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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-27T18:30:23+00:00

I am trying to include a file that with my Windows Forms application that

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I am trying to include a file that with my Windows Forms application that be read-write for all users. I was able get the Setup Project to install files to the ProgramData folder using a custom folder with DefaultLocation property set to [CommonAppDataFolder]. I was also able to get my program to read these files using Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData) . But the files are all marked as read-only for Users.

Is there another folder I should be installing these files to that will offer common access to all users with read-write permissions?

I found a few threads here, here, and here. But they don’t answer the question which folder should I be using to get read-write common access for all users.

Any thoughts appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

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  1. Editorial Team

    Creating a subfolder in the CommonApplicationData folder, and setting permissions during installation is correct and is the Microsoft “One True Way”:

    Question: Where to store read/write data for all users?

    Answer: The suggestion for you is to use the ProgramData (%ALLUSERSPROFILE%)
    folder (e.g, create ProgramData\\) and update the
    Access Control List (ACL) according to your requirement    , during
    install. The MSDN resource Per-machine Installations at
    http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370810.aspx should be
    helpful to you.

    This is because some applications may legitimately not want regular users to have write access to the folder, perhaps only to allow a service account to write to the central location.

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