How to Access Sharepoint 2007/2010/2013 _layouts folder

Question

I'm trying to insert some data in the location mysiteurl/_layouts/

'cause I had to use a third part software which uses data stored in that folder... I'm admin of the machine (Sharepoint 2010 on Windows server 2008R2) but the Sharepoint said I cannot access directly to that folder...

Is there any trick to insert data in that specific folder?

Answer 1

If you're using SP 2007 the folder path is:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\ 

Sharepoint 2010 layouts folder path is:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\ 

If you're using SP 2013 the folder path is:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\TEMPLATE\ 

If you're using SP 2016 the folder path is:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\TEMPLATE\ 

Answer 2

1. open IIS in SharePoint Web Front End

2. open sharepoint site and under that look for _layouts folder (Virtual Directory)

3. click Explore and actual server location will be opened

something like below address will be opend in sharepoint 2013 (office 15)

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\TEMPLATE 

Extra useful info: you can easily put any assets files including your js, css and Images here , it is much better that loading it to SharePoint which cause WSS database hit every time they are needed

MSDN _Layouts Page

The _layouts virtual directory is available as a subfolder of every SharePoint Web site, which makes it easy and convenient to refer to _layouts files such as images or ECMAScript files (JScript, JavaScript) by using relative paths. Support Details Pages stored in the _layouts folder are available globally on the server