I'm trying to copy a file to System32 folder. I tried;
System.Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables("%windir%\system32")
Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.System)
It didn't work. It always returns to C:/Windows . What should i do to get System32 folder ? Thanks.
Both of those work. You can verify you have the proper directory by setting a breakpoint on line 2 of your Button1_Click method and then inspecting the value of dir.
That being said, you really shouldn't be writing to the System32 folder (or really anything from the Windows folder down, with the exception of Temp). If you're trying to install an application on the end-user machine, you should be using an installer (and writing to the Program Files folder) instead.
Writing directly into the System32 folder isn't normally allowed (unless you've turned off access control and a lot of security features) as it introduces a huge security risk. You're also not guaranteed that it will even work on all systems because of different security controls that may (or may not) be in place.
Related
I'm creating a WIX installer for a C# application.
In the application I use System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings[Setting1] to get settings.
My question is, where must I place the program.exe.config file on the machine in order for it to work?
I can't place it with the program in ProgramFiles directory, since those files are read-only.
I tried:
Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.PerUserRoamingAndLocal);
config.AppSettings.Settings[Config1].Value = "Value1";
config.Save();
Unfortunately I don't know where it's looking.
Thanks your replies, Trevy
It should be in the same folder of the program.exe. Use wix to copy both program.exe and program.exe.config to the required folder.
If you need to edit the configuration file during the installation you will need to do it using a custom action in wix. Make sure you pass the file path to the custom action and write the code to read the configurations in that file and edit.
The problem isn't that the files there are readonly - the problem is that you are trying to update files in the Program Files folder with your config.Save, and you can't do that if you are a limited user, and you are always limited (even if you are admin) unless you elevate. The short answer is that:
If your app routinely updates files in restricted areas then it probably needs elevation, so give it an elevation manifest.
If however you require you app to be used by limited users and allow them to update that config file then don't install to Program Files. Choose User Appdata folder, for example. Windows is probably using your config file during program startup, so you can't separate it from the exe.
When I was creating an installer for my app, I found I couldn’t save my settings.
The reason is because the Program Files repository, from a practical point of view, is read-only (Applications should never run with elevated permissions). When installing a program, the only time we modify the MyApp.exe.config file is at installation/upgrade/repair time.
The config file has many sections. One of them is userSettings. This is where we store any data we need to modify during the lifetime of the application. When run for the first time, Windows creates a hidden file in the user’s AppData folder. That is why we can save user settings, even though the config file is in the same directory as the MyApp.exe
So the answer is, if we run into permission errors when trying to save our settings it means we are writing our settings to the wrong section of the config file. We need to place it in the userSettings section and nowhere else.
For convenience, Visual Studios has a settings editor (the settings tab of the properties page). It allows you to create strongly typed user and application settings. The generated class lets you save user settings, but not application settings for the above reasons.
We are using a really old Intel math library (nsp.dll and family) and it's location must be specified in the Windows PATH variable. Previously we installed these dll's in the Windows/System32 folder so everything was fine. Now we would like to install these dll's in another folder, the reason is we are migrating to Windows 7 and do not want to place dll's in the System32 folder. I found the SO answer as to how to change the PATH variable (thanks for that) and that does work. After installing I checked the PATH and our folder was NOT added to the PATH, I check the reg key and our folder WAS added. But....it appears that when we register our OCX that uses those dll's, the path is not changed yet. When I rebooted the PATH has our added path.
So, it seems I'm in a catch-22, I need to change the PATH and also use the new PATH during the install. Do I need to require a reboot and some how register that OCX after the reboot? Or is there another way?
After the reboot, running cmd as Administrator allowed me to register the OCX in the new folder. But I would like to have the installer do this automatically.
Thanks.
Make sure that you have the following setting in your script:
[Setup]
ChangesEnvironment=yes
This will allow the PATH change to take effect without a reboot.
However it will only affect new processes started by the shell. If you have an existing cmd window, or you try to start the application at the end of the install without using the shellexec flag, it will still see the old PATH.
