How to change user directory and cache directory in Netbeans 8 ?

Solution for Netbeans 8.x (It should work in Netbeans since v. 7.2)

Are you fancy change path where cache and data is stored ?
Well,then you need change netbeans.conf.

How to do it?

You can find netbeans.conf file in etc directory (where Netbeans was installed)
For example: C:\Program Files\NetBeans 8.0\etc

You need find property:
netbeans_default_userdir="${DEFAULT_USERDIR_ROOT}/8.0"
netbeans_default_cachedir="${DEFAULT_CACHEDIR_ROOT}/8.0"

You just need change path to anything you like ... for example:

netbeans_default_userdir="C:/junk/temp/nb/usr"
netbeans_default_cachedir="C:/junk/temp/nb/cache"



Source: http://wiki.netbeans.org/FaqNetbeansConf