# Best directory to store app data and settings on Windows8 / 8.1 / Windows10

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/best-directory-to-store-app-data-and-settings-on-windows8-8-1-windows10/637000>\
**Category:** programming\
**Created:** [August 7, 2017, 11:06am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/best-directory-to-store-app-data-and-settings-on-windows8-8-1-windows10/637000 "2017-08-07T11:06:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HarryPorter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8dc957/32.png) [@HarryPorter](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/HarryPorter)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 11:06am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/best-directory-to-store-app-data-and-settings-on-windows8-8-1-windows10/637000/1 "2017-08-07T11:06:35Z")

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I have an AIR app which under certain conditions fails to save data on the users PC. The current folder I am using is the AppData\Roaming folder however I am trying to find the reason why on certain PC’s the App doesn’t save into a particular folder inside AppData\Roaming.

Is that folder not writable by an App on Windows8 / 8.1 and above? Does it have any permissions associated with it. I have checked an one PC and even UAC was off but still the App couldn’t write to that directory.

Is there a folder on Windows 8 / 8.1 and above where I can save my applications data and settings for sure?

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**Author:** ![kirupa](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/kirupa/32/11616_2.png) [@kirupa](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/kirupa)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/best-directory-to-store-app-data-and-settings-on-windows8-8-1-windows10/637000/2 "2017-08-07T15:37:13Z")

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If you try saving to AppData\Local, does that work better?

🙂

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**Author:** ![HarryPorter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8dc957/32.png) [@HarryPorter](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/HarryPorter)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/best-directory-to-store-app-data-and-settings-on-windows8-8-1-windows10/637000/3 "2017-08-07T16:33:04Z")

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Not tried it yet, but do you think the roaming folder has any issues? Will try the local folder though…

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**Author:** ![jtcorbet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jtcorbet](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/jtcorbet)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/best-directory-to-store-app-data-and-settings-on-windows8-8-1-windows10/637000/4 "2017-08-14T02:02:35Z")

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I only receive notices of these postings in a weekly summary and see that you asked your question almost a week ago, so probably you already have your answer. But, if not, I am actually a bit surprised to see kirupa’s recommendation,since his credentials are far superior to mine.

What I would say is that the way you have phrased the question suggests that you are using an absolute URL or Native Path with File to open a directory into which you wish to save state. The File API provides support for some special URL protocols which are – in my experience – guaranteed to give you access to the preferred location for such content, irrespective of OS or OS release: File.applicationStorageDirectory.

I don’t know why a user would set permissions on that sub-directory that would prevent creating of a new file there, or modifying an existing one, but, if they did, your application would get status telling you that and you could use a dialog to let such a paranoid person choose an alternative location. Using any sort of file:// url with an absolute path, or a Native Path string to the same effect, causes you to have to write protective code based on Windows versus Mac OS Sierra, so I think the opaque solution built into AIR is a better one.