Question

If you have a Windows application that needs to write working files as part of its normal operation (not prompted by the user):

• Where on the file system should they be written?
• What’s the correct way to get this directory in .NET for all Windows versions (XP/V/7/Server)?

(Writing to the same directory as the executable or a “temp” directory are not suitable for my specific case.)

Answer 1

The most common place would be:

string path = Environment.GetFolderPath(
      Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData);

But there are other values of Environment.SpecialFolder that could be useful. And of course there is the User’s Documents folder.

And you say you don’t want a Temp file but if you need it in 1 session,

 string path = System.IO.Path.GetTempFileName();

can be very useful.