When you configure a computer for replication, the configuration program creates a snapshot folder on the server selected to be the Distributor.
Note On a Distributor server running Microsoft® Windows NT®, the snapshot directory defaults to using the <drive>$ share and a path of \\<computer>\<drive>$\Mssql17\Repldata.
On a Distributor server running Microsoft Windows® 95/98, the snapshot directory defaults to using the <drive> without a share and a path of \\<computer>\<drive>\Mssql17\Repldata. If your application requires the ability to create pull subscriptions on a server running Windows 95/98, you must change the snapshot directory to a network path accessible by replication agents running at the Publisher and Subscribers. You can change the local path to a network path by sharing the directory manually.
When the Snapshot Agent creates a snapshot of the published table, the agent stores the snapshot files in the snapshot folder. Because the snapshot file is the same size as the published table, you must allocate at least as much disk space in the snapshot folder as you have allocated for the published table at the Publisher. To help plan the optimum amount of disk space for storing the snapshot, you should create a sample data set and determine the size of the file. If you will be storing snapshots of multiple publications, you must allocate sufficient disk space to store all the snapshots simultaneously.
| Directories and File Locations | sp_helpfile |