Data locations

This page lists where BioTrack keeps its files on a Windows PC. It is for IT staff planning backups, audits, monitoring or support.

Shared data folder

All collector data lives in %ProgramData%\BioTrack (usually C:\ProgramData\BioTrack). Only SYSTEM, the Administrators group and the collector service account have full access. The Windows user set up for BioTrack can open the folder, read only the local channel secret, and write only to maintenance-transfer.

• DirectoryC:\ProgramData\BioTrack

  • attendance.db encrypted database (attendance, employees, settings)
  • attendance.db.key database key, protected with machine-scoped DPAPI
  • attendance.pre-restore.db only after a restore: the database it replaced
  • collector-rpc.key secret for the authenticated local channel
  • Directorylogs/ collector service logs

    • …
  • Directoryservice-logs/ service wrapper logs

    • …
  • Directorymaintenance-transfer/ staging area for backups being restored

    • …
  • Directoryupdates/ downloaded updates, updater.log and result.json

    • …
  • Directoryservice/

    • Directorybackups/ automatic daily backups, latest 30 kept

      • …
    • Directorycrash-evidence/ crash records

      • …
    • Directoryplaintext-migration-quarantine/ only after upgrading from an unencrypted release; removed after 30 days

      • …
    • network-approval.json approved terminal address and listener port
    • network-setup.log log of the firewall approval helper
    • BioTrackCollectorService.exe service wrapper
    • BioTrackCollectorService.xml service wrapper configuration

Item	Notes
attendance.db	The single source of truth for this site. Encrypted; open it only through BioTrack.
attendance.db.key	Without it the database and daily backups cannot be opened. Never copy it off the PC or share it.
collector-rpc.key	Never share it.
service\backups	Each daily backup has a manifest. These are same-machine recovery points, not portable exports.
maintenance-transfer	BioTrack copies a chosen portable backup here before restoring it.
attendance.pre-restore.db	The database a restore replaced, still encrypted with this PC’s key. Kept until the next restore. See Backup and recovery.
updates	Updates the service has downloaded and verified, the updater’s log and the result of the last update. See Updates and uninstall.

Caution

Uninstalling BioTrack keeps this folder. Deleting it, or the key file inside it, permanently removes access to the attendance history. Take a portable backup first. See Updates and uninstall.

Portable backups are saved wherever you choose when you create them: a .db file and a .manifest.json file beside it. See Backup and recovery.

Local housekeeping

The collector keeps the database from growing for ever. Once a day, it deletes:

• terminal callbacks it has finished with, after 90 days: processed ones (each scan lives on as an attendance record) and ones set aside for review;
• cloud records the cloud has confirmed, after 180 days.

Scans, attendance records, corrections, leave, records still waiting to be processed or sent, and records the cloud refused are never deleted this way.

Per-user data

Each Windows user who opens BioTrack gets their own folder under %LOCALAPPDATA%\BioTrack (usually C:\Users\<name>\AppData\Local\BioTrack):

• Directory%LOCALAPPDATA%\BioTrack

  • Directoryui-logs/ desktop window logs (may include employee names)

    • …
  • Directoryui-session/ window preferences and browser storage

    • …

The desktop window does not store attendance data here.

Program files

Item	Location
Application	C:\Program Files\Biotrack\Biotrack.exe (installed for all users)
Commissioning scripts	C:\Program Files\Biotrack\resources\commissioning\
Setup log	A temporary file in the installing administrator’s %TEMP% folder. Setup shows its path on success and failure.

Windows service

Property	Value
Service name	BioTrackCollector
Runs as	NT SERVICE\BioTrackCollector (virtual account, no password)
Start type	Automatic (delayed start), with automatic restart on failure
Listener port	Chosen during setup; default 8089
Firewall	One inbound rule allowing only the configured terminal address on the listener port
Update task	BioTrack Updater in Task Scheduler, run as SYSTEM between 02:00 and 04:00 to install verified updates

See Security and privacy for how these files and the service are protected.