Guys I've installed Windows 7 operating system on my PC and I need to access "Application Data" folder to back up some files. I can't access this folder and it gives some error message like this:C:\Users\Ani\application data is not accessible.Access is denied.please help.Thank you in advance.

Are you able to browse to the folder to see it?If not you need to go to the control panel and select folder options>view>show hidden files, folders and drives and select the box.hopefully your problem is as easy as that.

Anirudh51 said: Guys I've installed Windows 7 operating system on my PC and I need to access "Application Data" folder to back up some files. I can't access this folder and it gives some error message like this: C:\Users\Ani\application data is not accessible. Access is denied. please help. Thank you in advance. Hi anirudh51 Application Data is not an actual folder,it is a Junction which is only there for backward compatibility. A Junction is a shortcut that redirects files and programsto a different location.This particular Junction points to the C:Users\username\AppData\Roaming folder.There is a goodexplanation of Junction Points at the following website.Windows JunctionsHope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Beta Ronnie Vernon MVP

Thanks Ronnie,I had another reason to go into the Application Data folder (override a configuration file) and this explained the workings and allowed me to achieve what I set out to do.RegardsIan Asrock K8NF6P, AMD64 3200+, 1.5GB RAM, Palit Geforce 8400GS 256MB, 500GB Maxtor SataII, Asus 1814BLT optical

Application Data is an environment variable that is programmatically set. If you open a command prompt and type set, you will then see all of the environment variables that are available to you. Application Data is represented by the environment variable %appdata%. In Windows 2K/XP/2003 it pointed to c:\documents and settings\%username%\application data. In Vista and Windows 7, it now points to c:\users\%username%\appdata\roaming. If you ever need to refer to the Application Data directory, just type %appdata% in the Run dialog box, the Start menu search box, or at the command prompt. Also, if you are looking to use it in a batch file or a script, you definitely want to make use of the environment variable.

Open the Control Panel. Open Appearence and Personalization. Open Folder Options. Select the General tab. Select Show All Folders. Accept and close.

Open the Control Panel. Open Appearence and Personalization. Open Folder Options. Select the General tab. Select Show All Folders. Accept and close. Easier way is just to open any folder, hold down ALT and just select Tools > Folder Options

I tried to access the appdata folder myself. Just right click on the directory address and select 'edit address' and it let you type in the desired directory.

thx m8...that realy helped me.cause i couldnt access some folders i wanted on windows 7 .naw i can thx a lot

thanks a lot rufus! that one actually worked, all the other things people said to do didnt work for me at all. Thanks again!

Thanks for the nice simple reply... However, what do we use if we need to refer to the Local folder and not the Roaming folder? Under WinXP, I used %userprofile%\application data\ to store my data specifically because that folder did not sync with the users' roaming profile data. Is there a common enviroment variable that I can use in XP/Vista/Win7 that will result in a local folder that is not synced with a users' roaming profile folders? Thanks. Bill Fields

Thanks for the nice simple reply... However, what do we use if we need to refer to the Local folder and not the Roaming folder? Under WinXP, I used %userprofile%\application data\ to store my data specifically because that folder did not sync with the users' roaming profile data. Is there a common enviroment variable that I can use in XP/Vista/Win7 that will result in a local folder that is not synced with a users' roaming profile folders? Thanks. Bill Fields In Win7 (you have to check the other two) there is another environment variable for the Local Application Data path as well. LOCALAPPDATA=C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local

I had to go to: Control Panel/ Appearance & Personalization/Folder Options In the General Tab I checked: "Show all foders", in the View Tab I checked: "Show hidden folders" After that the folder "Application Data" would show in Explorer under C:\Users\%%name%%

Ronnie Tyhis is a totally useless answer> I would refer you to Electroshok's answer below. how u got the MVP is a mystery u probably should have W*N*K*R rather than MVP

