Install To The Users\Public Directory In Windows Vista & Later

Title

Summary

This article provides information on how to target the ?Users\Public? as your INSTALLDIR regardless of the volume label, i.e. C:\ D:\ etc.

Synopsis

This article provides information on how to target the ?Users\Public? as your INSTALLDIR regardless of the volume label, i.e. C:\ D:\ etc.

Discussion

Starting with Windows Vista Microsoft added a new directory that is by default C:\Users\Public. This directory is not one of the predefined directories in InstallShield and is not specified in the Microsoft Directory Table. You could simply point to C:\Users\Public as your INSTALLDIR, but you will face problems if Windows is not installed to C:\.

Here are two different methods to accomplish this. The first is a very simple method of using an environment variable. The second is more complicated, but this can be used as a guideline to resolve to other paths where there location is stored in a registry value.

Method 1:

1: In your Basic MSI project you could set INSTALLDIR to [%Public] using a custom action. This value is not exclusive to INSTALLDIR and can be used with other properties as well.

Method 2:

1: In your Basic MSI project leave the INSTALLDIR set to the default value.

2: In the Installation Designer view go to Behavior and Logic, and select System Search.

3: Right click under system search, and choose Add, and choose Folder path, as specified by a registry entry.

4: Set the Registry Root to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, set the Registry Key to SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList, and for Registry Value, set this to Public. Doing this will allow the installer to resolve where the Public Directory is located on the system.

5: In the next view choose Just store the value in the property, and name the Property whatever you would like, for example I used MYINSTALLDIR, and make note of this.

6: under Behavior and Logic, select Custom Actions and Sequences.

7: Right click on Custom Actions, and choose New Set Property.

8: Select your new Custom Action and under the Common tab set the Property Name to INSTALLDIR, and set the Property Value to the name of Property you stored the System Search to, in my case MYINSTALLDIR, and I have this set as the First Action, in the Install UI Sequence. Please note if you plan on running this installer silently you will need to move this to the Install Exec Sequence.

9: Your installer will now target the ?Users\Public? as your INSTALLDIR.

10: If you do not want to use INSTALLDIR you can use another property of your choosing.

Method 3:
?
1. Set the Destination of your Component to [WindowsVolume]Users\Public

Additional Information

For more information see Microsoft article KNOWNFOLDERID. In this article you will find out about the KNOWNFOLDERID constant FOLDERID_Public related to this matter.
Reference: FOLDERID_Public

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Case id: 00001065