The location of Windows 8 AppData is in the C:\Users folder, the same
place as in Vista. For those familiar with XP's Documents and
Settings, there has been a naming changes, but the underlying structure is
very similar.
Find AppData in Windows 8 and in XP
Problem Finding AppData in Windows 8: If you cannot see the AppData
folder it could be because it's hidden from view. Check by
launching Windows Explorer then click on the View menu on the ribbon,
now tick 'Hidden items'. Important: close the Explorer then reopen,
refresh does not seem to work here.
In
Windows 8, the biggest change, compared with XP', is in the creation of the
AppData folder together with its three subfolders, AppData
Local, LocalLow and Roaming. A folder called Application Data exists in
Windows 8 for backwards compatibility with XP. However, you cannot double click the
'Application Data' in Windows 8's links. This is because it's merely a
symbolic links, or junction point.
To help appreciate this behaviour and significance of these and other
arrows next to folders, let us take a time-out and try an experiment.
Launch a cmd prompt.
Windows Explorer, File (menu) Open command prompt.
Type: cd c:\users
Type: dir /ah
Observe <SYMLINKD> next to All Users and <JUNCTION> next to the
Default User.
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When a well designed application wishes save data it uses
AppData rather than a sub-folder in the Program Files directory.
Take Outlook, it uses both the 'Local' and 'Roaming' sub-folders, for
example the .pst file is stored in this folder:
AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook. Other programs use AppData for
their settings, toolbars and cookies.
In XP programs saved their data into the Application Data folder.
Tip 1: Do not compress the AppData folder, it's just not
worth the performance hit. And don't even think about deleting
this folder to save space, there are so many of your important program
settings here.
Tip 2: If the AppData folder is missing, have faith
because I bet it really is there, it's a question of ticking 'Hidden
Items' see in Windows Explorer View tab.
Error 1606 Installing a Microsoft Program
Sometimes you get corruption of registry settings, in the case of Error
1606 navigate to this HKEY_Current_User (HKCU) area of the
registry
The location of the Windows 8 AppData folder is C:\Users, the same
place as in Vista. A folder called Application Data exists for backwards
compatibility with XP.
The most important subfolder is AppData
with it's three sub-folders. Windows 8 creates symbolic shortcut links to the old XP folders such as
Application Data.
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