Where Does Winget Store Settings and Packages?
Winget settings, logs and portable roots on Windows, and why most packages live elsewhere.
Last updated
Winget keeps its own state in LocalAppData: settings.json under the DesktopAppInstaller package (or Microsoft\WinGet\Settings for unpackaged builds), timestamped logs in DiagOutputDir, portable shims in Links, portable installs in Packages. Downloads stage in your Downloads folder before running.
Everything else scatters by vendor design: MSI, EXE and MSIX packages install to their normal homes, never under Winget. Manifests live in the public GitHub repo and CDN cache, with no stable local cache path to print. List and upgrade matching leans on manifest IDs aligning with Add/Remove entries; mismatches surface as duplicates.
Where Winget stores this, by platform
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\
settings.json (winget settings opens it) plus DiagOutputDir logs (auto pruned by age/size). Portable shims in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Links; portable installs in ...\WinGet\Packages. Vendor installers scatter elsewhere. Windows only.
Frequently asked questions
Where does Winget download installers?
Your Downloads folder by default, staged then executed. Override per run with --download-directory or set downloadBehavior.defaultDownloadDirectory in settings.
Why does Winget show a package twice?
Identifier mismatch: the manifest PackageIdentifier no longer matches the installed Publisher/PackageName or MSI code after a vendor rename. Reinstall through Winget once to realign tracking.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.