Cmdline script to recreate AppData folder (Non-Admin)

Question

I am looking for a simple cmdline script or set of commands in a correct sequence to recreate AppData folder along with all the symlinks and correct permissions / folder structure.

This script or set of commands should be able to run with Non-Admin priviledges

Target OS: Windows 10

Answer 1

Hi there,

This can be accomplished with a loop. In order for the script below to work, you will need to place test.xml in the same location as the script.

Powershell
$Users = (Get-ChildItem C:\Users).Name

ForEach($User in $Users) {

New-Item -Path "C:\Users\$User\AppData\Roaming\" -Name "triage" -ItemType "directory" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue  
Copy-item "$PSScriptroot\test.xml" -destination "C:\Users\$user\AppData\Roaming\triage"  

}

How to make a file in localappdata location using powershell

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-powershell/how-to-make-a-file-in-localappdata-location-using-powershell/m-p/1804805

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Answer 2

Disclaimer: use at your own risk.

I found 5 junctions. If you are restoring your own account's appdata this should recreate them. If not, replace %username% with the userid.

md C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local  
cd C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local  
mklink /j "Application Data"  C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local  
mklink /j  History C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History  
mklink /j  "Temporary Internet Files" C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache  
             
  
md C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows  
cd C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows  
mklink /j  "Temporary Internet Files" C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache  
   
  
md C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache  
cd C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache  
mklink /j  Content.IE5 C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE  
                

For permissions, I happen to have a PS script that analyzes a folder structure and generates the icacls commands to reset permissions on the folders. It doesn't look at files though. I ran this on my testuser account on a Win10 21H2 VM. You would need to change all instances of "testuser" to your account name. You may want to pick and choose which ones you want to apply.

217340-appdataperms.txt