How to open your user profile folder in Windows

In Windows, your user profile folder is a special folder containing files and folders pertaining only to you. It contains your Desktop, your Documents, and personal data such as your application preferences.

Files in the user profile folder are private to you. If other people use your computer, they cannot view and change the files in your user profile folder, unless they are an administrator. The same permissions apply to all subdirectories of your profile directory, such as your Desktop directory, your Documents directory, etc.

Where is the user profile folder?

Your user profile folder is located in the Users folder on your Windows system drive, which on most computers is C:.

In the Users folder, your profile folder name is the same as your username. If your username is hope, your user profile folder is located at C:\Users\hope\.

The %USERPROFILE% environment variable

If you’re not sure what your username is, you can always get to your profile folder using the environment variable %USERPROFILE%.

An environment variable is a special word containing a value. The %USERPROFILE% variable contains the path of your user profile folder.

Using %USERPROFILE% in File Explorer

In your File Explorer, the location bar shows the name of the folder you’re viewing. It works like an address bar in a web browser. You can type a location on your computer into the location bar, and File Explorer opens that folder.

As shown in the following steps, if you type %USERPROFILE% in the location bar, File Explorer opens your profile folder.

Open a new File Explorer window. You can open it from the Start menu (Windows System → File Explorer).

Or, press the keyboard shortcut Windows key + E (hold down the Windows key and press E).

Click in the location bar.

Type %USERPROFILE% and press Enter .

1. File Explorer opens your user profile folder and displays its contents. The title bar of the window and your location bar both display your full login name.

Using %USERPROFILE% in Command Prompt

If you use the Windows Command Prompt, you can use the cd command with %USERPROFILE% to change the current directory to your profile folder.

1. Open the Command Prompt. For example, press Windows key + R to open the run box, then type cmd and press Enter .

1. Your command prompt displays the current directory, followed by a >.

By default, when you open a new Command Prompt window, the current directory is your user profile folder.

1. To change to your profile folder at any time, use the cd command:

1. You can also use the echo command to display the value of %USERPROFILE%.

To view your username, use echo %USERNAME%.

For more information about environment variables, see: What are the default environment variables in Windows?

Why do I need to open the profile folder?

Usually, you don’t need to open your profile folder directly. The Quick Access shortcuts on the left side of the File Explorer window (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, etc.) already point to the major folders in your profile directory.

As a general rule, you should not rearrange the files and folders that already exist in your profile directory, because Windows expects them to have certain names and locations. For instance, do not move or rename your Desktop folder.

However, you can put files and folders in your profile directory if you choose.

Also, some tasks, such as adding items to your Startup folder, require you know the location of your profile folder.

Access to shared folder on Windows 10

I have a computer on a network that I upgraded to Windows 10. That is running on bootcamp. I was able to map to a shared computer on the network running windows 7 initially and set up a link to a specific shared folder on the desktop. Adter a few days the win10 compiter can no longer connect to the shared folder.

I have made sure that all permission are correct on both computers to allow them to interact as well as ensured they were in the same workgroup on the network. I have tried about 10 different fixes from the internet with no success.

The win10 pc has full access to the internet and the rest of the network but it will not connect to this specific computer. I am pulling my hair out so any suggestions would help.

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Thank you for posting on Microsoft Communities.

I will be glad to help you with the issue you have with the computer. I understand the frustration when things don’t work the way it should.

Try giving full permissions to the folder and then try accessing it.

To set folder permission, refer the below steps:

1. Right-click the folder and select Properties.
2. Click on the Security tab.
3. Click Advanced in the lower right.
4. In the Advanced Security Settings window that pops up, click on the Owner tab.
5. Click Edit.
6. Click Other users or groups.
7. Click Advanced in the lower left corner.
8. Click Find Now.
9. Scroll through the results and double-click on your current user account.
10. Click OK to all of the remaining windows except the first Properties window.
11. Select your user account from the list up top and click Edit.
12. Select your user account from the list up top again and then in the pane below, check Full control under Allow, or as much control as you need.
13. You’ll get a security warning, click Yes.

Step 2:

1. Open ‘My computer’.

2. On the tool bar, click on ‘Map Network Drive’.

3. Then under folder, enter your network drive’s name followed by the folder name.

For example, if your network drive name is ‘ STORAGE-0B74’ and the folder name is ‘Public’,

you need to enter as \\STORAGE-0B74\Public

Step 3:

Temporary disable Windows Firewall service

1. Press Windows + R, type «services.msc» (without quotation marks) in the open box and press Enter.

Note: If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.

2. Right click the » Windows Firewall » service and choose Properties.

3. Click «Startup type» option and click «Disabled».

4. Click OK and share the printer again.

If the issue persists, please proceed to the next steps to verify service.

