Windows uses an enumeration of special folder names to make it easier to find commonly used folders. Without this mechanism, we’d have to jump through a lot more hoops to determine this information since it is user dependent. I was trying to use a special folder as the root of a path for some common files shared by multiple programs that I am working on.
(Squirrel!) I wonder where all these paths point to on my machine? Time to bang out some code to see. I don’t want users to be able to easily screw up my files so maybe I should pick a hidden folder to add some (little) protection.
| Special Folder Name | Value on 64-bit machine | Attributes |
|---|---|---|
| AdminTools | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools | RO |
| ApplicationData | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming | |
| CDBurning | ||
| CommonAdminTools | C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools | RO |
| CommonApplicationData | C:\ProgramData | H |
| CommonDesktopDirectory | C:\Users\Public\Desktop | H, RO |
| CommonDocuments | C:\Users\Public\Documents | RO |
| CommonMusic | C:\Users\Public\Music | RO |
| CommonOemLinks | ||
| CommonPictures | C:\Users\Public\Pictures | RO |
| CommonProgramFiles | C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files | |
| CommonProgramFilesX86 | C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files | |
| CommonPrograms | C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs | RO |
| CommonStartMenu | C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu | RO |
| CommonStartup | C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup | RO |
| CommonTemplates | C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates | |
| CommonVideos | C:\Users\Public\Videos | RO |
| Cookies | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCookies | H, Sys |
| Desktop | C:\Users\{username}\Desktop | RO |
| DesktopDirectory | C:\Users\{username}\Desktop | RO |
| Favorites | C:\Users\{username}\Favorites | RO |
| Fonts | C:\Windows\Fonts | RO, Sys |
| History | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History | Sys |
| InternetCache | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache | H, Sys |
| LocalApplicationData | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local | |
| LocalizedResources | ||
| MyComputer | ||
| MyDocuments | C:\Users\{username}\Documents | RO |
| MyMusic | C:\Users\{username}\Music | RO |
| MyPictures | C:\Users\{username}\Pictures | RO |
| MyVideos | C:\Users\{username}\Videos | RO |
| NetworkShortcuts | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts | |
| Personal | C:\Users\{username}\Documents | RO |
| PrinterShortcuts | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts | |
| ProgramFiles | C:\Program Files (x86) | RO |
| ProgramFilesX86 | C:\Program Files (x86) | RO |
| Programs | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs | RO |
| Recent | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent | RO |
| Resources | C:\Windows\resources | |
| SendTo | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo | RO |
| StartMenu | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu | RO |
| Startup | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup | RO |
| System | C:\Windows\system32 | |
| SystemX86 | C:\Windows\SysWOW64 | |
| Templates | C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates | |
| UserProfile | C:\Users\{username} | |
| Windows | C:\Windows |
- H – Directories marked with this attribute do not appear in an ordinary directory listing.
- RO – Applications cannot delete this folder, but applications can create and delete files from that directory.
- Sys – Directory that the operating system uses a part of or uses exclusively.
If you are curious, this is the application I used to determine my values.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
namespace SpecialFolder
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
IList<string> folders = new List<String>() {
"AdminTools", "ApplicationData", "CDBurning", "CommonAdminTools", "CommonApplicationData",
"CommonDesktopDirectory", "CommonDocuments", "CommonMusic", "CommonOemLinks", "CommonPictures",
"CommonProgramFiles", "CommonProgramFilesX86", "CommonPrograms", "CommonStartMenu",
"CommonStartup", "CommonTemplates", "CommonVideos", "Cookies", "Desktop", "DesktopDirectory",
"Favorites", "Fonts", "History", "InternetCache", "LocalApplicationData", "LocalizedResources",
"MyComputer", "MyDocuments", "MyMusic", "MyPictures", "MyVideos", "NetworkShortcuts", "Personal",
"PrinterShortcuts", "ProgramFiles", "ProgramFilesX86", "Programs", "Recent", "Resources", "SendTo",
"StartMenu", "Startup", "System", "SystemX86", "Templates", "UserProfile", "Windows"
};
// Coded to create a Markdown format table in console.
Console.WriteLine("|Special Folder Name| Value on 64-bit machine| Attributes |");
Console.WriteLine("|--|--|--|");
foreach (string folder in folders)
{
Environment.SpecialFolder specFolder
= (Environment.SpecialFolder)Enum.Parse(typeof(Environment.SpecialFolder), folder);
string envFolder = Environment.GetFolderPath(specFolder);
if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(envFolder))
{
Console.WriteLine($"| {folder} | | |");
continue;
}
string attr =
(File.GetAttributes(envFolder) & FileAttributes.Hidden) > 0 ? "H" : "";
if ((File.GetAttributes(envFolder) & FileAttributes.ReadOnly) > 0)
{
if (attr == "")
{
attr = "RO";
}
else
{
attr += ", RO";
}
}
if ((File.GetAttributes(envFolder) & FileAttributes.System) > 0)
{
if (attr == "")
{
attr = "Sys";
}
else
{
attr += ", Sys";
}
}
string s = $"| {folder} | {Environment.GetFolderPath(specFolder)} | {attr} |";
// Replace "xxxxx" with your username to hide output. If you don't care, remove the following line.
s = s.Replace("xxxxx", "\\{username}");
Console.WriteLine(s);
}
}
}
}