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  1. C:
  2. Users
  3. <utilisateur>
  4. AppData
  5. Roaming
  6. Microsoft
  7. Windows
FolderRisk: Caution

Windows C:\Users\<utilisateur>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

Per-user Windows shell data: recent items, personal Start menu, Startup folder, Send To and templates.

Updated on By AltF4 Formation

What it’s for

This is the “shell” part of the roaming profile: recent items (FOLDERID_Recent), the personal Start menu and its Startup folder (FOLDERID_Startup), the Send to menu, and the New menu templates. It is the per-user counterpart of C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows, which has the same layout for all accounts.

What it contains

  • Recent: shortcuts to the last files opened, and jump lists.
  • Start Menu: the user’s Start menu shortcuts, including Programs\Startup.
  • SendTo (the Send to menu) and Templates (the New menu templates).
  • Network Shortcuts and Printer Shortcuts.

Risks and best practices

  • Only the content of Recent can be cleared without consequence. Start Menu, SendTo and Templates hold the user’s own choices; deleting the folder itself loses them.
  • Watch Start Menu\Programs\Startup: a shortcut dropped by malware runs at every sign-in.
  • The folder follows the roaming profile, so keep large files out of it. For a shortcut every account on a PC should see, use the common folders under ProgramData.

Useful commands

Fenêtre de terminal
# Open the shell subfolders directly
explorer.exe "shell:recent"
explorer.exe "shell:startup"
explorer.exe "shell:sendto"

Folder contents

Folders 2

Files 1

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