iTunes is Apple’s all-in-one media manager, storefront, and playback app for both Mac and Windows. Although some areas of the app are customizable, Apple has a long record of just deciding how certain things are going to work.

One area where the company has decided to rule with an iron fist is setting the backup location for iTunes in Windows 10. The default is C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\ and there is no setting within iTunes to change it. That’s where iTunes is going to put your mobile syncs and backups whether you like it or not.
For some users, this is no big deal. However, many users do things like having a C: partition that includes only Windows and is very small, located on a solid-state drive (SSD) for optimum performance. They don’t want to have an ever-growing accumulation of phone backups clogging up that drive and using up its write cycles.
Regardless of the reasons why you might want to change the iTunes backup location in Windows 10, here is how to do it.

Change the iTunes Backup Location in Windows 10
The way to override iTunes’ decision making about your iTunes backup location is by using a symbolic link.
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In Windows 10, a symbolic link creates a connection between two folders. You create the link at the operating system level, and from them on anything sent to the first directory in the link (in this case, the default backup location), is instead sent to the second directory (the directory you set up.)
It involves some command prompt finagling, but I will walk you through the process.
- Make a manual backup of the “%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” directory.
- Create a directory where you want your backups to go from now. In this example, I created “c:\itunesbackup.”
- Use the “cd” command to make the backup directory your active directory.
- In File Explorer, navigate to “%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” and remove the Backup directory and its contents.
- Type the command: mklink /J “%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” “c:\itunesbackup” Make sure to include the quotes.
You now have a link between these two directories, and your backups will go to “c:\itunesbackup,” or whatever directory you have chosen.
Change the iTunes File Location in Windows 10
Changing the default music storage location is a little easier than changing your phone backup location.
Here, you can just tell iTunes where to store your music and media and let the program get on with it.
- Open iTunes on your PC.
- Select Edit and Preferences.
- Select Advanced and Change.
- Select the drive or location where you want iTunes to store your media.
This is a simple folder change and not a symbolic link. The end result is the same though. Once changed, all the media you add to iTunes will be stored in this new location. That includes anything you buy and anything you import into iTunes.

Import Your iTunes Media Library into Windows 10
If you’re making the transition from Apple to Windows, you are going to want all your music available on your PC. Here is how to import your iTunes media library into Windows 10.
- Launch iTunes on your PC.
- Select File and Add Folder to Library.
- Select your music or media library folder and Select Folder.
You can repeat this as many times as you need to integrate all of your media into iTunes. You don’t have to organize them yourself beforehand, you can organize them all in iTunes. It is entirely up to you.
Final Thoughts
iTunes works pretty well in Windows 10. If you have an Apple device or are switching over from Mac, it makes for an easy transition. If you don’t have an Apple device or any history with iTunes, there are better ways to manage your media.
Do you know of any ways other than symbolic links to change the iTunes backup location in Windows 10? Tell us about it below if you do!
Need more iTunes resources?
Here’s our guide to canceling subscriptions via iOS and iTunes.
We’ll show you how to add music to your iPod without using iTunes.
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23 thoughts on “How to Change the iTunes Backup Location in Windows 10”
C:\>mklink /J “c:Windows\users\wendy\appdata\roaming\apple computer\mobilesync\Backup” z:\MobileSync\Backup
Local volumes are required to complete the operation.
I did make sure the external hard drive appears under This PC. The external hard drive is mapped to my Z drive:
USB_Storage (\\readyshare) Z:
I’m on iTunes Version 12.11.0.26
Then I had already created D:\ItuneBackups
In cmd window (I used administrator)
mklink /J “%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” “D:\iTuneBackups”
I’m on Vers 12.10.8.5
As mentioned in the posts below.
The default backup drectory in your iTunes version is ‘C:\Users\YourUserName\Apple\MobileSync\Backup’
i erased all my back ups. i should have read the comments. fsmh
I followed the instruction several weeks ago and it worked just fine.
Today I installed a new iTunes version (12.10.8.5) and the software reported it couldn’t find my backups.
My impression is that iTunes has changed its default diretory for backups. I expect that in a few days the new directory will be mentioned in one forum or another.
In
PS: the only thing I needed to adjust is the location of itunes’ files as in my case in Win10 the path is different:
C:\Users\YourUserName\Apple\MobileSync\Backup
tldr: What the author meant by “remove the Backup directory and its contents.” is just delete the damn “Backup” folder.
mklink /J “%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” “c:\itunesbackup”
The above command will create a new “Backup” and link it to your new preferred directory. Hence why u need to delete the folder first.
“Cannot create a file when that file already exists.”
Once, I found out, that I misspelled mklink (I just used ‘mlink’ first) and that I cannot use powershell but CMD.exe (I used it as administrator), everything worked fine and my backups are now on my external drive (mounted to D: )
Cool!
heck the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
+ MkLink/J “C:\Users\ergo\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Bac …
+ ~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (MkLink/J:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
Please open in cmd.exe not in PowerShell and try to open cmd as administrator.
but the other is there also
C:\USers\user\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup
When i do a back up and half gets stored there it goes to the first one and not the second one so that code doesnt work. Ive tried making adjustments but it still doesnt work. Any info would be great thanks.
open CMD and chage USERNAME with yours
mklink /J “C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” “E:\Mobile backup\iPhone Backup”
PS C:\Users\USERNAME\Apple\MobileSync\Backup> mklink /J “C:\Users\USERNAME\Apple\MobileSync\Backup” “D:\Marc iphone Backup”
mklink : The term ‘mklink’ is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.
Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
+ mklink /J “C:\Users\USERNAMe\Apple\MobileSync\Backup” “D:\Marc iphone Ba …
+ ~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (mklink:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
I found that it didn’t work using Powershell for some reason so had to open CMD from windows, go to the location on my C:/ (type CD then space and drag in the folder from explorer, hit enter). Then just type in ‘ mklink /d Backup “[desired-new-backup-path]” ‘. After I did the above it worked.
Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
+ mklink /J “%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” “D:\Backup”
+ ~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (mklink:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
my back up file is in
C:\Users\USERNAME\MobileSync\Backup\ in stead of what you provide. How could I change the back up?
But are you sure your backup is not in C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup? Make sure that this path is invalid before continuing because I’m pretty sure this should be the correct path and Apple doesn’t allow you to change it anyway.
I hope I helped you