And double-however: you cannot legally change the path where a COM DLL or OCX file is installed and registered. These must without exception be installed in the location specified by the vendor. Hence you must continue to install it in {sys} anyway. (At least if you're still using system-wide registration. There is an alternative that does let you move it, if you look up "registration-free COM", but it comes with a lot of caveats and is seldom worth the effort.)
Also note that "because Windows 7" is not a valid reason to move something anyway.
I have a Wix installer which is designed to install (uninstall) a Windows service and another .exe file. When I uninstall the software using this installer, and enabling extra log, I see some error messages about unable to remove my installation folder, although it is indeed empty. The first message that appears on the log is like this:
DEBUG: Error 2911: Could not remove the folder MY_INSTALLATION_FOLDER.
The following errors are all about the same problem. My first guess is of course that there are some resources that were being used during the uninstallation. However, like I mentioned, all components in this folder were indeed removed and this is an empty folder by now. Also, this error is the first error in the log, meaning there was no error prior to removing this folder. For example, from the log I can see a series of FileRemove actions were taken right prior to the folder removal and they all succeeded. So it's gotta be that this folder itself was being used. But I really can't figure out why and what is holding this folder. By the way the software was indeed uninstalled since the final product removal returns 0 and every thing related to our software was removed (Windows service list, shortcuts, registries...) excepted this empty folder. It is not crucial but we definitely don't want to hear from our customer asking about this kind of error anyway(they are using auto-installation and the log is by default enabled and checked)
Please help. Thanks!
Possible causes:
Other process is locking that folder. Use Unlocker to
verify if that's the case.
Some folders have restricted permissions
by Windows (e.g. C:\Windows\system32). Generally, you should avoid creating files under Windows own folders (unless it's required, I.e.: your'e installing a device driver).
Did you properly set folder permissions?
I have a VB program that creates a temporay PDF file then opens Outlook and attaches the file. I create the file in the application path (the location that the program is running from - normally C:\Program Files\ProgamName). This works fine in XP as it appears there are no crazy permission issues. However in Windows 7, the file does not appear. There are no errors, the file does not exist in that location.
I've changed the path to the root of C:\, however this doesn't work either. I suspect it's something to do with W7 virtualisation, so the question is where can I create a file that I can then access again?
I was trying to avoid creating it on a share on a server, but it's looking like this is the only place to put it as there doesn't seem to be many places a user can write files to in Windows 7.
Surely there must be a location that users can access (without being administrators) to create files. Don't even get me started on the fun I have had with the registry in W7!!!
Thanks
Patrick
You need to create the file in the system's temp directory, which you can find by calling Path.GetTempPath().
In general, your program should only write to files in the user's Application Data (or temp) directories and only write registry keys in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. (This is true in any version of Windows)
If you follow these guidelines, you won't have any trouble in Windwos VIsta or 7.
You should never write information to places that are shared by multiple users.
Edit: While the following will work, SLaks points out it's bad practice, and the temp file won't get cleaned up.
Try %HOMEPATH% - this is the environment variable for a users documents folder, and should work no matter which version if windows you use.
In other words where you used to have:
"c:\programfiles\programname\tempFileName"
use:
"%HOMEPATH%\tempFileName"
I have added a config file (myapp.exe.config) that is deployed to the device after installation. But the problem is that this file gets read-only attribute. I have tried adding some stuff in the setup project in "codeINSTALL_EXIT" function. On emulator it works ... it removes the read only attribute, while when installing on the phone the attribute stays.
SetFileAttributes(szPathConfig, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL)
Any ideas?
It's not completely clear from your question how the file is getting deployed (though I think from a CAb only). Things to check/know:
If you install via CAB, but then deploy from Studio (i.e. Debug) the file will get overwritten and the file studio pushes may well be read-only, especially if your SCC mechanism locks local files that aren't checked out (like VSS does).
When you build a CAB file, the file attributes get inherited from the source, meaning that if the file is read-only on the PC when you create the CAB, it will be read-only coming out of the CAB. One woudl think that the EXIT of the installer would be late enough to alter the attributes, but I've never tested it. Following your current path, you might check that the attributes before setting and also check to see if the Set call is actually succeeding. Personally I'd just make sure all files were read/write enabled before building the CAB to avoid the whole problem in the first place.