Why does the non-installed version of Brave generate a profile file in drive C:?

[DOSforever]

I am using brave-v1.47.186-win32-x64.zip version, unzip and release it to D:\brave-v1.47.186-win32-x64\ directory, after running for a while, I found out that it will generate a profile file under %LOCALAPPDATA% directory, and the subdirectory of BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data will be created. Brave’s default startup option is --profile-directory=Default, after checking brave://profile-internals/ , the value of Profile Path is %LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default. If this is a non-installed version, why is the default profile directory still located in drive C: ? That is, %LOCALAPPDATA% is located in the disk drive? How can I change and relocate the profile directory?

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非安装版 Brave 为何还要在 C: 下生成 profile 文件？

我使用的是 brave-v1.47.186-win32-x64.zip 版，解压缩释放到 D:\brave-v1.47.186-win32-x64\ 目录下，运行了一段时间后发现，在 %LOCALAPPDATA% 目录下会生成 BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data 子目录，Brave 默认的启动选项是 --profile-directory=Default ，经查看 brave://profile-internals/ , Profile Path 值为 %LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default 。请问既然是非安装版，为什么默认的配置目录仍然定位到 C: ？ 即 %LOCALAPPDATA% 所在盘符？如何更改和迁移配置目录所在位置？

[Saoiray]

So I don’t know the answer specifically but have a good ChatGPT reply below. I’ll tag in @Mattches just to see if he might be willing to fact check and/or provide a better answer. But in the meanwhile:

Answer as provided by ChatGPT

The reason the non-installed (portable) version of Brave still generates a profile in C:\%LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default is due to how Brave (and Chromium-based browsers in general) handle profile storage by default.

Why is the profile still created in C:?

1. Default Profile Directory: Even if you extract Brave to another drive, it still looks for user data in the default directory (%LOCALAPPDATA%) unless explicitly instructed otherwise.
2. Chromium’s Behavior: Brave follows Chromium’s convention of storing user profiles under the local app data folder unless overridden.
3. The --profile-directory=Default flag: This flag only controls which subdirectory within the profile path is used, not where the profile itself is stored.

How to Change the Profile Directory?

You need to explicitly tell Brave where to store its profile using the --user-data-dir flag.

Solution: Use Command-Line Argument

1. Create a shortcut for brave.exe in your extracted folder.
2. Right-click the shortcut and select Properties.
3. In the Target field, append the following argument:

   --user-data-dir="D:\brave-v1.47.186-win32-x64\User Data"
   

   This will force Brave to store its profile data inside the specified User Data folder on your D: drive.

Alternative: Launch via Command Line

Alternatively, you can launch Brave directly from the command line with:

D:\brave-v1.47.186-win32-x64\brave.exe --user-data-dir="D:\brave-v1.47.186-win32-x64\User Data"

Expected Behavior After Applying This Fix

• Brave should no longer create or use %LOCALAPPDATA%\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\Default.
• Instead, all profile data (bookmarks, settings, extensions) will be stored in D:\brave-v1.47.186-win32-x64\User Data.

[Mattches]

This looks correct from what I can tell @Saoiray. Where the profile data is installed also depends on whether or not the browser was intsalled “as/by an admin”.