Verify Network settings

1. Go to Control Panel.

2. Double click Network and Sharing Center.

3. Select «Change advanced sharing settings» option in the right panel.

4. Please turn on «Network discovery» and «File and printer sharing».

Hope this information is useful. Please post in case you have any further issues, I will be glad to help you further.

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Thank you Ruth! I have spent the last two days acouring the internet to find each of these solutions. I ahould have stopped here and asked first because this is the most coherent well laid out answer that anyone has provided! Thank you.

Unfortunately, none of these solutions have worked for me and I have done them on both computers in question. I have granted full access and permissions to the single user as well as full access to everone on the network. Neither worked. I disabled the firewalls to no avail. I have updated the network settings on both computers as stated in tour last step. None of this helped.

I also saw online that maybe the encryption was an issueso I switched that but it didnt help either.

The weird thing is I was able to set the drive up and access it fine for about a week then all of a sudden the w10 computer can no longer connect to the file. I cant find where any of the sertings changed between those two conditions.

Thank you again for the well laid out response. I am hoping you may have some more tricks up your sleeve!

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I tried the suggested fix and I too did not get anywhere, specifically because I had no «Owner» Tab. SOOOOO I played around and got it working by doing the following:

1. Right-click the Public folder and select Properties.

2. Click the Sharing tab in Public Properties. This will open the File Sharing window for the Public folder.

3. Using the pull down menu (where it says «Type a name and click add, or click the arrow to find someone» , select Everyone.

5. Select the appropriate permission level (I chose Read/Write).

After a few minutes, It may ask if you want to do the same with other public folders like music and videos. I chose yes, but you can choose whatever you want. After that it worked for me.

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Thank you for posting on Microsoft Communities.

I will be glad to help you with the issue you have with the computer. I understand the frustration when things don’t work the way it should.

Try giving full permissions to the folder and then try accessing it.

To set folder permission, refer the below steps:

1. Right-click the folder and select Properties.
2. Click on the Security tab.
3. Click Advanced in the lower right.
4. In the Advanced Security Settings window that pops up, click on the Owner tab.
5. Click Edit.
6. Click Other users or groups.
7. Click Advanced in the lower left corner.
8. Click Find Now.
9. Scroll through the results and double-click on your current user account.
10. Click OK to all of the remaining windows except the first Properties window.
11. Select your user account from the list up top and click Edit.
12. Select your user account from the list up top again and then in the pane below, check Full control under Allow, or as much control as you need.
13. You’ll get a security warning, click Yes.

Step 2:

1. Open ‘My computer’.

2. On the tool bar, click on ‘Map Network Drive’.

3. Then under folder, enter your network drive’s name followed by the folder name.

For example, if your network drive name is ‘ STORAGE-0B74’ and the folder name is ‘Public’,

you need to enter as \\STORAGE-0B74\Public

Step 3:

Temporary disable Windows Firewall service

1. Press Windows + R, type «services.msc» (without quotation marks) in the open box and press Enter.

Note: If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.

2. Right click the » Windows Firewall » service and choose Properties.

3. Click «Startup type» option and click «Disabled».

4. Click OK and share the printer again.

If the issue persists, please proceed to the next steps to verify service.

Verify Network settings

1. Go to Control Panel.

2. Double click Network and Sharing Center.

3. Select «Change advanced sharing settings» option in the right panel.

4. Please turn on «Network discovery» and «File and printer sharing».

Hope this information is useful. Please post in case you have any further issues, I will be glad to help you further.

1. DISABLE WINDOWS UPDATE/UPGRADE

2. ADD USER «EVERYONE» TO SHARED FOLDER AND MAKE FULL ACCESS PREMISSIONS TO IT.

3. DISABLE USE SHARING WITH PASSWORD IN WINDOWS 10 — CHANGE ADVANDED SHARING SETTINGS -> ALL NETWORKS -> TURN OFF PASSWORD-PROTECTED SHARING

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How to get access to Users folders on an old hard drive after installing on new drive?

Last week, Windows 10, in its infinite ineptitude, decided to irreparably corrupt itself during an update. I decided that since I was going to have to install it again anyway, and go through the process of ridding myself of as much Windows 10 crap as I could, I may as well take the opportunity to get an SSD drive. I also did this because I wanted to make sure that none of my files on my old hard drive were lost, and I don’t trust Windows to not delete things even when I tell it to not during a Reset.

Anyway, all went fine, I installed Windows again, and took the hour or so to turn off all the «GIVE US ALL YOUR DATA. » settings! And to get Coratana to stop telling me that the nearest Italian restaurant was 200 miles away. Gee, Microsoft..did it never occur to you that other than mobile devices (of which, Microsoft pretty much as a ZERO percent market share), people using Windows don’t have GPS on their device, and that the cable providers IP does not point to your address?

