This guide has been updated for World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth and World of Warcraft Classic (2019-09-14).

Where is World of Warcraft installed on my computer?

The installation path for World of Warcraft has recently changed slightly with the release of WoW Classic, however, it is still easy to find the installation path for both the mainline (retail), and Classic versions of World of Warcraft on your Windows Computer.

Default installation path

The default installation location for World of Warcraft on Windows computers is C:/Program Files/World of Warcraft/

WoW game versions

Before the release of World of Warcraft Classic, the /World of Warcraft/ folder ony our computer would contain all of the files required to play World of Warcraft, however this has changed slightly since WoW Classic released.

Now with the release of World of Warcraft Classic, the /World of Warcraft/ will contain two top level folders (_retail_, and _classic_). If you were to open either of these folders you would see that the _retail_ folder contains the files required to play the latest retail version of World of Warcraft, and the _classic_ folder contains the files required to play the WoW Classic version of World of Warcraft.

If you are only playing a single version of the game and have not installed the other version via the Blizzard Launcher, then you may only have a _retail_ or a _classic_ folder dependending on which version you are playing.

If for some reason your World of Warcraft is not installed in the default location, there a few simple steps you can follow to find the installation path easily.

How to find the World of Warcraft installation path

To find the World of Warcraft installation path on your computer in the event that it is not installed in the default location, you will first want to locate the World of Warcraft icon/shortcut on your desktop.

Most World of Warcraft players on Windows will have an icon on their desktop that will look something like the image below.

From here it is easy to use the World of Warcraft shortcut on your desktop to find the games installation path.

To find the installation path from the desktop shorcut, simply right click the desktop shortcut and select the "properties" item at the very bottom of the menu.

Once the properties window opens you will want to look for the field labeled "Start in:", as depicted below. The text in this field represents where on your computer World of Warcraft is installed.

 

Hopefully this guide was useful to you, and helped you find the installation path for World of Warcraft on your computer. If so, we would love for you to leave us a reply and let us know :).

Gj posting this thread for people who dont know. I just now created an account on solidice to help in the forums and this is one of the things I was gonna help with. The new fix 1.8.3c works perfectly for me as I just dl and added it to addons and logged on. Full queues for me! If anyone has questions feel free to ask.

Also I get asked alot from members of guild how to actually install addons .. w/o using a client .. I would like to share how I do it ..
I have been able to do this for most windows OS ..lets use solidice and OQ for example .

Hit download ..If you left the download defaulted { destination folder} to download folder ..simply open the download folder . you then should see the addon you just downloaded in that folder {oque with that version} now right click the addon as it is compressed .Now pick the option extract all..extract all inside the download folder .. it should now open a window containing the extracted unzipped folder of the addon . now just copy that folder that is unzipped .. proceeed to the tutor Ron has posted above to find the interface addon wow folder ...now in the list you can either delete the old Oque from that list of addons and then paste the new version in that list or let it override the older version if you did not delete it .now close all those folders and close the wow folders { while doing all this make sure the game is shut down } you can reboot but it isnt needed for most addons seeing they are not a exe file for your system .. open the game and check the addon list to see if the addon now shows .. goodluck

Hi there,

So I have been trying to install Oqueue, and have followed the above information to make sure it is in the correct folder. I am positive it is the correct WoW folder and such, and I have also followed the youtube videos. When I log in, it still wont show up in my AddOns tab in game. Please please help!

Thanks!

Do you run your WoW from the Battle.net app or the WoW icon. If you use the app, it could be in a seperate location as the app and the icon don't necesarily point to the same place. If you run the app, look in the app settings for the correct location.

i cant load the pictures is there a other way to do it?

i cant load the pictures is there a other way to do it?

The links wheres broken. I have replaced them with working links.

@ Vixxenne

From an update when we went to the Battle-net destop addon, My World of Warcraft folder was moved. The new location for my game is Computer/C: Program Files (x86)/ World of Warcraft (then /Interface/Addons if I am manually cut/pasting an update as I do not use any Clients to do auto-updates). The old location was under Computer/C:/ Users/ Public/ Games/ World of Warcraft (and then /Interface/ Addons). If you use Windows, check both locations. The new Battle-net desktop app runs it from Program Files x86. I was updating addons under the Users location and scratching my head as to why none of my addons updates were in there. All of my data was copied into the Program Files x86 folder, but the old location was not deleted. When running WoW I was seeing the old addons copied into the Program Files x86 folder during the update, and it was not noticing or copying the stuff I was putting in the old Users folder. Also, R clicking the desktop folder and viewing its location, as shown above, was not working for me since I was using an old shortcut to the Users version.

PrincessZebby rofl wtf u talking :D? nothing can be changed without ur wish ... u installing wow once and that location cant changed himself lol

I can't figure it out with windows 8. I can't find the "C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\"