This is my problem, exactly. The answer has to be something global on my Win7 configuration. I have done everything above. I am <username> , administrator, on Windows 7 pro configured for home use as installed. I can see all hidden and system folders. All the paths mentioned above are blocked at Application Data and below, Cookies, etc. Documents and Settings displays those shortcuts, and they are blocked with: "Location is not Available" and for example "C:\Users\Steve Donahue\Application Data is not accessible" Access is Denied. Again "Steve Donahue" is an administrator. Cookies is just a symptom: C:\Users\Steve Donahue\Application Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies Is likewise blocked at Application Data. Yet I can search on C: and find that path. I think that as long as navigating to C:\Documents and Settings shows D&S is a shortcut, I'm stuck. This is the last problem before I love Windows 7. Help appreciated. S/

Hi Don Many of the default folders that were present in Windows XP have had name changes starting with Windows Vista. The folders with the shortcut icon are either Symbolic Links or Junctions (AKA: Soft Links or Reparse Points). They are there for compatibility with older programs that are hard coded to look for those old folder names when the older program is installed. Here is what they look like. These folders have special properties that will redirect the old installer program to the new location in Windows 7. This allows the older program to install and work in Windows 7, seamlessly. A good example is the C:\Documents and Settings folder. This folder was used in previous versions (XP) to hold all of the users files. When an older program that was written for XP is installed, the Symbolic Link called Documents and Settings will redirect that installer to the new location in Windows 7, which is the C:\Users folder. Because they are very important, they all have the properties, Everyone = Access Denied. There are many of these Junctions in Windows 7. Windows has supported the use of Junctions for a long time, but they were not used extensively until Windows Vista. It is recommended that the user does not change any of the properties of these folders, since doing so can cause some installed programs to stop working or other behavior that can result in more serious problems. Here is a link with more information. Application Compatibility: Junction Points Regards, Ronnie Vernon MVP – Windows Desktop Experience

Ronnie, Thank you. I understand the rationale, and do appreciate that Windows 7 does such a good job with my XP programs. I know you have gone over this before, but this reply makes sense to me. ;-) It's a shame that this has to be done by clipping the Administrator's wings, but I honestly wouldn't have a better idea to insure backward compatibility. donEdonEsteban

OK, so we don't want to make any changes to the folder properties. But if an application installs using the XP file structure and creates an important data store that you want to backup or sync, the backup software wants to use the standard Windows Explorer view and therefore can't find the folder! Any suggestions. Many thanks.

OK, so we don't want to make any changes to the folder properties. But if an application installs using the XP file structure and creates an important data store that you want to backup or sync, the backup software wants to use the standard Windows Explorer view and therefore can't find the folder! Any suggestions. Many thanks. Hi You're not understanding the way these Junctions work. When an older program is installed that is hard coded to use the old windows folder names, the junctions are designed to automatically redirect the install program to the new folder location. Once this process is complete, that location is recorded as the location for the programs data store. If a Junctions permissions are changed, this can be problematic because the older installation program may be able to actually access (walk through) the Junction and this can result in unexpected behavior, such as a recursion (infinite loop). Backup programs designed to work on Windows 7 understand Junctions. Regards,Ronnie Vernon MVP – Windows Desktop Experience

PURFECT, was able to do what I needed to. thanks! good to know for future reference...

And for me, simply a serious user, being able to go through start>run> %appdata% takes me to the old and familiar, where I will look, and not touch, unless I want to run some known risks.donEsteban

Hi, I just want to ask if the issue I'm facing right now is related to this. My Case: In my program, when I click on a button function, let's say a backup operation, an open dialog will popup pointing to the application path. Ex: C:\Chloe\Backup which is in the local drive. This works when I'm in a WinXP OS, but when using a Win7 OS what happens is the popup will open pointing to a different path. Ex: C:\Users\chloe\Documents I've been reading about the roaming profile and folder redirection but can't seem to understand it well. Hoping for your help guys! Thanks!

Thanks! this worked for me, good stuff.

