Navigating Through File Hierarchies: Understanding Directory Structures

Table of Contents

Paths of the folders in the “Files and Folders” Page

The folders in the “Files and Folders” page use predefined and custom installer properties which store their paths.

Folder Name	Property Name	Sample Path	Comments
Application Folder	APPDIR	C:\Program Files\Your Company\Your Application	this is the default value and it can be configured
Application Shortcut Folder	SHORTCUTDIR	C:\Users\\Start Menu\Programs\Your Application
Program Files	ProgramFilesFolder	C:\Program Files	C:\Program Files (x86) on a 64-bit machine
Common Files	CommonFilesFolder	C:\Program Files\Common Files	C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files on a 64-bit machine
Program Files 64	ProgramFiles64Folder	C:\Program Files	resolved only on a 64-bit machine
Common Files 64	CommonFiles64Folder	C:\Program Files\Common Files	resolved only on a 64-bit machine
Windows Volume	WindowsVolume	C:\
Temporary	TempFolder	C:\Users\\Local Settings\Temp
Windows	WindowsFolder	C:\Windows
Fonts	FontsFolder	C:\Windows\Fonts
System	SystemFolder	C:\Windows\system32	C:\Windows\SysWow64 on a 64-bit machine
System 16	System16Folder	C:\Windows\system	used on older Windows versions
System 64	System64Folder	C:\Windows\system32	resolved only on 64-bit machines
Start Menu	StartMenuFolder	C:\Users\\Start Menu
Programs	ProgramMenuFolder	C:\Users\\Start Menu\Programs
Startup	StartupFolder	C:\users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
User Profile	UserProfileFolder	C:\users\
Desktop	DesktopFolder	C:\Users\\Desktop
Favorites	FavoritesFolder	C:\Users\\Favorites
Documents	PersonalFolder	C:\Users\\Documents
Pictures	MyPicturesFolder	C:\Users\\Pictures
Templates	TemplateFolder	C:\Users\\Templates
Send To	SendToFolder	C:\Users\\SendTo
Administrative Tools	AdminToolsFolder	C:\ProgramData\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools
Application Data	AppDataFolder	C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming
Common Application Data	CommonAppDataFolder	C:\ProgramData
Network Shortcuts	NetHoodFolder	C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
Recent Items	RecentFolder	C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
Printer Shortcuts	PrintHoodFolder	C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
Local Application Data	LocalAppDataFolder	C:\Users\\AppData\Local
Public Documents	PublicDocumentsFolder	C:\Users\Public\Documents\
Windows Libraries	WindowsLibrariesFolder	C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\ on Windows 7 or above	C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\
IIS WWW Root	IIsWWWRootFolder	C:\Inetpub\wwwroot

All the above folders are predefined for Windows Installer except for the first two folders which are proprietary for Advanced Installer. When the installation package runs, Windows Installer will automatically resolve their paths according to the target machine’s configuration.

Depending on the package type, the paths will change; this means that if the package is per-user the paths will use “…\\…” or if it is per-machine the paths will use**”…\Public\…”** instead.

If a package is per-machine and shortcuts are present in theAppDataFolder, the system redirects the shortcuts to theProgramData folder.

If other files are present in the same AppDataFolder, near the shortcuts, these are not redirected and they are placed in AppDataFolder. For more info about shortcut redirection click here .

A special property is “AI_ProgramFiles”, which is used only in a “Mixed 32/64-bit matching the platform” installation package. When creating this type of package the presence of this property in the field “Application Folder” from the Install Parameters page is mandatory. The property will automatically resolve to “ProgramFilesFolder” or “ProgramFiles64Folder”, depending on the machine’s type on which the package is installed.

The sample paths are from a machine which has Windows installed on the C: drive. Also, represents the name current user’s name (the user account on which the installation runs).

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Navigating Through File Hierarchies: Understanding Directory Structures