Get "My Documents" on Windows Vista or 7

Question

5.00/5 (1 vote)

See more:

Hi,

When I use Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments) or Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Personal) on Windows XP it works great.

When I use these on Windows Vista it returns blank and puts files in my C:\Windows\System32 folder.

When I use these on Windows 7 it always returns C:\Users\dean\Documents.

The problem is I have redirected "My Documents" to drive F:\.
Does anyone know how to get the true (redirected) location of "My Documents" on Vista and 7? Any help appreciated!

Posted 9-Jun-10 8:04am

Dean Geddes

Add a Solution

2 solutions

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

#realJSOP · Answer 1 · 2010-06-09T08:29:00

Solution 1

You're after the Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments enumeration. What do you mean by "redirected"?

According to the MSDN page, it should know how to retrieve folders that have been specified by the user.

Is it possible for you to try it using .Net 3.5 instead of 2.0?

Posted 9-Jun-10 8:29am

#realJSOP

Updated 9-Jun-10 8:38am

v5

Comments

Dean Geddes 9-Jun-10 14:34pm

Hi John,

Which Environment.SpecialFolder object? Neither Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments nor Environment.SpecialFolder.Personal return the correct location on Windows Vista and 7. Im I missing something?

Cheers!
Dean

#realJSOP 9-Jun-10 14:39pm

Can you try using .Net 3.5 instead of 2.0?

Dean Geddes · Answer 2 · 2010-06-09T09:16:00

I guess I did not give enough information (though I didn't know that at the time). I was using these methods in my installer program. Windows Vista and 7 automatically run install programs as administrator which is why I got incorrect locations for MyDocuments and Personal.
Thanks for all assistance!
Dean