# How to move cache folder on windows

**URL:** <https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-move-cache-folder-on-windows/7923>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [March 21, 2026, 5:17pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-move-cache-folder-on-windows/7923 "2026-03-21T17:17:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DBug](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/dbug/32/4871_2.png) [@DBug](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/DBug)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 5:17pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-move-cache-folder-on-windows/7923/1 "2026-03-21T17:17:01Z")

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I’m trying to install the first parent of Netdata on Windows, and I want to move the cache database directory to a different disk.

When I tried setting it up as N:\Netdata\cache, the service fails to start and crashes immidiatly without writing anything to logs. What am I missing?

my netdata.conf file contains

[directories]  
cache = N:\Netdata\Cache

another option is moving the whole directory of netdata to drive N. I did not see it is possible to install netdata to a different folder and Nedi told me it is impossible to change the install directory.

Any help would be appreciated

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**Author:** ![Thiago\_Marques\_0](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/thiago_marques_0/32/281_2.png) [@Thiago\_Marques\_0](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Thiago_Marques_0)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2026, 11:13pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-move-cache-folder-on-windows/7923/2 "2026-03-22T23:13:54Z")

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Dear @DBug ,

Welcome to the Netdata community.

Netdata started a migration last week to add full support for Windows standards with PR [https://github.com/netdata/netdata/pull/21972](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/pull/21972), which I set ready for review today. While we are working to achieve this support, it is still necessary to work with our configuration file as if it were a Linux directory. As a consequence of this, you will have to change your netdata.conf like this:

[directories]

cache = /n/Netdata/cache

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Best regards!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dahlia](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/community.netdata.cloud/dahlia/32/4882_2.png) [@Dahlia](https://community.netdata.cloud/u/Dahlia)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://community.netdata.cloud/t/how-to-move-cache-folder-on-windows/7923/3 "2026-04-16T13:23:28Z")

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This usually comes down to how Windows services handle paths + permissions.

A couple of things to check that often cause exactly what you’re seeing:

First, Windows services don’t always handle mapped drives or secondary drives the same way, especially if N: is a mapped/network drive. If that’s the case, the service (often running as LocalSystem) won’t “see” it, so it just fails silently. If possible, try using a local physical disk path (like `D:\Netdata\Cache`) or make sure the service account has explicit access to that drive.

Second, try changing the path format in `netdata.conf`. Some Windows services don’t like single backslashes in config parsing. This is safer:

```auto
[directories]
cache = N:/Netdata/Cache

```

or sometimes:

```auto
cache = N:\\Netdata\\Cache

```

Also make sure the folder actually exists and permissions are set before starting the service—Netdata won’t always create it cleanly on Windows.

Finally, on Windows builds of Netdata, moving _only_ the cache sometimes breaks startup depending on how the service wrapper was built. In those cases, moving the entire install directory (or reinstalling to the target drive) is the more reliable option.

You might also find it helpful to generate consistent paths or test variations quickly using a tool like a name generator, especially if you’re creating multiple Netdata directories/environments and want a clean naming scheme.

If N: is a network drive, I’d strongly suspect that’s the root cause.