Environment.GetFolderPath(…CommonApplicationData) is still returning “C:\Documents and Settings\” on Vista

Question

As I understand it, you\'re supposed to use the Environment.GetFolderPath method so you have OS independent code...

Windows XP uses C:\\Documents and

Answer 1

My installer copied a log.txt file which had been generated on an XP computer. I was looking at that log file thinking it was generated on Vista. Once I fixed my log4net configuration to be "Vista Compatible". Environment.GetFolderPath was returning the expected results. Therefore, I'm closing this post.

The following SpecialFolder path reference might be useful:

Output On Windows Server 2003:

SpecialFolder.ApplicationData: C:\Documents and Settings\blake\Application Data
SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data
SpecialFolder.ProgramFiles: C:\Program Files
SpecialFolder.CommonProgramFiles: C:\Program Files\Common Files
SpecialFolder.DesktopDirectory: C:\Documents and Settings\blake\Desktop
SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData: C:\Documents and Settings\blake\Local Settings\Application Data
SpecialFolder.MyDocuments: C:\Documents and Settings\blake\My Documents
SpecialFolder.System: C:\WINDOWS\system32`

Output on Vista:

SpecialFolder.ApplicationData: C:\Users\blake\AppData\Roaming
SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData: C:\ProgramData
SpecialFolder.ProgramFiles: C:\Program Files
SpecialFolder.CommonProgramFiles: C:\Program Files\Common Files
SpecialFolder.DesktopDirectory: C:\Users\blake\Desktop
SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData: C:\Users\blake\AppData\Local
SpecialFolder.MyDocuments: C:\Users\blake\Documents
SpecialFolder.System: C:\Windows\system32