Question

I want to get the path to “CommonApplicationData” on a remote machine.

This is the local version

Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData)

But how do I do that remotely? Perhaps with some WMI?

Answer 1

Worked it out

public static string GetCommonAppData(string machineName)
{
    var shellFoldersPath = @"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders";
    using (var remoteBaseKey = RegistryKey.OpenRemoteBaseKey(RegistryHive.LocalMachine, machineName))
    using (var shellFolders = remoteBaseKey.OpenSubKey(shellFoldersPath))
    {
        return (string) shellFolders.GetValue("Common AppData");
    }
}