do the installs for you. You wouldn’t know there’s another app where you’re supposed to also change settings (I discovered it by pure chance).
A simple fix for that would be to just make that “Library default location” setting also available in the Download assistant.
Just my two cents worth.
I do a similar thing. All my DAW related program software on a D drive. We need to bare in mind, some may be using a 250/256GB or even a 128GB for the OS. Currently, I have over 40GB of DAW only related programs on a D drive, (and I don’t have that many programs, compared to some) that would normally default to the C drive. Windows 11 takes up some 60GB of DATA alone
I have another dedicated drive for the defaulted Documents, Downloads, Videos, Pictures and Music folders. These are not custom folders, but Windows defaulted folders that I have successfully moved to another drive, and programs’ that look for the “Default” folder during install/Downloads (including all Steinberg stuff), will recognise these folders as default, and not seek to install/Download onto the C drive. The only folder that is not movable, is the hidden App Data folder.
Worked this way for years’, on four different system builds, and have never encountered an issue due to how it has been setup. On the contrary, I have encountered less issues and a much more responsive and stable system, and the C drive is only home to what ever cannot reside to an alternative location.
Whoop thank you! Exactly that I was looking for.