Everything that belongs to you on your Recalbox — games, bios, saves, music, themes… — lives in a single place: the share folder. This page describes its content and the different ways to reach it.
| Folder | Content |
|---|---|
roms/ |
Your games, one subfolder per console (snes, megadrive…). See Add games. |
bios/ |
The bios required by some emulators. The bios manager (START → BIOS CHECKING) tells you which ones are missing. |
saves/ |
Your game saves (in-game saves and save states). |
screenshots/ |
Your in-game screenshots and video captures. |
music/ |
Your background music for EmulationStation — see the Jukebox. |
overlays/ |
Your custom overlays, decorating the screen while playing. |
shaders/ |
The system's shaders (display filters). |
themes/ |
Your additional themes for the EmulationStation interface. |
bootvideos/ |
Your custom boot videos. |
cheats/ |
Cheat codes downloadable through the RetroArch menu. |
kodi/ |
Your media for Kodi (music, movie, picture). |
extractions/ |
Working folder where some zipped roms are extracted before launch. |
userscripts/ |
Your personal scripts, run on Recalbox events. |
system/ |
Recalbox's configuration (recalbox.conf, emulator configs, logs…). Only touch it if you know what you are doing. |
Every folder in
roms/contains a_readme.txtfile (and its equivalents in 5 other languages): accepted file formats, available emulators and system requirements. First thing to check when in doubt!
The
bootvideosfolder is stored on a system partition of limited size (1 GB): avoid piling up large files there.
Once connected to the network, your Recalbox automatically shares its folders as Windows shares (SMB) — no password needed:
\\RECALBOX in the address bar (or \\ followed by the IP address).Go → Connect to Server → smb://recalbox.local.smb://recalbox.local in your file manager.The share share gives access to the whole folder; direct shortcuts also exist (bios, roms (internal), logs, system), and every USB device plugged into the Recalbox appears as an extra share.
📷 Screenshot to come:
file-management-smb.png(the \RECALBOX share seen from Windows File Explorer)
Windows does not show or open
\\RECALBOX? A classic side effect of Windows updates: see the dedicated troubleshooting. You can also use the IP address shown inSTART→NETWORK SETTINGSdirectly.
After copying games, refresh the lists: START → SYSTEM-LISTS & GAMELISTS SETTINGS → UPDATE GAMES LISTS. (Or reboot the Recalbox.)
Recalbox ships an SSH server: SFTP and SCP clients (FileZilla, WinSCP, scp…) work out of the box.
recalbox.local (or the IP address), port 22root — password: recalboxrootThere is no FTP server on Recalbox: in your client, make sure to pick the SFTP protocol, not FTP.
recalbox/ folder.SHARE partition is exFAT, readable on Windows, macOS and Linux — insert the card into your computer.Then plug the storage back into the Recalbox and power it on: additions are detected at startup.
The Web Manager (http://recalbox/ from a browser) lets you browse your systems, games and bios, and manage your screenshots — but not upload files: to copy roms and bios, go through the network or the direct connection.
Which credentials for the network share? None: the SMB share is open in read/write on your local network. If a login window insists, enter any user name with no password.
Can I delete a folder from share? Recalbox recreates missing folders at startup. But do not delete system/: you would lose your configuration (it amounts to a reset to factory settings).
Where are my saves? In share/saves, sorted by system. They survive updates and the reset to factory settings.