So, after going through all that, I set out to reinstall some programs. I purposely left all the installed programs in my old Downloads folder for just this very occasion. However, when I tried to click down to that folder. again..on my OLD hard drive that has nothing to do with Windows anymore, it refused to let me into my old Users folder. Saying I needed permission. It said to click to get permission, but when I did, the little green bar slowly went across the top of the window, before doing. NOTHING. I click again, and get he same error about now having permission.

I tried right clicking to get to properties and adding my new user (which is the same name as the user was on my old set up) and it allowed me to choose Full Access for my user. and yet it STILL won’t let me open pretty much any folder on my old C: partition. Which of course, includes the folders that Microsoft. who knows what’s best for me because it thinks I’m a child. uses as default. So, my documents, my videos, my downloads, etc. Are all cut off from me.

Now, to be clear, my user account has Administrator permission and is the only user account. But it still won’t let me in. I CAN get in by enabling the main Administrator account, but running as full administrator is not a good solution. Microsoft has been hammering the point home that that is BAD for security for years. So now it seems like if I want to rescue the files that are being held hostage, I have to forfeit security and use my computer with full

Am I wrong? Is there any way to be able to access these files? I could try copying the Users folder to my new hard drive (while as Administrator) but won’t that copy over the permissions settings? So either way, if I ever try to go back to my regular User account (with administrator privileges), I will always get that problem.

Replies (4) 

Hi HD. I’m Greg, an installation specialist and 9 year Windows MVP, here to help you.

What is the antivirus? I’d uninstall it and use built-in Defender to troubleshoot this.

If you type Defender Security Center in Start Search, open it, then choose Virus and Threat Protection Settings, is Controlled Folder Access turned On? Turn it off.

Also in Security Center under App and Browser Control, is Check Apps and Files set to Block? Change to Warn.

This may have been caused by Windows Updates. Check which Updates were installed right before the problem began, and if necessary uninstall them from Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Installed Update History.

You can also try to roll back using System Restore to a point before this began: http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/computing/how-t.

Then if the Update installs and causes the same problem again uninstall or roll it back again, then immediately hide it using the Hide Updates tool from Method Two here: https://www.askvg.com/fixing-windows-10-automat.

If necessary try taking ownership of any folders that won’t allow access: https://www.askvg.com/add-take-ownership-option.

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and let us know how it goes. I will keep working with you until it’s resolved.

________________________________________________________
Standard Disclaimer: There are links to non-Microsoft websites. The pages appear to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the sites that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the sites before you decide to download and install it.

Windows MVP 2010-20

Over 100,000 helped in forums in 10 years
I do not quit for those who are polite and cooperative.
I will walk you through any steps and will not let you fail.

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I am using Defender. for now. (That will be changed soon, as it if the least secure of all the free AV programs..by far.) But it is definitely not an AV issue. It is treating it as if I don’t have access rights to view a folder on a drive that has nothing to do with Windows, simply because it used to be a Windows user folder. That’s why I CAN get to it if I log on as the Administrator account after unhiding it. The problem is, though, that I don’t want to use the Administrator account as my every day account.

I don’t think you understood my situation. This is a brand new installation of Windows on a totally separate drive. My old one had an irreparable problem with Windows. (Which WAS caused by Windows Update..but in a way that could not be fixed.) And, once I realized I was going to have to reinstall all my programs from scratch again anyway, I decided to order an SSD drive and install that as my Windows drive and start totally from scratch. So, there is no system restore point to go back to.

Basically, what WAS my C:, D: and E: partitions on one HDD drive (with Windows being the C: partition) last week, is now my D:, G: and H: drive (Not sure why Windows assigned the other two partitions after the VD drive, but that is not a big deal.) So. last week when they were still my main drives, those folders WOULD have been protected against a new user trying to open them. So, had I created a new Windows login account and then tried to go to Users/Tom with it, I understand why it would not let me. But I don’t see why it won’t let me now. I don’t get why Windows still sees it as a Windows partition. as if my computer has two Windows partitions.

I opened Windows Defender Security Center. Controlled Folder Access is Off, and Check Apps and Files is set to Warn.

