Skip to contentGo to the directory tree
Windows Directory Tree
  1. C:
  2. ProgramData
  3. Microsoft
  4. Windows
FolderRisk: Caution

Windows C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows

Windows machine-wide data shared across users: shared Start menu, error reports (WER), caches and component state.

Updated on By AltF4 Formation

What it’s for

Windows and shell data shared by all users lives here. The shared Start menu is part of it (FOLDERID_CommonStartMenu, under Start Menu). It is the machine-wide counterpart of each profile’s AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows folder.

What it contains

  • Start Menu: Start menu shortcuts shared by all users.
  • WER: queues and archives of Windows Error Reporting.
  • Depending on the version and installed roles: AppRepository (store of packaged apps), Caches, Hyper-V (virtual machine configuration), ClipSVC.

Risks and best practices

  • The Start menu, packaged apps and Hyper-V depend on this content. Only WER can be purged safely.
  • Never clean AppRepository or Hyper-V by hand.
  • Several subfolders have permissions reserved to the system: leave them as they are.
  • The folder is hidden by default (it sits under ProgramData): use -Force to browse it.

Useful commands

Fenêtre de terminal
Get-ChildItem "$env:ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows" -Directory -Force | Select-Object Name


# The two subfolders you consult most: shared Start menu and error reports
Get-ChildItem "$env:ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" -Force | Select-Object Name
Get-ChildItem "$env:ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER" -Force | Select-Object Name

Folder contents

Folders 3

Report a mistake