A fairly large number of Windows-system users pay attention to the AppData folder. This is especially common when installing programs and applications. Let's see what data is stored in it, and how to find the AppData folder in different versions of Windows. Along the way, we will consider a question related to some actions on this object (moving or deleting).
What is stored in the AppData folder?
In general, before you figure out how to find the AppData folder, you need to decide what it is intended for and what objects are stored in it.
In fact, this directory is a system directory and it is designed to store information about all applications installed in the system related to each registered user. It contains three main objects in the form of folders: Roaming, LocalLow and Local.
Based on the fact that the directory itself is tied to a specific user, and the question, for example, how to find the AppData folder on Windows 8 or other modifications, comes down to considering the Users directory, which is available on any system in the root directory of the disk on which the operating system was originally installed. But! You just can’t get to her.
How to find the AppData folder if it is not visible on the system: general recommendations
So, consider the most basic issue related to the fact that the directory itself is not visible in user directories. In theory, the folder should be present along the path C: \ Users \ Username, but for some reason it is not there. Why? Yes, simply because the object is hidden.
In order for it to be displayed in the directory tree, in the standard "Explorer" you should go to the service menu, and then set the parameter for displaying hidden folders and files on the tab of the object display type. After saving the changes, the AppData directory will be available for viewing.
Folder Search in Windows XP
Now let's look at the problem of how to find the AppData folder on Windows XP. Unfortunately, in different versions of "Windows" the names of this object are different.
If in the "seven" this is an abbreviated version (namely AppData), then in the "e-book" the directory has the full name Application Data (from which, in fact, the abbreviation was later formed). So, as it’s probably clear already, you should look for exactly the object with the full name, but located in the location of documents and settings for each user.
How to find the AppData folder on Windows 7 (8 and 10)?
As for the search in later versions of Windows, starting with the "seven", you must use the standard method described just above.
What is in Windows 7, what is in the 8th or 10th version, it has a standard name (AppData), and is located in the Users directory, where all the subfolders with the names of registered users are located.
In principle, you can use the standard “Explorer” search, where in the line you should enter the combination% USERPROFILE% \ AppData and press the Enter key.
Should I delete or move a folder?
How to find the Appdata folder, we figured it out a bit. Now a few words about whether it can be renamed, moved or deleted. A lot of users look at the desired size and just try to clean the system disk, because this directory takes up a lot of space.
Here it must be remembered that none of the above actions is highly recommended, because after they are completed, almost all programs installed in the system in conjunction with the user will simply stop working. In addition, when you try to use such actions, the system simply will not allow them to be performed. This is due only to the fact that some objects can be involved at the moment. As the simplest example, you can use a working antivirus. The system will report such and such a file is now busy, and that’s all over.
In principle, you can trick Windu. To do this, for example, in another logical section, create the AppData folder of the same name (or Application Data in the case of Windows XP) and copy all the objects from the desired directory into it one by one.
Now in the registry you need to change the path to the object. In the HKEY_LOCAL_USER branch, through the Microsoft tree, get to the Shell Folders object. It is there that you need to manually change the access path from the standard to the new, specifying the full path like D: \ AppData or some other.
After that, you will need to restart the computer terminal or laptop, and then delete the original folder. True, the legitimacy of such doubts raises the appropriateness of such actions, because no one can give guarantees that everything will work, so the AppData object itself, as they say, is better not to touch. Agree, after all, the developers of Windows systems have not in vain placed the directory in the exact place where it is located by default.
Copying data and changing registry settings is useful only in cases where the logical partition after such changes can be completely or partially blocked by the computer administrator or network administrator so that the user does not make any critical changes to the system settings. However, this option can also be used to free up disk space, but only if the hard drive has less than 10% of the space necessary for the normal functioning of Windows.