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.

Relocating user folders in Windows 7 & Windows 10

This article is not being maintained. I suggest that you look in TenForumsTutorials for updated guidance.

1 Introduction

Your own files are created, by default, in subfolders of C:\Users\YourUserName [your «user folders»]. If you have more than a single drive in your computer you can do better than this default. You can «relocate» your user folders to a different hard drive and so reduce the storage space used on your OS drive.

• Windows provides reliable methods for relocating your user folders. You can also relocate your user folders by editing the Registry if you have made mistakes using Windows’ intended methods.
• I have relocated my own user folders. As a result, my OS drive usage is never more than about 40GB.
• Even on a computer that only has an 80GB drive for the OS & its applications, I am never going to fill up the OS drive.
• On other computers, I can use a fast 120GB SSD for my OS & my applications and just use a larger but slower HDD for my own files such as my music collection — this is how the combination of SSD & HDD is intended to be used.
• Because my OS drive usage is so low, I can make system images within about 25 minutes even on my oldest computer.

In section 2, I explain how to use Windows’ intended methods for relocating user files.

In section 3 [optional], I explain how to use the Registry to edit relocations.

In section 4 [optional] , I explain how to get back to where you started if you make mistakes editing the Registry.

In section 5 [optional] , I explain something that might otherwise be a distraction during Registry editing.

In section 6 [optional] , I explain why I did not make use of some other Registry procedures related to user folder relocation.

In section 7 [optional] , I state some of the additional benefits of user folder relocation.

In section 8 [optional] , I comment on some additional yet similar features of Windows 10.

I believe that this procedure can be followed by any user.

— Whilst the whole thing might look daunting, each step is explained fully & with unskilled users in mind at all times.

— You can just use section 2 of the procedure, consider sections 7 & 8 and just ignore the rest.

— If you have any problems then Ask a question, copy this link to this forum article Relocating user folders in Windows 7 & Windows 10 into your question & explain where you are stuck.

— Using the link and referring to specific para numbers of this article will make it easier for you to explain, and for others to understand, how far you have got & what is stopping you progressing further.

— This is a user-to-user mutual support forum where users ask questions and users answer questions.

— Relocating user folders is not an unusual procedure and lots of users who have done it on their own computers will be able to help.

2 Windows’ intended methods for relocating user files

• Your user name is shown, amongst other places, in the name of your folder at C:\Users\YourUserName I refer to your user name as YourUserName all the way through the instructions. Just substitute your own user name wherever you read YourUserName.
• I refer to the target drive as K: all the way through just to avoid endlessly repeating E: or F: or . whatever is the drive letter for the drive you want to move your user folders to. Just substitute your chosen drive letter wherever you read K:.

2.1 Create a K:\Documents folder.

2.2 Check permissions for K:\Documents by right-clicking on the folder, selecting Properties then the Security tab.

• The entries will probably be okay but it is easier to change them now rather than later.
• Looking at the existing entries does not commit you to changing anything. You can just have a look then Cancel.
• The first time I relocated my user folders I left all the permissions as they were and did not suffer at all.
• You might well read the following notes about permissions then just do the same as I did — decide to worry about the subject later.

• The entry Administrators is a group name that includes all the Admin accounts that you create on the computer.
• The entry Authenticated users is a group name that includes all the users who can log in to the computer [both Admin users & Standard users] except for the special-purpose Guest account type .
• The entry Users is a group name that includes all the users who can log in to the computer [Admin users, Standard users & special-purpose Guest users]. The Users group name may not appear at all, particularly on Windows 10.
• You will normally want to allow both Administrators & Authenticated users to have these permissions — Full control, Modify, Read & execute, List folder contents, Read, Write. You should find that these are the permissions already set up so you will not need to change anything.
• If the existing settings do not suit you then click on the Advanced button and change them.
• I urge you not to remove any permissions for the Administrators group as that can have serious implications if you ever need to use an Admin account to sort out problems on your computer.
• Consider removing permissions for any Users group name that does appear. You can generally achieve whatever you want by setting permissions for Authenticated users so having permissions for Users [i.e. for, in effect, any potential Guest users] would be surplus to practical requirements.
• Changing permissions can get confusing. If, for example, you wanted to remove permissions just for an individual Standard [non-Admin, not a Guest] user called Fred but to retain them for your own account YourUserName, you would have to remove permissions for the Authenticated users group as a whole and then add selected ones just for Fred and another set of selected ones for YourUserName [unless you are always going to be happy for your own account to remain an Admin account in which case you could just rely on having left all Administrators group permissions as they were].

2.3 Copy the contents, including all subfolders, of C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents into K:\Documents [just its contents not the C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents folder itself].

• When you are happy that the copying task has completed correctly, delete the contents of C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents [again, just the contents not the folder itself].
• Copying then deleting originals is slightly better than moving because it imposes the intended set of K:\Documents permissions onto the folders & files as they are copied. It is possible for old & possibly unintended permissions to slip through if you just move everything.
• Note that in the next step, Windows will offer to move the files across for you but it can get really awkward if it fails so it is safer to do this yourself beforehand.

