Question:

How to redirect SPSS temporary directory to another drive?

Answer:

SPSS needs to create a temporary file upon opening a data file.  By default, SPSS will create such a file at the C:\Windows\temp directory.  It is however limited by the available space on the C: drive.  In other words, if the space on C: drive is scant, SPSS will not be able to read in a dataset bigger in size than the available space.

To direct the SPSS temporary directory to another drive with more space (e.g. a network drive like H:), it is necessary to edit the SPSS registry.  The procedures are as follows:

1. Close all active applications.
2. Run C:\windows\regedit to edit the registry
3. Goto HKEY_CURRENT_USER and click and open Software-->SPSS-->SPSS for Windows-->
    8.0-->Spsswin
4. Right click TEMPDIR and modify the object to set the value data to another drive with more space (e.g h:\temp).

5. Restart the computer and run SPSS.