Application Data folder in Windows 7

windows-7 backwards-compatibility programdata
Santhosh picture Santhosh · Aug 5, 2010 · Viewed 8.3k times · Source

I have Windows 7 64 bit installed on my system. I have a question about "C:\ProgramData\Application Data" folder. It is mentioned here and here that "Application Data" is a Junction point which points to C:\ProgramData. So, i would expect the following command to list the contents of the C:\ProgramData folder (my ProgramData folder has folders like McAfee, Microsoft, Adobe, etc..)..

cd /d "c:\ProgramData\Application Data"

dir

However i do not see anything listed...However, if i were to traverse 1 more directory deeper and list the contents, then all the folders under that directory are listed...

cd /d "c:\ProgramData\Application Data\McAfee

dir

I do not understand this behaviour. Would anyone explain?

Answer

Rup picture Rup · Aug 5, 2010

It's to allow backward compatibility for programs that assume the old name but to also prevent programs recursing the tree and finding both copies.

Here's an article about this from Raymond Chen - I thought he did it on his blog, though, so maybe there's more there.

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