How to Find and Change the iTunes Backup Location in Win 10: A Complete Guide

Alice MJ

Dec 21, 2020 • Filed to: Backup Data between Phone & PC • Proven solutions

«Where is the iTunes backup location in Windows 10? I can’t seem to find where the iTunes backup folder in Windows 10 is!»

Apple’s iTunes is a one-in-all media manager and a playback app for both Mac and Windows. It stores the entire Backup of your iOS device in the primary disk of your Mac and windows.

Using iTunes is also possible on computers or other devices running Windows 10. Further, you cannot change the default backup location. Generally, iTunes backup in window 10 occurs automatically whenever you connect your iPhone to iTunes and sync. These regular backups can use numerous gigabytes on your system.

The space on your Windows partition gets reduced constantly with the ever-expanding iOS backup folder. Further, iTunes does not allow you to change the iTunes backup location windows 10. But, there are some tricks with which you can find or change iPhone backup location windows 10.

If you are an iTunes user, this article will be useful to you. In this article, we will discuss how to find and change iTunes backup file location windows 10.

Part 1- Where is iTunes Backup Location on Window 10

iTunes saves all the backups of your phone to a Backup folder. Further, the locations of the Backup folder differ by the operating system. Although you can copy the Backup folder, it is advisable not to move it to different folders to ruin all the files.

1.1 Here are a few ways to find the iTunes backup files location on window 10:

Find the iTunes backup in the Mobile Sync folder

You can find iTunes backup file location windows 10 in the Mobile Sync folder. Steps to find the Mobile Sync folder where iTunes backup is saved in Windows 10:

• Go to the C: >> Users >> Your username >> AppData >> Roaming >> Apple Computer >> MobileSync >> Backup

• go to C: >> Users >> Your username >> Apple >> MobileSync >> Backup

1.2 Find iTunes location on Windows 10 by using the search box

You can also find the iTunes backup folder windows 10 by using Windows Start Menu’s Search box. Following are the steps that you have to follow to find the location on window10

• Open the Start menu in Windows 10; you can see a Start button next to the search bar.

• If you downloaded the iTunes from Microsoft Store, then you have to click in the Search bar and enter %appdata%

Or go for %USERPROFILE%, then press Enter or Return.

• Then in the Appdata folder, you have to double-click on the «Apple» folder and then «Apple Computer» and «MobileSync» and finally go to the «Backup» folder. You’ll find all your iTunes backup file location in Windows 10.

Part 2- How You Can Change the iTunes Backup Location Windows 10?

If you own an iPhone and want to change the backup location windows 10, you must follow some steps given in the following parts. But before changing the location of the iTunes backup, it is also important to know why there is a need to change the iTunes backup Location in window 10.

2.1 Why you want to change the iTunes backup location Windows 10?

iTunes backups are only certain iOS data like app files, settings, and camera roll photos from the iPhone every time you sync. If the iTunes backup gets full, then it affects the ideal performance of your system. Following are some important reasons why you want to change iTunes iPhone backup location windows 10

• Heavy storage on Disk C

iTunes backs up iOS data, including app files, images, videos, settings, and more from the iOS devices each time you sync. Moreover, the iOS backup files may accumulate the storage of your drive very quickly. Due to this, Disk C gets full in less time. This may further lead to a slow Windows Operating System, low storage space for other files, and no space to install new programs

• For your personal reasons

Sometimes due to personal reasons, you may not want others to look into your personal data. In that case, also you can change iTunes backup location windows 10.

• Easy to find iTunes default location

As it is easy to search iTunes in the default location, so if anybody wants to change the location can do so.

2.2 Ways to change the iTunes backup location on window 10

If you want to change the iTunes back up to a completely different location on Windows 10, then a symbolic link may help you. It allows you to connect two folders to a particular location to copy all the files you have.

But before doing that, you will need to make a new folder for all your potential backup locations. After this, you can proceed with locating the existing backup locations. Following are the steps you will need to follow to change the iTunes backup location on window 10.

• As you have located the current iTunes backup directory, now you have to make a copy of the C: >> Users >> Your username >> AppData >> Roaming >> Apple Computer >> Mobile Sync >> Backup >> directory.
• You have to create a new directory for the data, where you want iTunes to store all your backups from now on. For example- you can create a directory in C:\ folder.
• Then you have to go into the directory that you create by using the «cd» command.

• Now you can navigate to the current backup location by — C: >> Users >> Your username >> AppData >> Roaming >> Apple Computer >> MobileSync >> Backup. Further, using the Windows 10 File Explorer can also delete the backup directory and its content.
• Go back to the Command Prompt and then type the same command: mklink /J «%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup» «c:\itunesbackup.» Ensure to use the quotes.

• As you have created the symbolic link successfully, you can now connect the two directories and change the iTunes backup locations in Windows 10.
• From now all your new iTunes backups are transferred to the «C:\itunesbackup» or the location that you have select.

Part 3- Best Alternative for iTunes to Backup or Restore your Data

Sometimes you may find it difficult to restore your iPhone’s data through the computer as iTunes backup cannot be open on PC. It is one of the limitations of Apple phones. But with the help of Dr.Fone-Phone Backup (iOS), you can open the backup file on a PC, and it can also restore to a different phone.

Notes: I can’t open iTunes backup on win 10; why?

