Finding the best folder for all users on a Windows machine
.net, c#
Solution
Doug Hennig on finding the path for C:\Users\Public:
There isn’t a CSIDL value for this folder, but the environment variable PUBLIC points to it, so you can use GETENV('PUBLIC') to determine its location. By default, this variable contains C:\Users\Public in Windows Vista. The variable doesn't exist in Windows XP, so your code must handle the case where GETENV('PUBLIC') returns a blank value.
Alternatively, you could use the parent of the folder specified by CSIDL_COMMON_DOCUMENTS, which gives C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents on XP and C:\Users\Public\Documents on Vista.
I think `Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonDocuments` may be the right place for your files.
Problem
We are making a game which will add a level editor feature soon. We want the user to be able to put levels he's downloaded in a folder and then play it in the game, without any hassle. So, we're looking for a folder that anybody can find, open, write, read, and is multiuser. On Windows Vista / 7, the folder /Users/Public/ look like a great candidate. However, It's not listed in the .net enum System.Environment.SpecialFolder. I have went through them all, and checked what they yield on different Windows versions, and none live up to my requirements. I did find Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData, that kinda works, but that folder is hidden (C:\ProgramData) and I assume most users don't display hidden folders. As it stands now, it looks like we'll have to settle for the personal documents folder, but we'd really like a multi user folder. Anyone have any tips? (Hard coding c:\Users\Public\ is out of the question, it will only work on english systems)