For Microsoft Store apps on Windows 10, version 1809 and earlier:
All writes to the user’s AppData folder (e.g., C:\Users\user_name\AppData), including create, delete, and update, are copied on write to a private per-user, per-app location. This creates the illusion that the packaged application is editing the real AppData when it is actually modifying a private copy. This allows the system to clean up those files when the application is uninstalled, thus reducing system “rot” and providing a better application removal experience for the user.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/desktop/desktop-to-uwp-behind-the-scenes
This needs to be tested, but it looks like something that would be inconvenient for users that uninstalling the program which made changes to AppData will revert those changes. Regular users shouldn’t need to edit anything in AppData but for powerusers this might cause issues, and non-Store version will be recommended instead.
Windows 10, version 1903 and later: New files and folders created under the following directories are redirected to a per-user, per-package private location:
- Local
- Local\Microsoft
- Roaming
- Roaming\Microsoft
- Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
Uninstallation
When a package is uninstalled by the user, all files and folders located under C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\package_name are removed, as well as any redirected writes to AppData or the registry that were captured during the packaging process.
