Special folder


On Microsoft Windows, a special folder is a folder that is presented to the user through an interface as an abstract concept instead of an absolute folder path. Special folders make it possible for any application to ask the operating system where an appropriate location for certain kinds of files can be found; independently of which version or user language of Windows is being used.
In Windows Server 2003 and earlier, a folder like the "Start Menu" had a different name on non-English versions of Windows. For example, on German versions of Windows XP it is "Startmenü". However, starting with Windows Vista, all versions of Windows use the same English named folders and only display different names in the Windows Explorer. In Windows 10 the user can switch to another display language and the names of the special folders will change.

Overview

Windows uses the concept of special folders to present the contents of the storage devices connected to the computer in a fairly consistent way that frees the user from having to deal with absolute file paths, which can change between operating system versions, and even individual installations. The idea has evolved over time, with new special folders being added in every version of Windows post their introduction in Windows 95.
Microsoft's "Compatible with Windows" software logo requires that an application make use of special folders locations to locate the appropriate folders in which documents and application settings should be stored.
A special folder can either be a reference to a physical file system directory, or a reference to a "virtual" folder. In the former case, they are analogous to environment variables — in fact, many of the environment variables that are set in a user's session are defined by where the special folders are set to point to.
Virtual folders do not actually exist on the file system; they are instead presented through Windows Explorer as a tree of folders that the user can navigate. This is known as the Shell namespace. On Windows XP systems, the root of this namespace is the Desktop virtual folder, which contains the My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places and Recycle Bin virtual folders. Some virtual folders have an accompanying special folder that is a reference to a directory on the physical file system. Windows Explorer displays the combined contents of a virtual folder and its associated file system folder to the user. This can be seen in Figure 1, which shows the Folder view in Windows XP's Explorer; in the Desktop virtual folder, the four standard virtual folders can be seen, as well as an additional folder, "a folder on the desktop", which is a real folder located in the Desktop directory in the user's profile.
Some third-party programs add their own virtual folders to Windows Explorer.

List of special folders

The following tables list most of the file system and virtual folders that are available as of Windows Vista. The OS version in which each special folder was introduced is given as well. Items like %USERPROFILE% and %windir% are Windows environment variables.

File system directories

Special folderRepresentsDefault Location
First appeared in OS
Application DataPer-user application-specific files
;On Windows 98 and Windows Me: %windir%\Application Data
;On Windows 2000 and Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\Application Data
;On Windows Vista and later: %APPDATA%		 98
CookiesInternet Explorer browser cookies
;On Windows 98 and Windows Me: %windir%\Cookies
;On Windows 2000 and later: %USERPROFILE%\Cookies
;On Windows Vista and later: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies		 98
Desktop DirectoryFiles stored on the user's desktop
;On Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me: %windir%\Desktop
;On Windows 2000 and later: %USERPROFILE%\Desktop		 95
FavoritesUser's Favorites
;On Windows 98 and Windows Me: %windir%\Favorites
;On Windows 2000 and later: %USERPROFILE%\Favorites		 98
FontsContainer folder for installed fonts%windir%\Fonts 95
HistoryUser-specific browser history%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\History 98
Internet CacheUser-specific Temporary Internet Files
;On Windows 98 and Windows Me:
%windir%\Temporary Internet Files
;On Windows 2000 and Windows XP:
%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
;On Windows Vista and Windows 7:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files
; On Windows 8 and later:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache		 98
Local Application DataUser-specific and computer-specific application settings
;On Windows 98 and Windows Me: %windir%\Application Data
;On Windows 2000 and Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data
;On Windows Vista and later: %LOCALAPPDATA%		 95
My DocumentsUser's documents
;On Windows 98 and Windows Me: C:\My Documents
;On Windows 2000 and Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\My Documents
;On Windows Vista and later: %USERPROFILE%\Documents		 98
My MusicUser's music
;On Windows 98 and Windows Me: C:\My Documents\My Music
;On Windows 2000 and Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Music
;On Windows Vista and later: %USERPROFILE%\Music		 98
My PicturesUser's pictures
;On Windows 98 and Windows Me: C:\My Documents\My Pictures
;On Windows 2000 and Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures
;On Windows Vista and later: %USERPROFILE%\Pictures		 98
My VideosUser's video files
;On Windows 98 and Windows Me: C:\My Documents\My Videos
;On Windows 2000 and Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Videos
;On Windows Vista and later: %USERPROFILE%\Videos		 98
ProgramsUser-specific " Programs" groups and icons
;On Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs
;On Windows Vista and later: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs		 95
RecentUser-specific "My Recent Documents"
;On Windows 98: %USERPROFILE%\Recent
;On Windows 2000 and Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\My Recent Documents
;On Windows Vista and later: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent		 98
Send ToUser-specific "Send To" menu items
;On Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\SendTo
;On Windows Vista and later: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo		 98
Start MenuUser-specific "Start Menu" items
;On Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu
;On Windows Vista and later: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu		 98
SystemThe Windows system directory
;On Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me
;On Windows 2000 and later 32-bit Windows editions
;On 64-bit Windows editions
;On Windows 98 and Windows Me: %windir%\ShellNew
;On Windows 2000 and Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\Templates
;On Windows Vista and later: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Templates		 98

Notes:
  1. The "Desktop" virtual folder is not the same thing as the "Desktop" special folder. The Desktop virtual folder is the root of the Windows Shell namespace, which contains other virtual folders.
  2. "Local Application Data" differs from "Application Data" in that files located in the "Local" variant are also intended to be specific to the machine it is on. This only has relevance if the user's profile is a Roaming Profile in a Windows Server domain environment.
  3. As with Desktop, the "My Documents" virtual folder differs from the "My Documents" special folder. If the virtual folder variant is asked for, it will appear in a file dialog as a sub-directory of the "Desktop" virtual folder, instead of the user's profile directory as it physically exists on the hard drive.
  4. If the "My Documents" folder is moved, attempting to access it via the shell variable will go to the original, default location.

    Virtual folders

Notes:
  1. The "Desktop" virtual folder is not the same thing as the "Desktop" special folder. The Desktop virtual folder is the root of the Windows Shell namespace, which contains other virtual folders.
  2. As with Desktop, the "My Documents" virtual folder differs from the "My Documents" special folder. If the virtual folder variant is asked for, it will appear in a file dialog as a sub-directory of the "Desktop" virtual folder, instead of the user's profile directory as it logically exists on the hard drive.