2.4 Right-click on the now-empty C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents folder, select Properties then select the Location tab.

• Overwrite its current entry with K:\Documents. Windows will offer to move the now-empty folder, accept the offer.
• If you try to set a user folder to the same location that another user folder has been set to then Windows will warn you but will then allow you to do it. Windows will also warn you that you will not be able to relocate them in the future [but, despite this, you will be able to do so using the procedure given in sections 3-6 of this article].

2.5 Repeat steps 2.1 — 2.4 for these other user folders [I have shown the folders I moved them to just by way of example. It suited my intended backup plan to separate some items into a different folder called DataSettings.]

• Music K:\Documents\Music,
• Pictures K:\Documents\Pictures,
• Videos K:\Documents\Videos,
• [IE] Favorites K:\DataSettings\Favorites,
• Searches K:\DataSettings\Searches,
• Links** K:\DataSettings\Links.

[**Windows 10 — Links is the «Quick access» entry that appears at the top of the File explorer Navigation pane.]

[**Windows 7 — Links is the «Favorites» entry that appears at the top of the Windows explorer Navigation pane.]

2.6.1 IE downloads folder

• Open Internet explorer then go to Tools [the gearwheel icon on the top right],View downloads,Options [in the very bottom-left corner and very easy to miss].
• Overwrite its current entry with your chosen folder.

2.6.2 [Windows 10] Edge downloads folder

2.7 [Windows 10] Screenshots folder

• An additional user folder exists in Windows 10 — the Screenshots folder.
• My advice about using this facility and relocating its folder is in Capturing screen contents — the PrntScrn key, Win-Shift-S, the Snipping tool and Screenshots — Forum article

3 Using the Registry — checking, backing up & editing relocations

• It might be possible to alter many Location settings in the Registry manually in the first place instead of using the intended procedure in section 2 but I have only ever looked at it afterwards to fix errors.
• Since this section involves editing the Registry the usual warnings apply [back up everything, make a system image, test the System repair disk / Windows installation disk / Windows 10 Recovery drive so you know you can boot up with something to be able to restore the image if Windows won’t co-operate]. I have included what I regard as the minimum Registry backup requirement in para 3.4 below.

3.1 Open RegEdit [C:\Windows\regedit.exe] — I always open it by right-clicking and selecting Run as Admin but I don’t think that is essential for the particular keys used in this task.

3.2 [Windows 10 Ver 1703 & later only] Paste this into the RegEdit address bar,in place of its existing entry, to get straight to the right «key»

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

3.3 [Windows 7, Windows 10 Ver 1607 & earlier] Pick your way through the Registry hierarchy manually to get to the right «key»

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

3.4 My minimum Registry backup recommendation

• In the Navigation pane on the left, select the «key» HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders then right-click on it & select Export.
• Give it whatever name you want, I would use CurrentUser-UserShellFolders.
• Its default format is .reg and I urge you to accept that.
• Export it to a convenient folder such as your desktop.
• If you make a mess of changing this part of the Registry then you will be able to use the exported file to restore it to its original state [see section 4 below].
• If you want to read the contents of the .reg file then you can either right-click on it & select Edit or open Notepad & drag the .reg file into its window. It is a lot easier to read a .reg file’s contents than it would be if you had exported it as a .txt file because its layout is considerably clearer.

3.5 Find the Personal entry [ the Personal «Name» or «Value name»] in the right-hand side. Look at its Data column [its «Data» or «Value data»] — this is the path for its user folder.

• Personal means Documents / My documents; some of the other user folders have sensible names.
• If you need to change the entry in the Data column, double-click on Personal to open up its dialog box then overwrite its Value data with the full path you want.
• Entering a path that does not exist or to which your user account does not have access can cause confusing results so it is worth using File explorer / Windows explorer to go to the intended folder first and then to copy-paste [Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V] its full path across from the explorer‘s address bar.

3.6 Check the values of these other user folders and use the same procedure to change them if necessary.

• Music [shown as My music],
• Pictures [shown as My pictures],
• Videos [shown as My video],
• Links [shown as ],
• Searches [shown as ],
• [Windows 7 only] IE downloads [shown as ]
• [Windows 10 only] Screenshots [shown as ] — this entry only exists once Screenshots has been used at least once [see para 2.7 above]

3.7 Use the procedure in para 3.4 above to save a copy of the new entries. I suggest calling the exported file something like CurrentUser-UserShellFolders-Amended.reg

