How to get the actual path of a file in Vista with UAC?

Question

I am calling CreateFile() to create a file in the Program Data directory. I'm using SHGetSpecialFolderPath() to get the dir name.

I have a user with Vista for whom CreateFile() is returning error 5 (Access Denied). It would help if I knew where CreateFile() was actually attempting to create the file so we can check his folder permissions. The problem with Vista (UAC) is, it's not attempting to create the file in the directory I passed in. It could also be in a VirtualStore directory. An added source of confusion is this user is German and although SHGetSpecialFolderPath() is returning "C:\Program Data\blah blah" as the path, I don't think that's actually where the path is. I think German Vista uses the German word for "Program Data". I would like to be able to tell the user "This is the exact path where we are trying to create the file. Check your permissions on this folder."

I know you can get the a path from an open file handle, but in this case the CreateFile() is failing so I don't have an open handle. How can I get Vista to tell me the actual path where it's attempting to create the file?

Answer 1

Fire up Process Monitor and watch what it does: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

Answer 2

If with UAC the paths used are not the ones you want, then the redirection is in effect. To make sure that redirection does not occur, add a manifest to your application which indicates to Vista that your application is properly coded and aware of access restrictions (i.e., you don't write to e.g., HKLM or the programs folder if your app doesn't need admin privileges to run).

But your application should be able to write to the APPDATA folder (if that's what you really use).

Make sure you're using CSIDL_APPDATA and not CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA (the latter one being accessible only with admin privileges).

To find the real path (the one you would expect) tell the user to type %APPDATA% into the explorer bar (or hit Windows+R, then type %APPDATA%, enter). This will open the explorer on that folder.

Answer 3

My understanding is that ProgramData is used by Vista to write files that were attempting to be written inside C:\Program Files, but failed, since unless you are running the app as Admin you can't write inside program files. Maybe you should try saving your files to the AppData folder under the current user.