Tutorial: Accessing the Windows 7 Games Folder in Windows 8

By Nazmus Shakib Khandaker
in Microsoft (Windows)

 Share

Recommended Posts

Veteran

Nazmus Shakib Khandaker

Posted
Posted

I originally published this article on my blog, Techtronica.

The games folder was introduced with Windows Vista and improved on Windows 7. It included games that came installed with Windows, like Chess and Solitaire, and it also added any new games you might have installed. The games folder also showed detailed information about the games, including high score, age ratings, and compatibility. If the developers allowed it, the games could be updated directly from the Games folder.

With Windows 8, however, the focus has changed, and, thus, the games folder has been hidden away. First of all, the games that came preinstalled with Windows Vista and 7 are no longer included on Windows 8. Secondly, with Windows 8, we are expected to organize apps, including games, differently. We would typically pin frequent apps and games on the start screen and access the rest from either by doing a ?Start Search? or from the ?All Apps? menu on the Start screen.

It is possible, however, to access the legacy Windows 7 Games folder in Windows 8. You may find it useful to organize any desktop games you have installed and get detailed information about your games. However, the Windows 7 games are not included in the Games Folder. Therefore, to access the Games Folder, you need to first install a Game you already own so Windows can automatically enable the Games Folder and put your games there.

Here?s how to get access to the Games Folder

  1. Install a game you own, preferably a commercial one, one that you acquired from a well-known vendor. Most retail games will work, including games that predate Windows Vista. For example, Roller Coaster Tycoon, a game from 1999, is still recognized by Windows and will work here.
    All-Apps.png
  2. Once installed, open the ?All Apps? menu from in the start screen.
  3. From the ?All Apps? menu, locate a group called ?Games? (Note: this group will only be visible if you installed a game as specified in step 1.)
  4. Right-click on a game under the group ?Games? and click the ?Open File Location? button.
    Open-Game-Location.png
  5. This will open up the Windows 7 Games folder, with a listing of all of your games. You can manually add other games if Windows didn't recognize them. You can also pin the folder to the taskbar for easy access.
    Games-Folder1.png

There you go, Games Folder in Windows 8.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • This innovation could solve Global Warming and change refrigerators forever

      By HB1962 · Posted

      Sorry, there is no global warming!
    • IT admins feel overwhelmingly "sick of" Microsoft and Windows 11 "garbage" apps, products

      By monterxz · Posted

      They've already bought Clipchamp, replaced Movie Maker with it, and made it worse in the end 🤣
    • Sysinternals Suite 2026.09.07

      By Acid · Posted

      Microsoft doesn't label their download like 2026.09.07. Their page only says updated on July 9, 2026. I've never seen anybody use YYYY-DD-MM before. When I saw this article I read it as a September 7th update. Shouldn't it be YYYY-MM-DD, like 2026.07.09?
    • This innovation could solve Global Warming and change refrigerators forever

