How to Change the Location of Your iTunes iPhone Backups (Windows)

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Posted March 20, 2013 at 6:20pm by iClarified

These are instructions on how to change the location that iTunes uses to backup your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch for Windows.

Step One
Press Windows+R on your keyboard to bring up to the Run dialog. Input cmd into the Open field and click OK to launch Command Prompt.

How to Change the Location of Your iTunes iPhone Backups (Windows)

Step Two
Navigate to the MobileSync directory by inputting the following command and pressing Enter.

cd "%APPDATA%Apple ComputerMobileSync"

Step Three
Rename your old backup folder using the following command.

ren Backup Backup_Old

Step Four
If you haven't created a new directory to store your backups please do so now.

Step Five
Input the following command to create a symbolic link to your new directory.

mklink /J "%APPDATA%Apple ComputerMobileSyncBackup D:tempBackup"

Step Six
You can use Windows Explorer to verify the symbolic link was created. Notice the arrow at the bottom left of the icon.

Step Seven
Test out the change by performing a backup with iTunes and verifying that your files are backed up to the new directory.

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Mojoba - March 8, 2014 at 8:07pm

Your instructions do not mirror your screen shot. You have put you should type: mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup D:\temp\Backup" But the correct address would be: mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\temp\Backup" You missed out two speech signs.

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Prashant Mannallikar - January 20, 2014 at 11:07pm

Great, It worked wo any isues. Thank you so much for saving my day.

Jake Stein - January 7, 2014 at 7:27pm

This thread seemed very helpful to me at first but I am getting a backup in my external drive and in my desktop. I tried setting up the junction both ways. mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\Mobilesync\Backup" D:\temp\Backup And mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\Mobilesync\Backup" "D:\temp\Backup" but in both cases I get one file in my extranet drive and one on my desktop so I get the same error message during the backup saying that I have inssufficient drive space. Do I need to do something different so that the backup bypasses my desktop completely? Thanks!

Sandy1 - November 17, 2013 at 11:17am

Hi I tried running the command but it returns the error Invalid Switch - "F"

Rami - September 28, 2013 at 6:10am

Hi... This does work only for Windows Vista and +... while i have the Win XP... and the mklink cmd, is not working

Raja Fawad - September 24, 2013 at 6:10pm

Thanks for suggestion its working..........

Juzer - September 19, 2013 at 7:15am

Excellent.. it works! Thanks a million.

Just Getting It Done - September 10, 2013 at 3:44pm

He fudged the command. The default behavior for the mklink command is to make a link to a file, not a directory. You have to give the /D switch as well to specify it's a directory. So the command should be mklink /J /D "%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\temp\Backup"

Haider Jaffery - August 2, 2013 at 12:46pm

Its funny how i spent almost an hour on this and the solution was so simple. The OP did everything right, except a little typo. DringStep 5, when you enter mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup D:\temp\Backup". you have to enter apostrophe after ....MobileSync\Backup and before D:. So instead of mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup D:\temp\Backup". enter : mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\temp\Backup".

Mike Yealland Yealland - July 28, 2013 at 2:43am

I got the D/temp/Backup OK with the formula from Antonis, but I also get a copy on the C backup - the folder backup gets recreated when I back up, despite having been renamed to Backup_Old. Any thoughts? Mike Y

Antonis L - July 24, 2013 at 6:38pm

In the Step 5 is an error just change this command: mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup D:\temp\Backup" With this: mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" D:\temp\Backup

Wallace - July 14, 2013 at 5:52am

I can create the symbolic link but when I go to sync I get the message "iPhone could not backup because backup file was corrupt or not compatible". When I remove the symbolic link and re-create the "backup" folder, the sync and back up are successful. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong or what a fix might be?

Shaun - July 9, 2013 at 12:18pm

For me, I come unstuck at step 5 as cmd tells me that 'mklink' is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. Not sure what I've done wrong?? Everything else has worked fine until then.

Think - June 20, 2013 at 3:44am

Getting error at step five. Says it cannot create a file when that file already exists

julien - June 8, 2013 at 12:02pm

my tiny SSD drive is thanking you :P "merci !" :)

gasoved - May 18, 2013 at 5:17pm

Worked great. Just have to add missing double quotes between paths in step 5. Like; mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\temp\Backup"

Vineet - May 14, 2013 at 4:57am

Helped me a lot, Thanks.

Zioneer - May 13, 2013 at 12:01am

Worked Perfectly ! Thanks ! :DD