Refer Program Files in 64 bit machine

Question

In C#, show to refer the locations:

• Program Files (x86)
• Program Files

rather than hard-coding C:\Program Files (x86) and C:\Program Files

Answer 1

You can use:

Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ProgramFiles);

to get the program files folder on the machine. This will return what ever is correct for the app that is running. So for 32 bit apps on a 64 bit machine it will return "program files (x86)"

Answer 2

These two C# lines will get the required directories:

string f32 = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ProgramFiles");

string f64 = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ProgramW6432");

Typical values are

C:\Program Files (x86)

and

C:\Program Files

for f32 and f64 respectively.