Internet Explorer cache location

By default, the locations of Temporary Internet Files (for Internet Explorer) are:

Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME

c:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files

Windows 2000 and Windows XP

C:\Documents and Settings\\[User]\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

Windows Vista and Windows 7

%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Low

Windows 8

%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache

Windows 10

%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE

Cache for Microsoft Edge

%localappdata%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\Cache

Some information came from The Windows Club.

I don't know the answer for XP, but for latter:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Low and %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5 - these are cache locations. Other mentioned %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files but this not a cache in this directory there are just a reflection of files that are stored somewhere else.

But you can enum %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files and get all files you need, but you should be frustrated that file walker do not detect everything that explorer shows.

Also if you use links I gave you may need ExpandEnvironmentStrings from WinAPI.

The location of the Temporary Internet Files folder depends on your version of Windows and whether or not you are using user profiles.

• If you have Windows Vista, then temporary Internet files are in these locations (note that on your PC they can be on some drive other than C):

  C:\Users[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\ C:\Users[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Low\

  Note that you will have to change the settings of Windows Explorer to show all kinds of files (including the protected system files) in order to access these folders.

• If you have Windows XP or Windows 2000, then temporary Internet files are in this location (note that on your PC they can be on some drive other than C):

  C:\Documents and Settings[username]\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\

  If you have only one user account, then replace [username] with Administrator to get the path of the Temporary Internet Files folder.

• If you have Windows Me, Windows 98, Windows NT or Windows 95, then index.dat files are in these locations:

  C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\
  C:\Windows\Profiles[username]\Temporary Internet Files\

  Note that on your computer, the Windows directory may not be C:\Windows but some other directory. If you don't have a Profiles directory in your Windows directory, don't worry — this just means that you are not using user profiles.

If you want to find the folder in a platform independent way, you should query the registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Cache