Folder layout

This section describes the folder layout for the file system in Windows Phone.

The folder layout informs both first-party and third-party developers about where to put their code and data in the file system, and provides APIs to assist their implementation. This is necessary because Windows Phone does not use the Windows Shell.

Note  

Applications must not hard-code any paths or drive letters in their code or configuration settings. Instead, applications should use the folder layout APIs.

Partition to root folder mapping

The three partitions affected by the folder layout are the following:

• Main OS, which contains all of the components that make up the Windows Phone image.

• User Data, which stores the user data, third-party applications, and application state.

• Removable User Data, which refers to all the data stored on the SD card. The SD card is treated as a separate volume that will be used only to store select content.

For more information about the folder layouts for these partitions, see Main OS folder layout, User data folder layout and Removable user data folder layout. For more information about the storage partitions, see Partition layout.

The following table shows the partition to root folder mapping.

Folder path ACLs

Each folder path contains a description of the ACL applied to it. The following table shows the ACLs and their meanings.

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