What is Temp Folder in Windows?

The temp folder is set by the program you are currently running. In computing, a temporary folder is a directory used to hold temporary files. Many operating systems and some software automatically delete the contents of this directory at bootup or at regular intervals.

For security reasons, it is best for each user to have their own temporary directory, since there has been a history of security vulnerabilities with temporary files due to programs incorrect file permissions or race conditions.

Where to place the Temp Folder in Windows?

By default temp folder is set to %TEMP%. TEMP has been changing regularly its location for every new brand of Windows.

Normally the path of Temp folder will be

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp

 

The “<username>” would be the name of the user signed on to the PC, therefore, if your username for the PC is star, the path would be:

C:\Users\star\AppData\Local\Temp

An easy way to get the full path of the Temp folder, we do the following steps:

o Click Start button
o Then click Run option
o Type cmd in open box
o In the resulting Command Prompt enter the command ECHO %TEMP%

This displays the full path of the actual temp folder and you can follow the path and identify its location.

If you want to view the folder in Windows Explorer you may run into one small problem; the AppData folder is marked as hidden. Supposing you can’t see that folder, you’ll need to do this.

o Press F10 for a menu in Windows Explorer
o Choose Tools / Folder Options.
o Click the View tab.
o Choose the option “Show hidden files and folders” (“Show hidden files, folders and drives” in Windows 7)
o Then click OK.

Now you can navigate all the way to the Temp folder.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2014 at 10:00 am and is filed under Windows FTP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.