Where are screensavers stored on Windows?
If you are looking for the Screen Saver Settings panel, where you can view, select and configure all your screensavers, please try one of the following help pages:
- Where are the screensavers on Windows 10?
- Where are the screensavers on Windows 8?
- Where are the screensavers on Windows 7?
- Where are the screensavers on Windows Vista?
- Where are the screensavers on Windows XP?
This help page is about locating installed screensavers on your computer hard drive.
Screensaver locations on your hard drive
Whenever you are unable to remove a screensaver from your computer, either via an accompanying uninstall program or via Windows's Add/Remove Software panel, one alternative is to remove the screensaver files directly from your hard drive. To do so, you first have to know into which directory the screensaver was originally installed.
Default folders
There are three folders on your hard drive that Windows will automatically scan for the presence of screensavers whenever you open the Screen Saver Settings panel:
- C:\Windows
- C:\Windows\system32
- C:\Windows\SysWOW64 (on 64-bit versions of Windows)
Screensavers are often (though not exclusively) installed into one of the above folders. You can sort the files in these folders by type to easily find file of the "Screen saver" type.
A word of caution
Removing screensaver files manually from your hard drive should only be used as a last resort. It is advisable to first try uninstalling a screensaver (or other software) via the Add/Remove Software panel or with the screensaver's own uninstallation program.
Ready for your next screensaver? Browse our archive of Windows screensavers.
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