visual studio installer programfilesfolder

 https://www.advancedinstaller.com/user-guide/folder-paths.html

Paths of the folders in the "Files and Folders" Page

The folders in the "Files and Folders" page use predefined and custom installer properties which store their paths.

Folder Name	Property Name	Sample Path	Comments
Application Folder	APPDIR	C:\Program Files\Your Company\Your Application	this is the default value and it can be configured
Application Shortcut Folder	SHORTCUTDIR	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Start Menu\Programs\Your Application	C:\Users\<username>\Start Menu\Programs\Your Application on Vista or above; this is the default value and it can be configured
Program Files	ProgramFilesFolder	C:\Program Files	C:\Program Files (x86) on a 64-bit machine
Common Files	CommonFilesFolder	C:\Program Files\Common Files	C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files on a 64-bit machine
Program Files 64	ProgramFiles64Folder	C:\Program Files	resolved only on a 64-bit machine
Common Files 64	CommonFiles64Folder	C:\Program Files\Common Files	resolved only on a 64-bit machine
Windows Volume	WindowsVolume	C:\
Temporary	TempFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp	C:\Users\<username>\Local Settings\Temp on Vista or above
Windows	WindowsFolder	C:\Windows
Fonts	FontsFolder	C:\Windows\Fonts
System	SystemFolder	C:\Windows\system32	C:\Windows\SysWow64 on a 64-bit machine
System 16	System16Folder	C:\Windows\system	used on older Windows versions
System 64	System64Folder	C:\Windows\system32	resolved only on 64-bit machines
Start Menu	StartMenuFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Start Menu	C:\Users\<username>\Start Menu on Vista or above
Programs	ProgramMenuFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Start Menu\Programs	C:\Users\<username>\Start Menu\Programs on Vista or above
Startup	StartupFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Start Menu\Programs\Startup	C:\users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup on Vista or above
Desktop	DesktopFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Desktop	C:\Users\<username>\Desktop on Vista or above
Favorites	FavoritesFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Favorites	C:\Users\<username>\Favorites on Vista or above
My Documents	PersonalFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents	C:\Users\<username>\Documents on Vista or above
My Pictures	MyPicturesFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\My Pictures	C:\Users\<username>\Pictures on Vista or above
Templates	TemplateFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Templates	C:\Users\<username>\Templates on Vista or above
Send To	SendToFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\SendTo	C:\Users\<username>\SendTo on Vista or above
Administrative Tools	AdminToolsFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools	C:\ProgramData\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools on Vista or above
Application Data	AppDataFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data	C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming on Vista or above
Common Application Data	CommonAppDataFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data	C:\ProgramData on Vista or above
Network Shortcuts	NetHoodFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\NetHood	C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts on Vista and above
Recent Items	RecentFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Recent	C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent on Vista and above
Printer Shortcuts	PrintHoodFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\PrintHood	C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts on Vista and above
Local Application Data	LocalAppDataFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data	C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local on Vista or above
Public Documents	PublicDocumentsFolder	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\	C:\Users\Public\Documents\ on Windows Vista
Windows Libraries	WindowsLibrariesFolder	C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\	C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\ on Windows 7 or above
IIS WWW Root	IIsWWWRootFolder	C:\Inetpub\wwwroot

All the above folders are predefined for Windows Installer except for the first two folders which are proprietary for Advanced Installer. When the installation package runs, Windows Installer will automatically resolve their paths according to the target machine's configuration.

Depending on the package type, the paths will change; this means that if the package is per-user the paths will use "...\<username>\..." or if it is per-machine the paths will use "...\Public\..." instead.

If a package is per-machine and shortcuts are present in the AppDataFolder, the system redirects the shortcuts to the ProgramData folder.