Windows 10 App Store - Change Install Folder

[JoeDin2056]

Hi all,

I would like to change the folders of where apps install from the windows 10 App store. I have not used the store that much and only own a couple of apps, but now they are adding the Play Anyway feature that gives you the ability to buy Xbox games from the Windows App store im sure i will be using it a lot more.

Currently i have tried to change the install location by going to the Settings>Storage option but that only allows me to change the drive. I use brows the root of my drives often and like to keep them organised. So i changed the default drive from C:\ to D:\

But after doing this i now have 3 new folders on the root of my D:\ drive and its driving my ocd crazy. The 3 folders it crated are "WindowsApps" "WpSystem" "WUDownloadCache"

Is it possible to change it so it all stays in a particular folder, for example D:\Program Files\Windows App Store\ then all the other folders it needs would be crated in side of that directory?

I dont mind if i need to change some registry keys or other things to make this work.

Really hope this is possible, my C:\ drive is a small SSD and dose not have alot of space and all those extra folds it is making on my D:\ drive is really annoying.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[Neemobeer]

I don't believe that is possible, you could locate the folder the XBox games are saved to, move it to where you want and then create a directory junction with the MKLINK command to redirect to the new location. Windows wouldn't know the difference.

 

[JoeDin2056]

I have never used MKLINK before. It sounds like a good idea but i still would have the problem of space to begin with. As i still have to download it to the C:\ drive before i can copy it to the new location.

But an idea just occurred to me. If i delete the original "WindowsApps" folder then crate this folder "D:\Program Files\Windows App Store\WindowsApps" and make the MKLINK from the new folder to the same location of the original folder would that work?

Windows would still see the "WindowsApps" folder in its default location but it would link to my new directory on my D:\ drive. Would this work or would it cause issues?

 

[Neemobeer]

The junction is a place holder, so while it would appear to be the C drive to Windows the actual data can be anywhere including the D drive.

 

[JoeDin2056]

so dose that mean my idea would work? removing the original folder making it in a new location them making the new junction to it?
if that could work, what is the default location for were the apps install?

 

[Neemobeer]

So if the WindowsApp folder is C:\Users\<username>\WindowsApps and you want it on D:\Games\Xbox you would move or rename the WindowsApps folder and type the following from an elevated command prompt

MKLINK /D /J "C:\Users\<username>\WindowsApps" "D:\Games\Xbox"

When you navigate to the WindowsApps folder you will really see D:\Games\Xbox but the address bar will still show the C:\users... address.

 

[JoeDin2056]

that sounds good i will give it a go, the only thing is i dont know where the default folder is on the C drive

 

[Neemobeer]

I'm not sure where the actual store apps are stored. You can grab Procmon and target the Store app and install a game and probably figure it out from there.

 

[JoeDin2056]

i will give that a try thanks for your help