When you found an iTunes backup file in Windows 10, the files may get encrypted with long character strings or file names. It means you can’t read the iTunes backup files. You might not be able to open iTunes backup location windows 10 and receive an error message for the same. Following are some of the reasons for not opening iTunes:

• Not Enough Space Available on this Computer
• iTunes could Not Recognize your Device
• The Lockdown Folder is Corrupt
• Security Software Conflicting with iTunes
• The device is Not Compatible for Requested Build

To open iTunes and restore the Backup and view the files, you will need to use a professional tool like Dr.Fone-Phone Backup (iOS). It helps to extract data from iTunes backup files or view iTunes backup files on window 10.

With Dr.Fone Phone Backup, you can open the backup files on a PC and even restore all the data to a different phone. Further, it enables you to selectively restore all content from iCloud Backup to your iPhone without disturbing the existing data present on the device.

Moreover, it helps to back up the iTunes data selectively as well as freely.

Dr.Fone offers an easy way for iTunes Backup on Window 10

4,039,074 people have downloaded it

• With just one click, you can take a backup of your photos, videos, audios, contacts, call logs, bookmarks, and so much more to your computer.
• There is a provision to maintain different versions of backup files instead of overwriting your data.
• The application also lets us preview an existing backup’s data on its interface and selectively restore it to our phone.
• You can restore the saved Dr.Fone backup to the same or any other device with no compatibility issues.
• The application can also restore an iTunes, iCloud, or Google Drive backup to the target device.

It is essential for backing up the iPhone data regularly. Dr.Fone offers the easiest and flexible ways to Backup and restores all your data in your iPhone. The best part restores the Dr.Fone data backup and restores all the iTunes and iCloud backup files without affecting any other data.

Let’s find out how you find and restore iPhone backup file location windows 10 with the help of Dr.Fone-Phone Backup (iOS).

Step 1: Backup iPhone Data to the system

To start with, launch the Dr.Fone toolkit, open the Phone Backup module, and connect your device. From the provided options, choose to backup your iPhone data.

Now, the application will display an extensive list of various data types that you can save. Here, you can select what you wish to include in the backup or select all files.

That’s it! You can now click on the “Backup” button and wait for a while as the application would back up your data to the computer. When the process is completed, it will let you know to go to the location where your backup is saved and check it.

Step 2: Restore a previous backup to your iPhone

The process for restoring an existing backup to your iOS device is also pretty simple. Once you connect your iPhone and launch the application, select the “Restore” feature from its home.

You can view various options to restore a backup from different sources to your iPhone from the sidebar. Choose to restore Dr.Fone backup files to get a list of the available backup options.

After selecting and loading a backup file, its content would be displayed on the interface under different sections. You can preview the data here, select what you wish to get back, and directly restore it to the connected device.

Where are iPad and iPhone backups stored on PC or Mac?

If you accidentally deleted some information from an iOS device and hope to recover it, an iTunes backup can be a great help.

iTunes backups happen automatically, each time you connect your iPad or iPhone with iTunes (if you didn’t turn on the iCloud Backup option), or manually, when you right-click the device in iTunes and choose ‘’Back Up’’. They are saved on your computer and contain important data, such as contacts, text messages, calendar, notes, call history and app data.

So where are iPhone or iPad backups stored? It depends on which operating system your computer is using, although the default backup location is the same between iOS versions.

Where is the iTunes backup folder on Windows?

iTunes backups are stored in %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync on Windows.

On Windows 10, 8, 7 or Vista, this’ll be a path like \Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup .

With Windows XP that’d be similar to \Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup .

The Microsoft Store version of iTunes is a little different: it stores its backups under %HOMEPATH%\Apple\MobileSync . That’ll be a path like \Users\[USERNAME]\Apple\MobileSync\Backup .

Where is the iTunes backup folder on macOS / OS X?

iTunes backups are stored in

/Library/Application Support/MobileSync on macOS.

That folder is typically at /Users/[USERNAME]/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup .

In macOS 10.15, Finder creates iPhone backups, instead of iTunes. However, these backups are stored in the same location.

How to find the iTunes backup folder automatically

iPhone Backup Extractor automatically finds the iTunes backup folder for you, and can open it with a click. This functionality is in the free version, so this won’t cost a thing.

1. Download and install iPhone Backup Extractor
2. Open the Preferences window from the app’s pull-down menu
3. Select the Backups tab.
4. Where the window says «We always look for backups in your default folder», click the «default folder» link. Easy!

iPhone Backup Extractor showing the default iTunes backup folder

Opening the iTunes backup folder on Windows

Open the default Backup location in Explorer using the Windows Run command. Press ⊞ Win + R and the Run window should appear. Enter %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync and press ⏎ Enter .

For the Microsoft Store version of iTunes, you could do this: Press ⊞ Win + R and the Run window should appear. Enter %HOMEPATH%\Apple\MobileSync and press ⏎ Enter .

Here’s what this looks like on Windows 10:

Find iTunes backups on Windows 10

The Explorer window that opens will show a folder named «Backup». This contains any iTunes backups which are already present on the computer.

Finding the iTunes backup folder on macOS

The default backup location can be shown in Finder using Spotlight. Pressing ⌘ Cmd + and type

/Library/Application Support/MobileSync before pressing ⏎ Enter .

The Finder window that opens will show a folder named «Backup». This contains any iTunes backups which are already present on the computer.

Changing the iTunes backup folder location?

If you’d like to change the folder that iTunes backups up to by default, we have a handy guide in our support centre.