Regarding Windows 10 file system access and privacy

[Windows Central Question]

Dear forum

English is not my first language, and my Windows is in danish, so please excuse spelling mistakes etc.

"Allow that apps gain acces to file system" = ON
"Choose which apps that shall have access to your file system" = List is empty / there is no apps

I have read the support site and other articles regarding the topic

The list with the apps that shall have access to my system is empty.
1)
Does that mean, that there is no apps that have access to my file system?

2)
What is the meaning of "file system"?
Is the Windows Pictures folder and Windows Documents folder?
Is it the WHOLE drive?

3)
Where can I see, which apps previously have been granted access to my file system?

4)
Is it possible to see, if deleted apps were granted access to file system?

Thank you in advance for replying!

Best regards

 

[TechFreak1]

Generally speaking the Store apps have to abide by the permissions that are set when the app is compiled.

1) I agree that needs to be fixed, it's been empty for as long as I can remember. In reality apps do have access to areas of the file system such as documents, photos, folders where they get stored by the o/s. Also if the apps hook into the file explorer then yes you could use the open dialogue box to navigate into system folders.

Simply put, apps can access the folders that are required to work.

However by default, apps do not access the system folders such as the Windows folder otherwise they will fail the certification process when apps are submitted to the store.

If you want to know about this process:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/publish/the-app-certification-process

2) This is fairly complex as it involves multiple aspects such as partition type, the format of the file table (NTFS, FAT, FAT32) etc. The best way to think of it is your ssd, hdd or usb stick is a massive filing cabinet with empty dividers. When you save a document, the operating system stores it in a empty divider and when want to open the document again the operating system goes and takes it out of the divider and then displays it for you.

You can seperate the drive into smaller filing cabinents, we call these partitions (which can have different file table formats but that's getting into the weeds) and if it is seperated in to partitions - the term is partitioned (the basic principle of seperating a room if you want another example).

So the file system is in reality is the whole drive (the obvious nuance is that if the drive is partitioned).

3) You can check the permissions section in the Windows store. However, every app has access to the folder they are stored inside otherwise they wouldn't work.

4) There is not, unless Microsoft implements this feature.

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