Some of those junctions (shortcuts) simply point to their current directory, for example: C:\>cd \Users\js\AppData\Local C:\Users\js\AppData\Local>dir /ah Volume in drive C is Windows Volume Serial Number is 008F-65F2 Directory of C:\Users\js\AppData\Local 02/23/2010 03:58 PM <JUNCTION> Application Data [C:\Users\js\AppData\Local] So if a program was allowed to keep following subdirectories and treated that junction like a subdirectory, it would get in an infinite loop. Sometimes I get bitten in the butt by this. For example, I can't run altiris rapidinstall as administrator without getting into a loop (plus it's only 32 bit). Also, I can't delete a folder in vbscript with one of these junctions in them, but 'rmdir /s /q' seems to work, for some reason.

Hello, For whatever reason, my file is missing but through search, I found it in this directory: C:\Users\(user name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent Items. I don't know how it ended in that foIder. I typed %appdata% in the Start menu search box and saw the missing file in the results. Can you please explain how my file ended in that directory and how can I restore it? I tried to double click to open the file but to no avail, this message appears: "The drive or network connection that the shortcut xxxxxxxxx refers to is unailable......." I am sure I did not save the file to some other disks but to my laptop only. Appreciate your help!

The recent items folder will only contain a shortcut to the original location of a file you have opened. If the file has been deleted/moved the shortcut will no longer work and give the error message you have described.

Hello everyone. I've got a problem that looks like this one but is not exactly the same;.. I installed windows 7 recently ( due to my SSD that needs TRIM which is not present under XP, otherwise I would have kept XP ... ) anyway. I m trying FROM windws 7 to access, on the otehr HDD, my "documenst and settings" folders from windows XP, but i cant go inside "application data" ... acess denied, and I dont have permissions to change anything in the "security tab" :/ Didnt find how to give me more rights than "administrator" in the control panel. Thought administrator would be able to go ANYWHERE on ANY HDD. this is one more little annoying thing in windows 7 :/ Too bad I couldnt keep xp. Can someone help me to allow access to every folder on my old XP installation ? Thanks a lot :) Ituso

Oddly enough, I just ran into the same problem today trying to get custom Adobe Acrobat portfolio files (.nav) to work. I found this thread very interesting to read; however, I took a different approach before discovering this thread. I used a virtual DOS box (cmd) tp find the Applications Directory I needed and then used a command line "copy" to copy the files. Just thought I'd mention that...

C:\Users\Ani\AppData\

Try opening a random folder and pasting this in to top: C:\Users\name\AppData\ but obviously change the 'name' to your user name. It worked for me anyways.

Open the Control Panel. Open Appearence and Personalization. Open Folder Options. Select the General tab. Select Show All Folders. Accept and close. Easier way is just to open any folder, hold down ALT and just select Tools > Folder Options Very useful thank you! I am running a version of Windows 7 which is in Japanese (still learning the language) and this was definitely the easy way to do things!

Ronnie- This seems to make the most sense onthis thread, in particular to my question, but in the end, all the code and "back end" stuff is foreign to me. My bottom line question is related though. I need to access my pst files to move outlook from one box to another. I've done it before with no problem, but the path indicated in outlook takes me through the app data folder. This is where I cant continue, and am stumped. Can you explain how to get there safely? Thank you!

Ronnie- This seems to make the most sense onthis thread, in particular to my question, but in the end, all the code and "back end" stuff is foreign to me. My bottom line question is related though. I need to access my pst files to move outlook from one box to another. I've done it before with no problem, but the path indicated in outlook takes me through the app data folder. This is where I cant continue, and am stumped. Can you explain how to get there safely? Thank you! Hi dswood12 I would recommend posting this question on the MSOffice Answers forum. Go to the following forums. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/officeversion_other-outlook?tab=no&page=1 At the top of the page, select the Ask a question item, enter the question title and click the Ask Button. In the Compose window, be sure to select the proper options for the versions you are using at the bottom of the window. The experts there will be able to help. Regards Ronnie Vernon MVP – Windows Desktop Experience