Moving your My Mastercam folder back to the default location.

Moving your My Mastercam folder back to the default location.

The My Mastercam folder is intended to remain at its default location on your C-drive, that location is C:\Users\<windows user>\Documents\My Mastercam 2024\Mastercam\

If you're experiencing strange anomalies with Mastercam like your configuration changes not being saved, your window layout and colors not saving, losing your custom key bindings, or Mastercam having trouble closing or opening, then it's important to get your My Mastercam folder pointed back to the correct directory.  These issues often stem from the My Mastercam folder being referenced from a location where your user doesn't have sufficient read/write access.

Text Instructions

The best way to point the My Mastercam folder location back to the default directory is to go through the Windows Registry Editor.  If you have I.T., we recommend they be present for these changes to help assist you.
  • Make sure Mastercam is closed down, along with any other Mastercam adjacent programs like CodeExpert or Cimco Edit.
  • Open the Registry Editor by opening the Start menu and typing in "regedit" and pressing Enter
  • If a popup window appears and asks for permissions say ok or enter password as needed
  • In the Registry Editor, from the top level open the HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder
  • Open the Software folder
  • For users running Mastercam 2024 or newer, open the CNC Software folder
    For users running Mastercam 2023 or older, open the CNC Software, Inc. folder
  • Click on the Mastercam 20XX folder which corresponds with the version you're running; you don't need to open it any further
  • On the right you will see several fields. One of which is the "UserDir" field. Right click this field and select Modify.
  • In the popup window there is a field labeled Value data. In this field you should place the directory for the My Mastercam folder. The default location (and what we recommend) is  
    • C:\Users\<windows user>\Documents\My Mastercam 2024\Mastercam\
    • Replace <windows user> with the actual user folder associated with your windows login. (If you don't know your windows user folder, check C:\Users\ for a list of possible folders.)
  • Once modified click ok, then close the Registry Editor. 
  • Reboot the machine DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP, THIS IS CRITICAL
  • Start Mastercam. By following this process Mastercam should rebuild the My Mastercam folder back to defaults. This means any configuration changes you have made will be gone, but these are generally pretty quick and easy to build.

Video Instructions



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