How to change Microsoft app store download location in Windows 10?

Do you download and install apps, games, movies from Microsoft Store on to your Windows 10 PC? If so you may find all the universal apps and Windows Store downloads are installed to your system drive, the same place your Windows 10 OS was saved. For example, I have installed Windows 10 to disk C, so Microsoft store downloads are all saved to C:\Program Files\WindowsApps. This is the default download location for Windows Store. Note that this is a hidden folder and you will need to change the file permission of the ‘WindowsApps‘ folder in order to access the Microsoft Store default download and save folder. By default, Windows 10 OS will save all Windows Store apps, games, and media content to this location on your primary hard drive without asking if you want to choose a different drive, storage location or folder. As a result, you may find your system drive runs out of storage space quickly. Do you want to download and install heavy apps and games to another hard disk which is less crowded on your Windows 10 PC? Fortunately this default download folder for Windows store apps and games can be changed easily in Windows 10 system settings.

Click Windows Start button, choose Settings from the pop-up menu. Then in the Windows Settings, click System >> Storage. At the upper section of the Settings window you’ll see your local storage drives and the amount of free space available. You can find more storage settings at the bottom.

change microsoft app store install location on windows 10 pc

Go to Save Locations, you can find options for apps, documents, music, pictures, and videos. Our focus is the apps and games included in this article, but the steps to change the default locations for the other content types are the same. To change Windows Store download location in Windows 10, change the current disk to another from the ‘New apps will save to’ field. Normally it should default to your system drive C, you can change it to D or other hard drive which has enough storage for new apps, games and installations.

Note that this change does not affect those existing apps and games on your PC. It does not automatically move apps or games from old or default Microsoft Store download folder to new location.