What directories do the different Application SpecialFolders point to in WindowsXP and Windows Vista.

Question

Namely I have:

• Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData
• Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData
• Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData

I am unclear as to were these point to in Windows XP and/or Windows Vista.

What I found so far is that the ApplicationData points to the ApplicationData Folder for the current user in XP and the roaming application data folder in Vista.

I would also like to know if there are general guidelines on when to use which.

Answer 1

There's no single answer to that. In fact, that's precisely why these "SpecialFolder"s are defined. You use those instead of a hardcoded path.

Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData is the most common one. This folder holds per-user, non-temporary application-specific data, other than user documents. A common example would be a settings or configuration file.

Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData is similar, but shared across users. You could use this to store document templates, for instance.

Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData is a non-roaming alternative for ApplicationData. As such, you'd never store important data there. However, because it's non-roaming it is a good location for temporary files, caches, etcetera. It's typically on a local disk.

Answer 2

It's easy to check. Use Environment.GetFolderPath(...); and use MessageBox or Console.Write and it will show you where it points too. You only have to make simple app that will display paths for you, and run it under Windows XP and Windows Vista.

using System;

namespace EnvironmentCheck
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.Write(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData) + "\n");
        Console.Write(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData)+ "\n");
        Console.Write(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData)+ "\n");
    }
}
}

My results on Win 7 x64

C:\Users\myUsername\AppData\Roaming
C:\ProgramData
C:\Users\myUsername\AppData\Local