Settings location of portable version

[Former user]

Hi. In Win10 I use the portable version placed inside Program Files (x86). The program saves its settings between restarts but I can't find for the life of me where exactly they are saved. Nothing in c\users\username\appdata directories, nothing in ProgramData, nothing in Documents, nothing I can find in Registry..., no file is changed between restarts in its own directory in program files (x86), no new directories there either. This is getting very mysterious for me. Thanks.

[Pol Welter]

The portable version should store its data right where the binary lives. If you run SC without admin rights, Program Files is not a writable location. IIRC, Windows implements a mechanism to support legacy apps that still try to write to Program Files. It provides some virtualization layer that reroutes the write access to somewhere else.

Anyhow, the portable version should not be placed into Program Files. If you'd like to do this, there is no reason not to use the proper installer in the first place.

[Felix Krull]

Take a look in C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\.... That's where the aforementioned compatibility thing puts the files. One or more of those parts might be hidden.

I agree that you should use the installer in this case.

[Teodor]

Thank you very much for fast reply. I've used Process Monitor to just come to the same conclusion. I didn't know about this VirtualStore. Telling the truth I normally use C:\programs for portable programs (I use these whenever I can for smaller tools) but I don't know why sometimes I still "insist" on putting them in program files :) . Well, I think I know why, partially - most portable programs, for some reason, either just don't save their settings at all, or they emit warnings that they couldn't. I know program files folders are not writable for portable programs but some portable programs still automatically switch to use %APPDATA% in user's dir so the confusion.