Where Does CrossOver Store Bottles?
CrossOver keeps Windows apps in bottles: user bottles in Library on Mac, .cxoffice on Linux, published copies shared system wide.
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A CrossOver bottle is a whole virtual Windows machine: C drive, registry, fonts, and installed apps together. Mac builds keep user bottles in Library Application Support under CrossOver Bottles. Linux builds keep them in .cxoffice in home. Published bottles shared with every user live in the system Library instead.
Each bottle is self contained, so backups are folder copies and migrations are folder moves. Preferences stay separate per user, which is why changing one account bottle path never disturbs another account on the same Mac.
Where CrossOver stores this, by platform
~/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles
One folder per bottle with drive_c inside. Override with the BottleDir preference or CX_BOTTLE_PATH. Published bottles live in /Library instead.
~/.cxoffice
Bottle roots plus cxoffice.conf with the CX_BOTTLE_PATH search list. Symlink a bottle elsewhere and link it back here to relocate.
Frequently asked questions
How do I move a CrossOver bottle to another Mac?
Copy the bottle folder to the same Bottles path on the new Mac and launch CrossOver once. Icons regenerate and the apps run as before.
How do I store bottles on an external drive?
Change the bottle directory in Settings (v24 and later) or set CX_BOTTLE_PATH to the new location. New bottles go to the first writable path listed.
Can CrossOver watch several bottle folders?
Yes for listed bottles, and the override lives in cxoffice.conf on Linux or CrossOver.conf on Mac. Order matters: creation uses the first writable dir.
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