Where is Xbox Play Anywhere files located on PC?

PC gamers that have installed game(s) via Xbox Play Anywhere on their Windows 11 or Windows 10 gaming rigs are reportedly flooding online forums with the question of where the Xbox Play Anywhere files are located. This post intends to answer this question.

Where is Xbox Play Anywhere files located on PC?

Xbox Play Anywhere games can be purchased in the Xbox Store, the Windows Store, or via a digital code at participating retailers. Typically, the files for the games or apps that you have downloaded from the Windows Store will only go directly to a specific folder or location on your storage device. To check where the games are located, you may go to the path below:

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps

To check the configuration files for each game that you downloaded from Windows Store, you may go to the directory path below:

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Packages

However, the directory for any of the Xbox Play Anywhere games is hidden, and even if you manage to find the hidden folder, you don’t have access to it. For some gamers they were able to bypass this lock somehow by simply navigating to the directory path below:

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\StudioMDHR.20872A364DAA1_1.1.4.2_x64__tm1s6a95559gt

Read: Where are Windows Store Apps installed & how to access the folder

But it appears that the location above is very specific and probably doesn’t apply to everyone. So, if it doesn’t work for you, then you can follow the step-by-step instructions below to search the Windows registry to find the location of the particular game you want. For this post, we will use the Cuphead game as an example.

Open the Registry Editor.
In the Registry Editor, press Ctrl+F or click the Edit tab, then click Find.
In the search box popup, type cuphead into the Find what field.
Click the Find Next button or hit Enter to start the search. Leave the Keys, Values, and Data, checkboxes checked and the Match whole string only checkbox unchecked.
When the registry search completes, some registry files with the word “cuphead” are shown and highlighted for every file it’s referencing.
The registry file you are looking for is called PackageRootFolder and you should see your file location for the game in the data column. In case, you don’t see this particular registry file, perform the search again. You may have to do this a couple of times.
Once found, double-click the PackageRootFolder registry file to open its properties.
Now, press Ctrl+C to copy the already highlighted location data to the clipboard.
Exit Registry Editor.
Next, open File Explorer.
Press Ctrl+D to change the breadcrumb navigation and highlight the address bar.
Next, press Ctrl+V to paste the copied location in the search bar and hit Enter.

Read: How to perform WindowsApps Folder Cleanup

This will now open up the folder with all of the Cuphead-related files including the .exe file. You may not be able to view or edit most of the files found in this game location though due to insufficient permission. However, you can take Ownership of any file and see if you can modify the file.

Let us know in the comment section below if this post was helpful.

Where is Xbox game data stored?

Your Xbox game data is stored on both your console hard drive and in the cloud. Essentially, to prevent data loss when you use a friend or family member’s console, or even when you switch to a new console, Xbox keeps your game data in sync – this requires you must have a stable connection. The game saves that you have on the cloud will automatically load when you open the game only if you are connected to the internet. The cloud saves get written over to the last save you made and previous saves will not be able to be downloaded.

How to find the file location of Xbox Play Anywhere games on PC?

If for instance, you want to clean up your save files for Xbox Play Anywhere games on your Windows 11/10 PC, the only way you can successfully do that is to find the folder containing the files on your actual hard drive and then delete it. We have in this post as discussed above, clearly identified where the save files exist and how you can easily find the location.

Now read: Change the default location of where the Xbox app installs games.