Change Ollama storage location in Windows 11

TL;DR

1. Move the models from C:\Users\%username%\.ollama\models to wherever you want
2. Edit your user's environment variables (search for Edit environment variables) and set OLLAMA_MODELS to the new location

Slightly longer version

Ollama by default uses C:\Users\%username%\.ollama\models to store the models and if you started playing around with Ollama and running a bunch of models, you probably have noticed that you are running out of disk in your C drive. This post will show you how to move that to any other disk

Step 1 : Quit Ollama

We don't want to cause any issues by moving the models while ollama is running.

Find the ollama icon in the task bar, right click and quit ollama

Step 2 : Move the models to the new location

Open windows explorer and go to C:\Users\%username%\.ollama\

You can copy and paste the location in the explorer's address bar

Now copy the folder models to the new location. For example, D:\Apps\Ollama\.ollama\models

Step 3 : Edit your environment variable

Now we need to tell Ollama where to look for the models when it runs. This is done through an environment variable called OLLAMA_MODELS

Open windows settings app and search for Environment and click on Edit environment variables for your account

Click on New.. and fill in

• Variable name: OLLAMA_MODELS
• Variable value: Your new path to the models folder

and press OK

Step 4 : Start Ollama and verify

At this point, you can simply start ollama and verify that your models are present by running ollama ls which should list your previously downloaded models. If it does not show any of your old models, you probably mis spelled the variable name or the path, double check that