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Where Is IE7 Cache Folder

You may or may not know that there are two version of IE7, a.k.a. Internet Explorer 7.
Basically, IE7 only run on XP SP2 and above, i.e. Windows XP, Windows 2003 and Windows Vista. However, the Vista version of IE7 is bundled with the Windows Vista installation. In addition, Vista-IE7 could not run on XP and Windows 2003, and vice-versa.
The reason is that Vista-IE7 comes with extra security feature called Protected Mode, where the low privilege IE7 processes only allowed to write files and settings to a “low integrity” location, including the TIF folder (Temporarily Internet Files folder, or cache folder).

Thus, you may not find some of the cached files (e.g. YouTube video, JPEG, MP3, etc) in the normal cache folder path, as in earlier version of IE web browser.

Where Is IE7 Cache Folder in Windows Vista

Assuming the Protected Mode security is turned on by default.
  1. Open IE7 in Windows Vista,
  2. Press ALT+T keyboard shortcut to bring up Tools menu
  3. Click the Internet Options sub-menu,
  4. In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Settings button of Browsing History section,
  5. Click the View Files button in the Temporarily Internet Files and History Settings dialog box,
  6. Press ALT+D to highlight the Windows Explorer address bar,
  7. Then follow by pressing the right-arrow key on your keyboard,
  8. APPEND this hidden path \low\content.ie5 and press ENTER key.

By appending \low\content.ie5 to the traditional IE cache folder path, you’ll find most of the cached files in this “low integrity” folder (when IE7 is running in Protected Mode).

Some or all of the folders in this “low integrity” folder might be in hidden mode, which can only be seen or accessed by turning on the view hidden files option in Windows Explorer.

Where Is IE7 Cache Folder in Windows XP

Because the XP and Windows 2003 don’t support Protected Mode as in Windows Vista, there is no so-called “low integrity” folder in these Windows.

However, IE7 running on XP and 2003 doesn’t cache all files in the traditional cache folder path as well.

In order to access the IE7 cache folder in XP / Windows 2003:
  1. Open IE7 in Windows XP or 2003,
  2. Press ALT+T keyboard shortcut to bring up Tools menu
  3. Click the Internet Options sub-menu,
  4. In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Settings button of Browsing History section,
  5. Click the View Files button in the Temporarily Internet Files and History Settings dialog box,
  6. Press ALT+D to highlight the Windows Explorer address bar,
  7. Then follow by pressing the right-arrow key on your keyboard,
  8. APPEND this hidden path \content.ie5 and press ENTER key.

Similarly, you might need to turn on the view hidden files options in Windows Explorer before you could view / access all the web pages components cached by the web browser.


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  3. Sergey Bezdonov November 3rd, 2009 5:51 PM

    Thank you so, so, so much! I’ve been looking for this folder for 2 days. Who could have thought that there is an underfolder called Low!?

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