Menu
Where do I find a definitive guide as to where, when I am installing a new application into Windows, the application exe's, database tables, configuration files should go?
Also guidelines to which registry keys should be used for persisting user and application data.
Best regards,
Simon
686
The c:\windows\installer folder stores installation information for all programs that were installed onto your PC. If you remove something from this folder, you may get unpredictable results with one or more of your applications....
Open the File Explorer using the icon on the Start menu or by pressing Win + E. Navigate to This PC and click on the drive where Windows is installed (typically the C Drive). Navigate to Program Files > Program Files (x86) and then scroll the list of folders until you find one with the program name you're looking for.
The size of the C:\Windows\Installer folder is by design and it is not supported to delete files from it. So, the question usually asked is: Can I safely remove the files in this directory? The answer is flatly: No.
When applications are installed and updated on the Windows Operating System a hidden directory "C:\Windows\Installer" is used to store the installer (. msi) files and the patch (. msp) files.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms995853.aspx
141
Check out Microsoft's suggestions: Windows File System Namespace Usage Guidelines seems to be what you want. (the file name is slightly misleading - the downloadable PDF file shows these guidelines both for Windows Vista and Windows XP)
To find and query those programatically, see the MSDN Known Folders topic; also see the list of common Known Folder constants. Simplest example for SHGetKnownFolderPath and the Startup folder:
SHGetKnownFolderPath(
FOLDERID_Startup,
0,
NULL,
path_will_be_here_when_function_returns
)
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With
