Installing into Common Files .NET

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Using VB.NET, Visual Studio 2010...

I'd like to put a file in Common Files during installation. The problem is that once this is done the user running my program needs to be an admin to access it or I need to manually change the permissions on the file so regular user's can access it.. I want regular user's to be able to access this file without having to elevate their rights. If I try to install to the user's application folder Visual Studio gives me a warning that I shouldn't install into the user's profile directory because not everyone which be able to use the file which makes sense so...

Where would I install a file on a user's computer which would give regular user's full access to it? Thanks!

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Specifically, this is a SQL Server CE database file. The user can navigate to the file to connect and then query the data source. The issue is that once installed only an admin can open the file unless I manually change the permissions and I would not like my user to have to do this. Thanks again!

Posted 8-May-12 7:17am

toadrw

Updated 8-May-12 8:02am

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Ganesan Senthilvel 8-May-12 13:28pm

Usually c:\temp folder is accessible by every one. Have you tried it?

toadrw 8-May-12 13:57pm

Hello Ganesan: I'd like this file to persist so I don't think that C:\temp is an option. Thank you.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 8-May-12 17:49pm

No it is not an option. This folder is not legitimate. The correct answer is the one by Dave.
--SA

Maciej Los 8-May-12 17:47pm

What kind of file you want to install on client computer?
If it is a file which is used by your application, i suggest you to install it into your application folder, for example: C:\Program Files\YouApplication\

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Dave Kreskowiak · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-08T08:22:00

Solution 1

The normal place to put this is in a subfolder of the CommonApplicationData folder. You then change the permissions on that subfolder to give the Users group appropriate permissions depending on your requirements.

Posted 8-May-12 8:22am

Dave Kreskowiak

Comments

Maciej Los 8-May-12 17:55pm

I can't agree with you. It depend on many things. For example: if it is a template, it could be installed into application directory, subfolder: Templates.
Let me explain. If in my network is over 1K computers and i need manually to change permission to CommonApplicationData folder... Thank you! I like job, but i'm constructively lazy.
My vote of 1.

Dave Kreskowiak 8-May-12 19:11pm

You don't change the permissions manually. You set them inside the MSI.

In the past, people put files like that under Program Files, as you're pointed out. That bad practice is finally falling out of favor because of the undated security model of Vista and 7.

Templates are not executable code and users will normally have the ability to create their own templates. These kinds of files are normally found under CommonAppData or under an ApplicationData under the users profile.

All you have to do is look under C:\ProgramData (Win7) to see this and under C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\ApplicationData (?) (WinXP) to find proof.

Maciej Los 9-May-12 5:44am

Thanks for reply and clarification of practice of installing files on Win Vista/7. Re-vote: 5

toadrw 9-May-12 12:19pm

I think one of my issues is that we're using a Visual Studio deployment project to do this.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1623843/msi-installer-file-folder-permissions

"Visual Studio's setup projects does not support MSI's lock permission table, so if you need the folder you created to be writable to normal users in a setup project you need to grant the right in a custom action using SetNamedSecurityInfo."

Dave Kreskowiak 9-May-12 21:27pm

Don't use that thing. It's a bare bones installer that doesn't support very much. Use a 3rd party produc like InstallShield or InnoSetup or Advanced Installer or WiX or ...

They all have support for setting permissions built in. No custom written code by your required.

toadrw 8-May-12 17:56pm

Hello Dave:

Thank you. I was hoping to do this as part of the installer so I could just change the file uninstall and re-install the new one, but I think I can work around this now.

It sounds like I need to create these folders if they don't exist when my program starts up. Then I need to set the permissions on these folders so all users can access them and then finally move my file over. I think I'm going to do this for one of my db files, but the other I might as we'll just check to see if it is in the user's appdata directory and if not move it over from a resource using File.WriteAllBytes(filePath, My.Resource.ResourceName). I'll just add some extra code if I need to update it.

I found this which describes how to create these folders and give access. Thank you for your help.

http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/61987/Allow-write-modify-access-to-CommonApplicationData

Dave Kreskowiak 8-May-12 19:12pm

You don't create these folders when your app starts up. They are created at install time.

Why? Because when a users starts your app for the first time, the code is running AS the user and will not have the permissions to create a folder under CommonAppData, nor set permissions on it.

toadrw 8-May-12 18:11pm

A little new here, but I'm accepting the solution because my problem was specific to the CommonApplicationData folder. I really wish there was an easier way to do this. :( Thanks again.