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Ahome directory is afile system directory on amulti-useroperating system containingfiles for a givenuser of the system. The specifics of the home directory (such as its name and location) are defined by the operating system involved; for example,Linux /BSD (FHS) systems use/home/⟨username⟩ or/usr/home/⟨username⟩,macOS uses/Users/⟨username⟩, andWindows systems sinceWindows Vista use\Users\⟨username⟩.[1]
A user's home directory is intended to contain that user's files; including text documents, music, pictures, videos, etc.[2] It may also include theirconfiguration files of preferred settings for any software they have used there and might have tailored to their liking:web browserbookmarks, favoritedesktopwallpaper andthemes, storedpasswords to any external services accessed via a given software, etc. The user can install executable software in this directory, but it will only be available to users with permission to execute files in this directory. The home directory can be organized further with the use of sub-directories.
The content of a user's home directory is protected byfile-system permissions, and by default is accessible to all authenticated users and administrators.[3] Any other user that has been granted administrator privileges has authority to access any protected location on thefile system including other users' home directories.
Separating user data from system-wide data avoids redundancy (the same system files can be used by between different users) and makes backups of files that are important for a specific user simpler.
Furthermore,Trojan horses,viruses, andworms running under the user's name and with their privileges will in most cases only be able to alter the files in the user's home directory, and perhaps some files belonging to workgroups the user is a part of, but not actualsystem files, reducing the chances of harming the functioning of the operating system.[4]
| Operating system | Path | Environment variable |
|---|---|---|
| AT&T Unix (original version) | /usr/⟨username⟩ | $HOME |
| Unix-derived | /var/users/⟨username⟩/u01/⟨username⟩/usr/⟨username⟩/user/⟨username⟩/users/⟨username⟩ | |
| Unix-based[5] | /home/⟨username⟩ | |
| BSD /Linux (FHS) | /home/⟨username⟩ or/usr/home/⟨username⟩ | |
| SunOS /Solaris | /export/home/⟨username⟩ | |
| macOS | /Users/⟨username⟩ | |
| Android | /data/media/⟨userid⟩ | |
| Windows NT 4.0 | \WINNT\Profiles\⟨username⟩ | %USERPROFILE%%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% |
| Windows 2000,XP, andServer 2003 | \Documents and Settings\⟨username⟩ | |
| Windows Vista and later | \Users\⟨username⟩ |
The file/etc/xdg/user-dirs.defaults on many Linux systems defines the subdirectories created for users by default. Creation is normally done with the first login by Xdg-user-dirs, a tool to help manage "well known" user directories likedesktop,downloads,documents,pictures,videos, ormusic. The tool is also capable oflocalization (i.e. translation) of the folders' names.[6]
In Unix, theworking directory is automatically set to a user's home directory when theylog in. In many built-in commands, typing the~ (tilde) character is equivalent to specifying the current user's home directory.
The Unixsuperuser has access to all directories on the file system, and hence can access home directories of all users. The superuser's home directory on older systems was/, but on many newer systems it is located at/root (Linux, BSD), or/var/root (macOS).
In theOpenVMS operating system, a user's home directory is called theroot directory, and the equivalent of a Unix/DOS/Windows/AmigaOSroot directory is referred to as theMaster File Directory.[7][8]
Single-user operating systems simply have a single directory orpartition for all user files, there is no individual directory setup per user (though users can still setup and maintain directories inside this main working directory manually).
/me is used, as well as/root when logged in as superuser.