On my machine, it's here:
string downloadsPath = Path.Combine( Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.UserProfile), "Downloads");
But on a colleagues machine, this folder doesnt exist, and his Downloads folder is in his 'My Documents' folder. We are both on Windows 7*.
*Edit: in fact, it turns out he was not running the app on his own machine but a Windows Server 2003 machine.
Windows does not define a CSIDL for the Downloads folder and it is not available through the Environment.SpecialFolder
enumeration.
However, the new Vista Known Folder API does define it with the ID of FOLDERID_Downloads
. Probably the easiest way to obtain the actual value is to P/invoke SHGetKnownFolderPath
.
public static class KnownFolder { public static readonly Guid Downloads = new Guid("374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B"); } [DllImport("shell32.dll", CharSet=CharSet.Unicode)] static extern int SHGetKnownFolderPath([MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStruct)] Guid rfid, uint dwFlags, IntPtr hToken, out string pszPath); static void Main(string[] args) { string downloads; SHGetKnownFolderPath(KnownFolder.Downloads, 0, IntPtr.Zero, out downloads); Console.WriteLine(downloads); }
Note that the P/invoke given on pinvoke.net is incorrect since it fails to use Unicode character set. Also I have taken advantage of the fact that this API returns memory allocated by the COM allocator. The default marshalling of the P/invoke above is to free the returned memory with CoTaskMemFree
which is perfect for our needs.
Be careful that this is a Vista and up API and do not attempt to call it on XP/2003 or lower.
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