How To Change The Opera Cache Directory

Update: With Opera switching to Chromium just like Google Chrome, the method below is no longer working. To change the cache of Opera 15 or newer, you need to add the startup parameter --disk-cache-dir=c:\temp\ to do so. Easiest way to do so is to right-click Opera on Windows's taskbar, right-click the Opera link that opens up in the context menu, and add the parameter under the target field in the properties window that opens up after the path of the browser.

Only Microsoft's Internet Explorer has options to change the temporary Internet cache directory in the graphical user interface directly.

Firefox and Opera require configuration file changes that can be done in the browser, while Chrome is the only one that requires startup parameters (see How To Change Google Chrome’s Cache Location And Size).

Let us take a closer look at how to change the cache location in the Opera web browser. We begin by taking a look at the current cache directory. To do that, click the Menu button at the top, then Help > About Opera.

This opens a page with detailed paths information, including the path of the Cache.

You can alternatively enter opera:about in the address bar to open the page in Opera.

To change the location of the cache enter opera:config in the web browser's address bar. New Opera users who have been working with Firefox previously will notice similarities to Firefox's about:config menu. The main difference is that Opera offers UI elements to make the changes. Included in the user interface are help buttons to get additional information about a parameter.

Enter cache in the search form at the top. Opera will now display all parameters with cache in the name. Scroll down and find the Cache Directory4. It is part of the User Prefs.

To change the cache, simply change the path of the parameter to something else.

Once the new cache path has been entered click Save to save the new location. Opera will automatically use the new path from that moment on. You can check back in opera:about to see that the new cache has been set.

That's how you change the Opera cache directory.

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