Where Are rustup Toolchains Stored?
rustup installs each toolchain under the toolchains folder inside RUSTUP_HOME. Global settings live in a settings file at the root of that same directory.
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RUSTUP_HOME is the data root for installed toolchains and rustup state. Each toolchain name maps to a folder under toolchains.
The default is ~/.rustup on macOS and Linux and a .rustup folder under the user profile on Windows. The file settings.toml at the root holds defaults and overrides.
Where rustup stores this, by platform
~/.rustup/toolchains/<toolchain>
Replace <toolchain> with the full toolchain name, for example stable-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu. Settings live in ~/.rustup/settings.toml. Change the root with RUSTUP_HOME. Proxies for rustc and cargo live under the cargo bin folder, not under toolchains.
~/.rustup/toolchains/<toolchain>
Replace <toolchain> with the full toolchain name, for example stable-aarch64-apple-darwin. Settings live in ~/.rustup/settings.toml. Change the root with RUSTUP_HOME. Fallback defaults on Unix can come from /etc/rustup/settings.toml.
C:\Users\<user>\.rustup\toolchains\<toolchain>
Replace <user> with the Windows account name and <toolchain> with the full toolchain name. Settings live in a settings.toml file under the same RUSTUP_HOME root. Change the root with RUSTUP_HOME. Keep RUSTUP_HOME set in every shell or new shells fall back to the default profile path.
Frequently asked questions
How do I see which toolchain is active?
Run rustup show to list installed toolchains and the default. Run the rustc sysroot print query to see the resolved toolchain folder. Check directory overrides with rustup override list.
What happens if I delete the toolchains folder?
rustup recreates the folder on next install but installed compilers stop working until reinstalled. Use rustup toolchain uninstall to remove a single toolchain cleanly. Back up settings.toml before manual cleanup so defaults can be restored.
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