      By hellowalkman · Posted

      This innovation could solve Global Warming and change refrigerators forever by Sayan Sen Image by Tuan Vy via Pexels Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) developed a new way of heating and cooling that used electrically charged atoms or molecules, known as ions, to control changes between solid and liquid states. The method, called "ionocaloric cooling," was described in a study published in the journal Science. The idea was based on a familiar example. When salt is spread on roads before a winter storm, it changes the temperature at which ice forms. The new method worked in a similar way by using ions to change the melting point of a material. This created a controlled phase change, which is the process of a material changing between solid and liquid. When the material melted, it absorbed heat from its surroundings. When it became solid again, it released that heat. This allowed heat to be moved from one place to another without using conventional refrigerant gases. The study addressed a long-standing challenge in refrigeration: developing cooling systems that were energy efficient while using refrigerants that had little or no impact on global warming. Most refrigerators and air conditioners use vapor-compression refrigeration, where a refrigerant gas is compressed and expanded in a continuous cycle to absorb heat from one place and release it somewhere else. Many of these systems use hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), synthetic refrigerant gases with a high global warming potential (GWP), a measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas can trap in the atmosphere compared with carbon dioxide. The ionocaloric system instead used only solid and liquid materials, removing the need for refrigerant gases. “The landscape of refrigerants is an unsolved problem: No one has successfully developed an alternative solution that makes stuff cold, works efficiently, is safe, and doesn’t hurt the environment,” said Drew Lilley, a graduate research assistant at Berkeley Lab and PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the study. “We think the ionocaloric cycle has the potential to meet all those goals if realized appropriately.” Heating and cooling accounted for more than half of the energy used in homes, making improvements in this area important for reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Replacing current refrigerants was also part of international climate efforts, including the Kigali Amendment, which was accepted by 145 parties, including the United States in October 2022. Under the agreement, countries committed to reducing the production and consumption of HFCs by at least 80% over the next 25 years. Ionocaloric cooling was one of several caloric cooling technologies under development. These systems worked by making materials absorb or release heat when exposed to an external force. Some used magnetic fields, while others used electric fields. However, these approaches often required relatively strong applied fields while producing smaller temperature changes and lower efficiency. According to the researchers, ionocaloric cooling could produce larger temperature and entropy changes using much lower applied field strengths. In thermodynamics, entropy describes how energy is distributed within a system and plays an important role in how heat moves. Because the working material became a liquid during the process, it could also be pumped through a system, making it easier to transfer heat than in many solid-state cooling technologies. Lilley and Ravi Prasher, a research affiliate in Berkeley Lab’s Energy Technologies Area and adjunct professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, developed the theory behind the ionocaloric cycle. Their calculations suggested that the method could match or even exceed the efficiency of conventional refrigerant-based cooling systems. To test the concept, the researchers built an experimental system based on an ionocaloric Stirling refrigeration cycle, a version of the Stirling thermodynamic cycle adapted to move heat using ion-driven phase changes instead of conventional refrigerants. The system used a sodium-iodine salt together with ethylene carbonate, an organic solvent commonly used in lithium-ion batteries. Applying a small electrical current moved ions through the system, changing the material's melting point. As the material melted, it absorbed heat. When the ions were removed, the material solidified and released the stored heat. The researchers reported that the experimental system achieved a coefficient of performance (COP) equal to about 30% of the theoretical Carnot limit, which represents the highest possible efficiency any cooling system can achieve under ideal conditions. It also produced an adiabatic temperature change, meaning the material's temperature changed without gaining or losing heat to its surroundings, of up to 25 degrees Celsius using an applied voltage of about 0.22 volts. According to the study, this temperature change was larger than those demonstrated by other caloric cooling technologies while operating at a comparatively low voltage. “There’s potential to have refrigerants that are not just GWP [global warming potential]-zero, but GWP-negative,” Lilley said. “Using a material like ethylene carbonate could actually be carbon-negative, because you produce it by using carbon dioxide as an input. This could give us a place to use CO2 from carbon capture.” Prasher said the team was trying to balance environmental impact, energy efficiency and equipment costs. “There are three things we’re trying to balance: the GWP of the refrigerant, energy efficiency, and the cost of the equipment itself,” Prasher said. “From the first try, our data looks very promising on all three of these aspects.” While most caloric technologies were discussed for cooling, the researchers said they could also be used for applications such as water heating and industrial heating. The team was continuing to develop prototypes to test different materials, improve the system's efficiency and temperature range, and determine whether the technology could be scaled up for practical use. “We have this brand-new thermodynamic cycle and framework that brings together elements from different fields, and we’ve shown that it can work,” Prasher said. “Now, it’s time for experimentation to test different combinations of materials and techniques to meet the engineering challenges.” Source: Berkeley Lab, Science This article was generated with some help from AI and reviewed by an editor. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, this material is used for the purpose of news reporting. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing
    • Users baffled by odd official Microsoft design that remixes Windows 11 with 10

      By The Werewolf · Posted

      Microsoft has several different customer groups. Services (like Azure), Office, dev tools, Windows server and Windows client which itself breaks into three groups: enterprise, education and consumer. The consumer product is one of the least profitable sections and is mainly used to get consumers to buy the other groups like Office and Services, so MSFT tends to focus on staying relevant more than being feature complete or even bug free. That would be tolerable, but MSFT takes the literal opposite approach to Apple who waits for a technology to mature enough that it's about to take off, tweaks it a little then releases a "magic" version and comes off looking like an innovative company. Instead, MSFT tends to look for the "next big thing" and gets on the bandwagon as soon as possible - usually long before the technology is ready for consumer products - and usually at 110%. Most of the time, it turns out that "next big thing" ends up being a niche product (Win 10 was 3D everything, 3D printing, modelling and "XR" for visualisation) or just wrong (Win 8 and "tablets are the future") forcing MSFT to backpedal after blowing tons of money. Win 11 was "The Web as the OS", AI (and weirdly "AI as the OS") and ARM/Copilot+ PCs, all of which have turned out to be mistakes or flops to some degree or entirely.

  • Recent Achievements

    • Reacting Well
      Gideon Waxfarb earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • First Post
      NovaEdgeX earned a badge
      First Post
    • One Month Later
      pahariyaseo earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      pahariyaseo earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      hadiaali45 earned a badge
      Week One Done

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      427
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      144
    3. 3
      Nick H.
      90
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      81
    5. 5
      +Edouard
      80
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!