Home Directory

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What Does Home Directory Mean?

A home directory is a file system directory on a multiuser operating system containing files for a given user of the system.

A home directory is also known as a login directory.

Techopedia Explains Home Directory

As a repository for a user’s personal files, directories and programs, and a default directory for a user who logs in, a home directory helps to provide a setting for individual users to navigate the network, through a disk folder that contains the user’s personal files. This takes various forms; for example in Windows, a home directory is accessed under “Documents and Settings.”

In complicated network systems, a home directory is a way to keep files and folders straight for multiuser access. Each user is assigned a home directory, which he or she works from to access other elements of the network.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

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