PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT
Where are my apps being saved to?
Q When setting up my PC I configured Windows’ storage settings so everything, from apps to data, was saved by default on to D – a 1TB hard drive. Since then I’ve noticed that the free space on drive C (an SSD) has continued to decrease, and that File Explorer still shows all app files as being on the C drive. This hasn’t been of great concern until recently, as I want to do a clean install of Windows 11 on to my C drive. Have my apps really been stored on C instead of D? Can you explain how the ‘Change where new content is saved’ option actually works? And, if the apps are on D, will they still run with the new clean install?
Alan Rich
A The wording Microsoft uses to explain this feature – which for the benefit of other readers is found in the Storage section of the System group, in Settings – isn’t all that clear about its function. While other categories, such as ‘New documents will save to’, operate as you might expect, the same is sadly not true for ‘New apps will save to’ – the first and arguably most important category.
In fact, when you make use of this option – as you have, choosing in your case drive D – it applies primarily to apps installed from the Microsoft Store. For many Windows users, that’s likely to be only small percentage of a collection of installed software.
And, in turn, that’s because traditional Windows software – or ‘desktop’ programs – can ignore these ‘defaults’ and install wherever they choose, or at least wherever the user allows them or wants them. Put another way, if you don’t explicitly tell a
