Editing Home directory

{{Short description|Directory to hold files for a specific user}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2009}}
A '''home directory''' is a [[directory (file systems)|file system directory]] on a [[multi-user]] [[operating system]] containing [[computer file|files]] for a given [[user (computing)|user]] 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]] ([[Filesystem Hierarchy Standard|FHS]]) systems use <code>/home/{{angbr|username}}</code> or <code>/usr/home/{{angbr|username}}</code>, [[macOS]] uses <code>/Users/{{angbr|username}}</code>, and [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] systems since [[Windows Vista]] use <code>\Users\{{angbr|username}}</code>.<ref name="hdtable">{{cite web |title=Where is my user home directory? |url=https://help.dugeo.com/m/faq/l/245652-where-is-my-user-home-directory |website=DownUnder GeoSolutions |access-date=22 February 2024}}</ref>

==Description==
A user's home directory is intended to contain that user's files; including text documents, music, pictures, videos, etc.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-15 |title=What is a Home Directory? – TecAdmin |url=https://tecadmin.net/what-is-a-home-directory/ |access-date=2023-09-23 |language=en-US}}</ref> It may also include their [[configuration file]]s of preferred settings for any software they have used there and might have tailored to their liking: [[web browser]] [[bookmark (digital)|bookmarks]], favorite [[desktop metaphor|desktop]] [[wallpaper (computing)|wallpaper]] and [[theme (computing)|themes]], stored [[password]]s 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 by [[file-system permissions]], and by default is accessible to all authenticated users and administrators.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Paul |title=Classic SysAdmin: The Linux Filesystem Explained |url=https://www.linuxfoundation.org/blog/blog/classic-sysadmin-the-linux-filesystem-explained |website=The Linux Foundation |publisher=The Linux Foundation |access-date=8 December 2023}}</ref> Any other user that has been granted administrator privileges has authority to access any protected location on the [[file system]] including other users' home directories.

==Benefits==
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 horse (computing)|Trojan horses]], [[computer virus|viruses]], and [[computer worm|worms]] 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 actual [[system file]]s, reducing the chances of harming the functioning of the operating system.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shimeall |first1=Timothy J. |last2=Spring |first2=Jonathan M. |title=Introduction to information security: a strategic-based approach |date=2014 |publisher=Syngress, an imprint of Elsevier |location=Amsterdam Heidelberg |isbn=978-1-59749-969-9 |edition=First}}</ref>

==Location==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Location per operating system<ref name="hdtable" />
![[Operating system]]
![[Path (computing)|Path]]
![[Environment variable]]
|-
|[[Ancient UNIX|AT&T Unix (original version)]]
|<code>/usr/{{angbr|username}}</code>
| rowspan="7" |<code>[[$HOME]]</code>
|-
|Unix-derived
|<code>/var/users/{{angbr|username}}</code><br><code>/u01/{{angbr|username}}</code><br><code>/usr/{{angbr|username}}</code><br><code>/user/{{angbr|username}}</code><br><code>/users/{{angbr|username}}</code>
|-
|Unix-based <ref>[http://www.linfo.org/home_directory.html "Home Directory Definition"]. Accessed on July 23, 2009</ref>
|<code>/home/{{angbr|username}}</code>
|-
|[[BSD]] / [[Linux]] ([[Filesystem Hierarchy Standard|FHS]])
|<code>/home/{{angbr|username}}</code> or <code>/usr/home/{{angbr|username}}</code>
|-
|[[SunOS]] / [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]]
|<code>/export/home/{{angbr|username}}</code>
|-
|[[macOS]]
|<code>/Users/{{angbr|username}}</code>
|-
|[[Android (operating system)|Android]]
|<code>/data/media/{{angbr|userid}}</code>
|-
|[[Windows NT 4.0]]
|<code>\WINNT\Profiles\{{angbr|username}}</code>
| rowspan="3" |<code>[[%USERPROFILE%]]</code><br><code>{{nowrap|[[%HOMEDRIVE%]][[%HOMEPATH%]]}}</code>
|-
|[[Windows 2000]], [[Windows XP|XP]], and [[Windows Server 2003|Server 2003]]
|<code>\Documents and Settings\{{angbr|username}}</code>
|-
|[[Windows Vista]] and later
|<code>\Users\{{angbr|username}}</code>
|}
===Subdirectories===
The file {{code|/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 like ''desktop'', ''downloads'', ''documents'', ''pictures'', ''videos'', or ''music''. The tool is also capable of [[internationalization and localization|localization (i.e. translation)]] of the folders' names.<ref>{{cite web |title=Xdg-user-dirs-0.17 – Beyond Linux From Scratch (System V Edition), Chapter 11. General Utilities |website=linuxfromscratch.org |url=https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/svn/general/xdg-user-dirs.html |access-date=2022-02-01}}</ref>

==Other features==

===Unix===
In Unix, the [[working directory]] is automatically set to a user's home directory when they [[login|log in]]. In many built-in commands, typing the {{code|~}} ([[tilde#Directories and URLs|tilde]]) character is equivalent to specifying the current user's home directory.

The Unix [[superuser]] 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 {{mono|[[root directory|/]]}}, but on many newer systems it is located at {{mono|[[/root]]}} (Linux, BSD), or {{mono|[[/var]]/root}} ([[macOS]]).

===VMS===
In the [[OpenVMS]] operating system, a user's home directory is called the ''root directory'', and the equivalent of a Unix/DOS/Windows/AmigaOS ''root directory'' is referred to as the ''Master File Directory''.<ref>{{cite web |title=OpenVMS User's Manual |url=http://odl.sysworks.biz/disk$axpdocjun011/opsys/vmsos73/vmsos73/6489/6489pro_010.html |website=odl.sysworks.biz |access-date=8 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Master file directory - VSI OpenVMS Wiki |url=https://wiki.vmssoftware.com/Master_file_directory |website=wiki.vmssoftware.com |access-date=8 December 2023}}</ref>

==Single-user operating systems==
Single-user operating systems simply have a single directory or [[disk partitioning|partition]] 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).
* [[AmigaOS]] versions 2 and up have "System" and "Work" partitions on hard disks by default.
* [[BeOS]] (and its successors) have a /home directory which contains the files belonging to the single user of the system.
* Versions of Windows prior [[Windows 95]] OEM Service Release 2 did not have a user folder but, since that release, {{mono|C:\[[My Documents]]}} became in-effect the single user's home directory.
* [[NeXTSTEP]] and [[OPENSTEP]] in a single-user, non-networked setup, {{code|/me}} is used, as well as {{code|/root}} when logged in as superuser.

==See also==
*[[Directory (computing)]]
*[[Filesystem Hierarchy Standard]]
*[[My Documents]]
*[[Root directory]]
*[[Working directory]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Computer file systems]]
[[Category:File system directories]]