Like I said, I can get to them as Administrator. but not as a user with Administrative Permissions. I don’t know if I could just copy the entire Users folder to another drive and be able to open them there, or if those restrictions will just follow it wherever it goes. But because I don’t want to use the Administrator account as my every day account for security reasons, I also am stuck not being able to get everything set up the way I want it, between the privacy settings, and just installing my programs again. Because if I am able to figure out how to view it as a regular account, I would then have to do it all over again. This has already been a long 3-4 days, since this was an unexpected (and therefore, not prepared for) clean install of Windows after 2 days of using a Linux boot flash drive to try to tide me over until the SSD arrived. And I know I have several days of getting things just right anyway. so I don’t want to double up that time by having to do it all over again. Not to mention, the folder that I can’t get o has the install files of any of the programs I want to reinstall, and I want THOSE install files because I don’t want the newest version of many of the files. Which is another reason why I did keep all those in one central folder to make it easier in case this happened.

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Defender is perfectly adequate and assures best Windows performance, as most others cause problems we have to resolve here regularly. See chart below.

There is no reason to run a Standard Account since Admin is what Windows assigns when installed because it assumes you’re the owner. Otherwise you’ll be prompted for Admin permission for everything you want to change, and all this duplicative second-guessing doesn’t protect from intrusion — which is handled by UAC that would block intrusion anyway even in an Admin account.

Did you install to the SSD with the hard drive unplugged?

Please post a screenshot of Disk Management, which I read like a doctor reads X-rays. Follow the steps here so I can see everything needed to advise you: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/foru.

The best way to use an old Windows drive for data is to move the data off and wipe the drive with at least Diskpart Clean Command to wipe boot and partition code that can interfere like you’re experiencing. Then repartition in Disk Management.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/248980/how-to-p.

Otherwise you can try taking ownership of the old drive’s User folders: https://www.askvg.com/add-take-ownership-option.

Windows MVP 2010-20

Over 100,000 helped in forums in 10 years
I do not quit for those who are polite and cooperative.
I will walk you through any steps and will not let you fail.

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I’m fine with running an Admin account, but most security people say that is bad since it allows anything bad to take down the entire system. Especially since I have to respectfully disagree with you about Defender. Every single INDEPENDENT test shows Defender being middle of the pack, at best, for protection, especially for zero day exploits. And UAC doesn’t stop many virus behavior. But hat»s a moot point anyway, since like most people, I turn off UAC because I want a protection scheme that treats me like an adult and doesn’t nag me with «are you sure» after every decision I make like its my mommy and daddy. But one that also protects me from things that I DON’T choose to do. And Windows/UAC fails at both those. It nags, while doesn’t protect as well against things that try to come in without me knowing. This would be why when I borrowed an older woman’s laptop to help organized things while waiting for the SSD to arrive so I could get back on my computer, her system was absolutely trashed with viruses and malware. She relied on the Highest setting for UAC and Defender for her protection. Whereas, despite going to far riskier sites than her, I have never had a single virus infection and the only malware hits I get in scans are typical advertising ones, though even most of those I can take care of with a good HOSTS file (which reminds me that I need to copy that over.)

For the record, my old hard drive was totally disconnected when I installed Windows on the SSD drive. I’m guessing that the problem may be that it still has all the hidden Windows partitions on it, plus, obviously, that users folder WAS limited to my old user account (which has the same name as the one that I started with now) before, obviously. That’s why I have no problem getting into the G and H folders now, which, even though the G was labeled Programs, did not contain usual programs that would be installed into the registry or anything. In fact, many of them are fully functional now. So my last Windows installation wouldn’t have put any ownership onto them, so like the Media folder, they may as well be photos as far as Windows in concerned. And even the D. drive is available to me now. except the Users folder. Of course, all the other stuff is meaningless now since they ARE programs that have to be reinstalled. But the Users folder contains downloads, plus things I kept on my desktop.

I can copy them easily by booting Ubuntu again with the flash drive, but before I go trough all that hassle, I want to be sure that the permissions aren’t also on each file and that hey won’t be just copied over. Plus, when I get a mounting bracket tomorrow, I will have a second HDD installed as well. (I think that’s why there is a Disk 2 showing noting. I may not have unplugged the SATA cable when I realized I accidentally ordered a 2.5 to 3.5 mount adapter instead of a 2.5 to 5.25 for the SSD drive.) This entire other drive also shouldn’t cause any issues since it did not have any folders that would be «owned» by certain users. Although, ironically, it SHOULD have. When I changed to my current computer, I took the hard drive out of my old computer. But unlike this time, I never had any problems going to THAT drive’s User folder, even using a normal User Account (with administrator privileges) before the Windows crash. I don’t know if that was because the old computer was Windows 7 and maybe it handled the User folder permissions differently, but it never gave me a problem, and turned out to be one of the only folders from that old drive that I didn’t delete in the year and a half of using my current computer, because, again, my downloads and desktop folders on that were the ones that had the most stuff I wanted to recover.

I do intend to reformat that drive, and likely remove all the partitions. But that is really a moot point now. This was not a planned switch, so I could not do that before the reinstall.