Where is SAPUILandscape.xml? Location and contents explained

Since SAP GUI 7.10, your list of SAP systems lives in a single XML file called SAPUILandscape.xml. If you've ever set up SAP GUI on a fresh machine and retyped every connection by hand, this is the file you actually needed to copy.

Where Windows keeps it

The per-user file is here:

%APPDATA%\SAP\Common\SAPUILandscape.xml

There may also be a global file, SAPUILandscapeGlobal.xml, pushed by an administrator. Older SAP GUI versions used saplogon.ini instead — a flat list with no folders.

What's inside

The file has a few distinct sections that reference each other by UUID:

• Workspaces / Nodes — your folder tree. Nodes can nest to any depth.
• Items — each system as it appears in a folder; points to a Service.
• Services — the actual connection details: system ID, server, connection type.
• Routers — SAP router strings, referenced by services that need them.
• Messageservers — message servers for group/load-balanced logons.

The important consequence: a single connection isn't just one line. A load-balanced system points at a message server; a system behind a router points at a router string. Copy only the Service and you lose those links — the connection breaks on the new machine.

This is exactly why copying the file by hand can go wrong when you only want part of it. SAP Logon Transfer resolves these references for you, so an exported folder brings its routers and message servers along.

What is not in it

No passwords. SAP Logon does not store user credentials in this file — they're entered at logon time. That's why moving or backing up this file is safe: it carries where to connect, never how to authenticate.

Editing it safely

You can open the file in any text editor to inspect it, but hand-editing risks breaking the UUID references. Safer options:

• Use SAP Logon's own interface to add or change systems.
• Use SAP Logon Transfer to move or back up parts of it — it writes a .bak before every change and blocks duplicate imports.