Question

I want to write a file in app running under local regular user account and read it in service. What’s the right folder?

I’d like to avoid %APPDATA% (CSIDL_APPDATA) folder because service would need to realize where’s this folder are (service is running under system account). I checked %ALLUSERSPROFILE% (is it CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA?), it points to c:\ProgramData on my Win7 x64. But this folder doesn’t allows modification for regular local users (I checked in folder properties, security tab). The same about %CommonProgramFiles%.

I need to support WinXP and up.

Answer 1

I think you need CSIDL_COMMON_DOCUMENTS (or FOLDERID_PublicDocuments), that is the Shared Documents folder. Under XP it would be something like c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents.