I recently wanted change the offline files cache location in Windows 7. Instead of the default location of C:\Windows\CSC, I wanted the offline files to be stored on my D: drive. After checking around the Internet, I found several articles stating that moving offline files worked in XP, but didn’t work in Vista or Windows 7. In the end, I found this blog post. It worked. However, I made one modification – I cleared the cache prior to moving the cache location and did not delete the original cache location after moving it. My reasoning was 1) I wanted to clear the cache in order get rid of any residual offline files and 2) taking ownership and deleting a folder in the Windows directory seems like asking for trouble (besides I might need to move the cache back at some point).
In order to clear the cache, add a DWORD registry key named FormatDatabase to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\CSC\Parameters, set the key to a value of 1, and reboot. One word of warning, do not set both the FormatDatabase registry key and CacheLocation registry key mentioned in the blog at the same time and reboot. Windows blue screened on me during the reboot. I had to boot into safe mode and remove the CacheLocation registry key in order to avoid the blue screen. The correct sequence is clear the cache, reboot, change the cache location, reboot.