On Linux, log messages appear under /var/log by default. On Windows, they appear in a temporary folder, whose location can change from time to time. Early Windows systems used C:\Windows\Temp. Windows XP and Server 2003 use C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Temp\vmware-<user>. Vista, Windows 7, and Server 2008 use C:\Users\<user>AppData\Local\Temp\vmware-<user>.

On all versions of Windows the user’s TEMP environment setting overrides the default Temp folder location. Temporary is something of a misnomer because files are never deleted from the Temp folder, unless the user or an application deletes them. If the TEMP or Windows default Temp folder is not found, VDDK (and other VMware software) have a fallback to <localAppDir>\Temp.

Alternatively, your software can set a custom temporary directory, as shown in the sample InitEx file.