Locating a user's Program Files

This worked ok for me in WinXP (not sure it works in all versions of windows).

Option Explicit
Sub testme01()
MsgBox Environ("programfiles")
End Sub

But I searched *scripting* newsgroups and found something that was close to
this:

Option Explicit
Sub testme02()

Dim sPath As String
Dim WSHShell As Object
Set WSHShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

sPath = WSHShell.environment("Process")("ProgramFiles")

If sPath = "" Then
sPath = WSHShell.RegRead _
("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProgramFilesDir")
End If

MsgBox sPath

End Sub

It looks like it tries to use the environment variable. If it doesn't find it,
it goes and reads the registry.



cush wrote:
>
> I am able to locate a users desktop with the following code:
>
> Set WSHShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
> sPath = WSHShell.specialfolders("Desktop")
>
> I need something similar to locate the Program Files, which are not always
> located at C:\Program Files
>
> I tried:
> Set WSHShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
> sPath = WSHShell.SpecialFolders("Program Files")
>
> both with and without the space, but it only turned up
> an empty string.
>
> sPath = WSHShell.SpecialFolders("Programs")
> returns : \Start Menu\Programs
>
> Any clues?
> Also, where can I find the object model for this?

--

Dave Peterson

"Dave Peterson" <[email protected]> skrev i melding
news:[email protected]...
> This worked ok for me in WinXP (not sure it works in all versions of
windows).
>
> Option Explicit
> Sub testme01()
> MsgBox Environ("programfiles")
> End Sub

"Environ" is very limited in the Windows 9x family (95, 98, ME), but works
fine in the NT family (NT, 2000, XP). If this is a problem, Randy Birch has
code for this (and almost everything else) at
http://vbnet.mvps.org/code/browse/csidl.htm
it is VB6, so the Form parts has to be adjusted

Best wishes Harald

Do you know if this would work in the 9x series?

If sPath = "" Then
sPath = WSHShell.RegRead _
("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProgramFilesDir")
End If

Thanks,



Harald Staff wrote:
>
> "Dave Peterson" <[email protected]> skrev i melding
> news:[email protected]...
> > This worked ok for me in WinXP (not sure it works in all versions of
> windows).
> >
> > Option Explicit
> > Sub testme01()
> > MsgBox Environ("programfiles")
> > End Sub
>
> "Environ" is very limited in the Windows 9x family (95, 98, ME), but works
> fine in the NT family (NT, 2000, XP). If this is a problem, Randy Birch has
> code for this (and almost everything else) at
> http://vbnet.mvps.org/code/browse/csidl.htm
> it is VB6, so the Form parts has to be adjusted
>
> Best wishes Harald

--

Dave Peterson

Hi Dave,

> Do you know if this would work in the 9x series?
>
> If sPath = "" Then
> sPath = WSHShell.RegRead _
> ("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProgramFilesDir")
> End If

Yes, that worked for me in W98SE when I ran your testme02 as posted earlier.

sPath = WSHShell.environment("Process")("ProgramFiles")
and
MsgBox Environ("programfiles")
both returned empty strings but without error.

FWIW, I notice that besides "ProgramFilesDir" I also have
"ProgramFilesPath", adjacent in the registry. Both show same path, as I
would expect but wonder why the two keys.

Regards,
Peter T

I use winXP.

For me,
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProgramFilesDir
contained a value of: C:\program files

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProgramFilesPath
contained a value of: %ProgramFiles%

which looks a lot like a way to refer to an environment variable.

Like using Windows start button|run
and typing:
%temp%
to get to the user's temp folder
%programfiles%
took me to my c:\program files folder.





Peter T wrote:
>
> Hi Dave,
>
> > Do you know if this would work in the 9x series?
> >
> > If sPath = "" Then
> > sPath = WSHShell.RegRead _
> > ("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProgramFilesDir")
> > End If
>
> Yes, that worked for me in W98SE when I ran your testme02 as posted earlier.
>
> sPath = WSHShell.environment("Process")("ProgramFiles")
> and
> MsgBox Environ("programfiles")
> both returned empty strings but without error.
>
> FWIW, I notice that besides "ProgramFilesDir" I also have
> "ProgramFilesPath", adjacent in the registry. Both show same path, as I
> would expect but wonder why the two keys.
>
> Regards,
> Peter T

--

Dave Peterson