4 ms·

I'm struggling to figure out exactly which directory structure Windows has changed every major release -- are you referring to when "Documents and Settings" was

I'm struggling to figure out exactly which directory structure Windows has changed every major release -- are you referring to when "Documents and Settings" was renamed to "Users" with the release of Windows Vista in 2006? Or perhaps you are talking about when they added "Program Files (x86)" with the introduction of 64-bit support in Windows XP, dating back to 2001... I believe it used to default to installing Windows NT to C:\WINNT... but that was almost certainly longer ago than you're suggesting. To be fair, the Desktop also used to live at C:\WINDOWS\Desktop, but there are some pretty good reasons why it doesn't any longer.

MadcapJake 5y ago
When did ProgramData and AppData become a thing? Is there a guide somewhere about what should be placed in each folder? Local, LocalLow, Roaming? Seems like there are several competing conventions.
- wbkang 5y ago
  ProgramData is the global application storage. AppData has been there since at least XP. Local is intended to be specific to this computer whereas roaming is something that is user specific that can be available across machines. The closest thing I can find is this https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/knownfolderid https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/knownfo...
  - jopsen 5y ago
    Compared to the XDG directory specification that MSDN link is garbage. Just my personal opinion.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  Sometime before 2008 (and, since the change isn't the kind MS tends to do during a major OS version lifecycle, probably with or prior to the release of Vista in 2007) though the documentation on it (not just when it happened, but how to use them best) seems to be well-obscured. But here's a post originally from 2008 covering Windows Vista which is the least-bad coverage of ProgramData/AppData I can find: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-blog-archive/where-should-i-write-program-data-instead-of-program-files/ba-p/228513 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-blog-archive/... (My personal recollection is that it is much earlier, at least back to XP, but I could be wrong, so I’ll go with what I can find documented.)
  - noisem4ker 5y ago
    XP introduced Documents and Settings. Vista changed that to Users.
dark-star 5y ago
In Win9x, it was c:\windows\desktop etc., before windows became multi-user, when it moved to c:\windows\profiles\xxx\desktop and later to C:\Users\xxx\Desktop. But only on US installations, in international versions it was c:\benutzer\xxx\desktop or whatever the translation of "users" was. That is until windows 7 (I think) when they moved to the English name for all systems, and had the UI (Explorer) translate it, which led to strange issues that Explorer shows "C:\Benutzer\x\Desktop" while the command prompt shows "C:\Users\x\Desktop" On some versions it was also "C:\Documents and Settings\...", it is so convoluted that even I don't remember all the specifics, but yes, it was a total mess, especially on non-english installations

MadcapJake 5y ago

When did ProgramData and AppData become a thing? Is there a guide somewhere about what should be placed in each folder? Local, LocalLow, Roaming? Seems like there are several competing conventions.

wbkang 5y ago
ProgramData is the global application storage. AppData has been there since at least XP. Local is intended to be specific to this computer whereas roaming is something that is user specific that can be available across machines. The closest thing I can find is this https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/knownfolderid https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/knownfo...
- jopsen 5y ago
  Compared to the XDG directory specification that MSDN link is garbage. Just my personal opinion.
dragonwriter 5y ago
Sometime before 2008 (and, since the change isn't the kind MS tends to do during a major OS version lifecycle, probably with or prior to the release of Vista in 2007) though the documentation on it (not just when it happened, but how to use them best) seems to be well-obscured. But here's a post originally from 2008 covering Windows Vista which is the least-bad coverage of ProgramData/AppData I can find: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-blog-archive/where-should-i-write-program-data-instead-of-program-files/ba-p/228513 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-blog-archive/... (My personal recollection is that it is much earlier, at least back to XP, but I could be wrong, so I’ll go with what I can find documented.)
- noisem4ker 5y ago
  XP introduced Documents and Settings. Vista changed that to Users.

dark-star 5y ago

In Win9x, it was c:\windows\desktop etc., before windows became multi-user, when it moved to c:\windows\profiles\xxx\desktop and later to C:\Users\xxx\Desktop. But only on US installations, in international versions it was c:\benutzer\xxx\desktop or whatever the translation of "users" was. That is until windows 7 (I think) when they moved to the English name for all systems, and had the UI (Explorer) translate it, which led to strange issues that Explorer shows "C:\Benutzer\x\Desktop" while the command prompt shows "C:\Users\x\Desktop" On some versions it was also "C:\Documents and Settings\...", it is so convoluted that even I don't remember all the specifics, but yes, it was a total mess, especially on non-english installations