find the .exe directory?

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How would I find an .exe file's full path?
For example,
RunProgram.exe would be in

C:\\Program Files\\somewhere\\somefolder

so I want to search for "RunProgram.exe"
and return

C:\\Program Files\\somewhere\\somefolder\\RunProgram.exe

Posted 5-Jun-12 18:54pm

shekarchee

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2 solutions

Solution 1

The Property Application.ExecutablePath gives you the full path of the exe. See this code;

C#

MessageBox.Show(Application.ExecutablePath);

Please note that this only works when using a WinForms application.

You may also get the information from the current process as below:

C#

MessageBox.Show(System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName);

Posted 5-Jun-12 18:58pm

JF2015

Updated 5-Jun-12 19:10pm

v2

Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Jun-12 1:04am

This is not a good solution at all, because not all applications has the Application. Please see my answer.
--SA

Maciej Los 6-Jun-12 18:15pm

I agree with you, SA. That's the reason of vote 4.

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-05T19:03:00

This is such thing as the location of a main executable module of the entry assembly:

C#

string exePath = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;

Of course, you can get the location of any given assembly, such as the calling one. Strictly speaking, an assembly does not have to be a single file and may be implemented in different modules, but Visual Studio supports creation of only single-module assemblies (the referenced assemblies are not counted, they are different assemblies). In all cases, the assembly location is the location of its main executable module. Please see:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.reflection.assembly.aspx[^].

There are a number of other methods, but some of them require additional references, and some gives different results depending on how the application is hosted; this method is the reliable one.

—SA