User directory
The user directory is the root directory of the directories in which the personal data and settings of a computer user are usually stored. The use of user directories in multi-user systems also enables data to be separated between the different users. In the event of a system update or a new installation of the operating system, user directories on a separate partition also allow easy migration of user files .
The separation of user and system data also serves as a protective mechanism in networked computer systems. Since malware is only executed with the rights of the infected user, the use of user directories avoids the risk of other files (possibly system files and files of other users) being infected or deleted, as the user usually accesses these files has no write and delete rights.
Unixoid systems
On Unix-like systems , the user directory contains the user's configuration files (usually hidden , i.e. .starting with a dot ), all personal files, as well as programs and libraries installed locally by the user . The user directory is specified as part of the user's account information (usually in the file /etc/passwd). On many systems ( including Linux distributions ) it can be found under the path , with the name of the respective user in lowercase letters. In OPENSTEP (formerly NeXTStep) and macOS (formerly Mac OS X) the user directories are stored under . In the Unix shell , the environment variable contains the path of the currently logged on user.
/home/benutzernamebenutzername/Users $HOME
The user directory of the root user is conventionally /( root directory ). However, /root(Linux, BSD ) or /var/root(macOS) are also used on many systems .
An additional UNIX naming convention is that (the key , " tilde ") can be used as an abbreviation for the user name's home directory , regardless of where the home directory is located in the filesystem. This convention was created using the C shell introduced and is the reason why many web server the website show a user when a URL in the form into the address bar of a Web browser is entered. Another convention allows users to always abbreviate their own user directory with .
~benutzername ~ benutzernamehttp://www.example.org/~benutzername~
In many configuration files, scripts and on the command line , the tilde or the environment variable can often be $HOMEused to specify the path for the respective user.
Example: the directory Downloadsfor the current user:
$HOME/Downloads ~/Downloads
Microsoft Windows
In current versions of Windows , which are based on the multi-user system of the Windows NT line, each user has his own user directory. This is under . username is the ID under which the user logs on. Users is displayed translated into the respective language of the system in Windows Explorer ; on a German Windows one reads therefore users .
C:\Users\benutzername
Before Windows Vista , also with Windows XP , which is still widely used , the path is in German versions . Therefore, with current Windows versions, there is a link from this path to the current one by default.
C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\benutzername
The path to the user directory is also stored in the environment %USERPROFILE% variable.
Under the older systems of the Windows 9x line, the user data was stored under .
C:\Windows\Profiles\benutzername
VMS
In the Virtual Memory System (VMS), the user directory is confusingly called the root directory . This is not to be confused with the term “root directory” under Unix operating systems, where the term designates the highest level of a file system. This top level is called the Master File Directory in VMS .