3.8.1 [Windows 10 only] IE downloads folder

• The Registry entry for IE downloads is normally only created by the act of changing the entry using the normal method given in para 2.6.1 above but it can also be created manually in the Registry. However it is created, it can thereafter be changed in the Registry.
• This relevant entry is in the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main so paste that into RegEdit’s address bar to get straight there [Ver 1703 & above only] or browse to it manually [Ver 1607 & earlier].
• Export this key’s initial state using the procedure in para 3.4 above. Don’t forget that you are working on a different key to the one you used for most of these changes. I suggest that you call the exported file IEDownloads.reg rather than using the name of the whole key Main because that would not mean much to you later on & it could so easily get mixed up with the equivalent Edge download folder key.
• Find the Default Download Directory entry in the right-hand side & look at its Data column — this is the path for the IE downloads user folder.
• If the Default Download Directory entry does not yet exist, right-click on a clear area of the right-hand side, select New, String value then paste Default Download Directory into the now-highlighted entry New value #1 and check that the result is exactly Default Download Directory [without any remnant of New value #1 left in its name] then enter a Data value for it using the procedure given in para 3.5 above.
• If you need to change an existing entry then use the procedure given in para 3.5 above.
• If you create or change the entry then export the key’s final state using the procedure in para 3.4 above. I suggest that you call the exported file IEDownloads-Amended.reg

3.8.2 [Windows 10 only] Edge downloads folder

• The Registry entry for Edge downloads is normally only created by the act of changing the entry using the normal method given in para 2.6.2 above but it can also be created manually in the Registry. However it is created, it can thereafter be changed in the Registry.
• For both creating & editing the relevant Registry entry, see the procedure in option 2 of Change Edge default downloads folder — TenForums
• Before you start, export this key’s initial state using the procedure in para 3.4 above. Don’t forget that you are working on a different key to the one you used for most of these changes. I suggest that you call the exported file EdgeDownloads.reg rather than using the name of the whole key Main because that would not mean much to you later on & it could so easily get mixed up with the equivalent IE download folder key.
• If you create or change the entry then export the key’s final state using the procedure in para 3.4 above. I suggest that you call the exported file EdgeDownloads-Amended.reg

4 Using the Registry — restoring original settings

If you want to restore Registry settings for a key that you have changed then all you need to do is double-click on the .reg file that you exported before you starting editing it.

• This procedure is called mergingthe key rather than running the file.
• You will need to give your confirmation a couple of times.
• Afterwards, a success dialog is displayed.

5 Using the Registry — a potential distraction

A few lines up from the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders entry you have been working in for most of the user folders there is an entry for Shell folders.

• Many of the entries in User shell folders are repeated in Shell folders.
• I always edit the entries in User shell folders not Shell folders.
• I have never found a use for Shell folders and have never bothered experimenting with it because it contains the warning !Do not use this registry key.
• I mention the existence of Shell folders merely because you might otherwise notice it & think that something had gone wrong.

6 Using the Registry — why I do not go further

Whilst I have seen some forum threads claiming that further Registry edits can achieve more than using the Location tab can [and therefore more than my procedures cover], I did not find any convincing evidence that they worked reliably.

• One Windows 7 user had relocated the whole of the user profile [the whole of C:\Users\YourUserName] by editing the Registry but subsequent attempts to run a Repair install failed — the system just said that it could not work with the unexpected folder locations that it discovered & then gave up.
• The procedure I have given you does not run this risk.
• Repair installs can be such effective recovery procedures that I decided not to consider anything that would jeopardise them.

7 Some additional benefits of user folder relocation

The separation of your own data files from Windows & its applications does not just free up space on the Windows drive, it also makes it more convenient for you to make regular system images of the Windows drive that are almost certainly going to be 40GB or smaller & only take 25 minutes or less to do. If you had all your data files on the same drive as your OS & its applications then the total size might be so great that it could be huge & take ages to do so you might never bother.

• An up-to-date system image gives you excellent disaster recovery capabilities as your response to serious system corruption could then simply be to boot from a System repair disk, Windows installation USB/DVD or [Windows 10] Recovery drive and restore the image, i.e. restore the OS drive to exactly what was on it at the time the image was made. This restoration can also take only about 25 minutes or less.
• If my initial attempts to fix a fault do not work then I stop trying to be clever and just restore the latest system image.
• I now make regular system images on external drives and can therefore recover from disasters reliably & quickly.
• You can confidently chase faults or just conduct experiments knowing that you will be able to get back to square one even if it all goes horribly wrong.
• With separate Windows & data file drives, you would continue to make straightforward file backups of your own files on your data drive.

8 Related features within Windows 10

8.1 See Start button, Settings, System, Storage, Change where new content is saved.

• You can choose a different drive for new Apps, for user folders & for offline maps.
• It allows you to choose drives to use for your user folders but I prefer using the procedure I have described above because it also allows me to choose specific folders instead of just drives.

8.2 I used this facility to relocate downloaded maps [for the Maps app] to my drive F:.

• This decision relieves my Windows drive [C:] of the burden of holding 10GB of maps and so reduces the size of my regular system images.
• Drive F is actually a small 10GB partition on the very large drive I use for my own files.
• Because I have chosen to save my Maps in drive F, I ought to include drive F in system images but I only do so once in a blue moon when I add or update any maps.
• My system image software is Acronis True Image and I can choose whichever drives I want for imaging [I believe that Macrium Reflect Free has the same capability].
• If I was using Windows to create my system images I would have to include both drive C and drive F in every image and that would add 10GB to every image I made. I appreciate that an extra 10GB is hardly the end of the world.