Navigating Through File Hierarchies: Understanding Directory Structures

Navigating Through File Hierarchies: Understanding Directory Structures

Kenneth Lv8
  2024-10-08 16:37:53 2024-10-08 16:37:53 Created   2024-10-11 04:28:35 2024-10-11 04:28:35 Updated    

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.

ImportantIf 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.

NoteThe 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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  • Title: Navigating Through File Hierarchies: Understanding Directory Structures
  • Author: Kenneth
  • Created at : 2024-10-08 16:37:53
  • Updated at : 2024-10-11 04:28:35
  • Link: https://fox-sys.techidaily.com/navigating-through-file-hierarchies-understanding-directory-structures/
  • License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
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Navigating Through File Hierarchies: Understanding Directory Structures
  1. Navigating Through File Hierarchies: Understanding Directory Structures
  2. Paths of the folders in the “Files and Folders” Page