How to Change the Default Download Location in Windows 10

Fionna Agomuoh is a former freelance contributor to Lifewire. Her writing has appeared in Newsweek, International Business Times, and others.

Michael Heine is a CompTIA-certified writer, editor, and Network Engineer with 25+ years' experience working in the television, defense, ISP, telecommunications, and education industries.

What to Know

• Edge: Go to the Main menu and select Settings >Downloads. Under Location, select Change. Go to a destination and choose Select Folder.
• Windows 10: Go to Settings >System >Storage >Change where new content is saved. Choose default locations for various file types.

This article explains how to change the Windows 10 default downloads folder directly from the Microsoft Edge browser as well as changing the download location for other types of files in Windows 10 settings.

How to Change Default Download Location in Windows 10 for Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge has an easy way of setting the download location.

1. Open Microsoft Edge.

Select Settings and more (the three horizontal dots) in the upper-right corner or press Alt+X.

Select Settings in the drop-down menu.

Under Downloads, select Change. General > Change" width="1920" height="1049" />

Microsoft Edge Select Folder" width="1920" height="1048" />

Browse to the desired location and choose Select Folder.

It's best to change the default download location when you set up a new Windows 10 computer, reset your computer, or have only a few files in your original Downloads folder.

Change Default Location of Files in Windows

There are also additional settings in Windows 10 for changing the default locations for other files.

1. Open Settings. Either go to the Windows Start Menu and select Settings or press Windows key+I. Settings" width="1920" height="1080" />

Select System. System" width="1190" height="925" />

In the left panel, select Storage. Storage" width="1193" height="919" />

Under More storage settings, select Change where new content is saved.

Choose the default location of various files, including new apps, new documents, new music, and others.

Select the drop-down arrow next to an item you want to change and choose the appropriate drive.

From File Explorer, right-click the Downloads folder and select Properties > Location, then type the desired location into the text field and select OK. Be aware that when you set the new location, you'll still need to designate the Downloads folder. So for example rather than something like "C:\YourName" you'll need to use "C:\YourName/Downloads" instead.

You'll need to change Chrome's default download settings from within the browser. Or you can manually choose a download location for each separate download if you'd rather save them in different spots.