BitCoin wallet.dat, other local file locations on Windows 7

[ErgoOne]

I'm brand new to BitCoin, installed it on a virtual BestCrypt drive on my laptop.  Before I do anything else, I want to know where wallet.dat and other data files are put by the Windows version of BitCoin.  Are they in subdirectories of the BitCoin program directory, or somewhere else?  I can't find wallet.dat anywhere.  (I don't have any BitCoins yet: don't want to til I'm sure that the program won't put any of them in unencrypted locations.)

Once I am sure that everything is working correctly, I plan to look into acquiring some BitCoins, etc. :-)

Thanks!

[gongcheng]

Read the wiki first!

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet

It is located at C:\Users\YourUserName\Appdata\Roaming\BitCoin (Vista and 7)

[ErgoOne]

That'll teach me to use "search" and check the links only to the left. <wry grin>  There's a lot of stuff on that site that can't be accessed from there.

Unfortunately that page did not include information on how to secure BitCoin on Windows.  Fortunately I was able to put together that information from a number of locations on the Wiki.  After setting up and testing my configuration on two computers -- one Windows 7 and one Windows XP -- I added a section to "Securing your Wallet" that describes how to set up BitCoin to store its data on an encrypted drive image:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet#Windows

That configuration is not intended to hide your use of BitCoin, but simply to keep sticky fingers from stealing your unencrypted wallet, which would be A Bad Thing.  I believe somebody who knows more about this than I do has already explained how to use TrueCrypt to create secure savings accounts.  The same process would also work with BestCrypt (which I've used for well over a decade) and similar products.

[qikaifu]

Read the wiki first!

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet

It is located at C:\Users\YourUserName\Appdata\Roaming\BitCoin (Vista and 7)

Dude, would you please later put it somewhere normal people easy to find?

[ErgoOne]

Read the wiki first!

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet

It is located at C:\Users\YourUserName\Appdata\Roaming\BitCoin (Vista and 7)

Dude, would you please later put it somewhere normal people easy to find?

Actually, you could too, you know.  That's a Wiki site -- anybody can sign up and edit it.  A few edits that made important information easier to find would probably be welcomed by a lot of people who use the thing.