Member Avatar for sachintha81

I am required to create a Desktop shortcut to a specific folder from within my C# program. I have two requirements.
1) On the Desktop of Current User
2) On the All Users Desktop

Following is the code I used:

WshShellClass WshShell = new WshShellClass();
IWshShortcut MyDesktopShortcut;
MyDesktopShortcut = (IWshShortcut)WshShell.CreateShortcut(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop) + "\\XYZ.lnk");
MyDesktopShortcut.TargetPath = "C:\\ABC\\XYZ";
MyDesktopShortcut.Description = "Shortcut to " + MyDesktopShortcut.TargetPath;
MyDesktopShortcut.Save();

In order to do that I need to obtain the path to Desktop folder, and in the first case I can easily do that using;

Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop)

However, I am facing a problem when trying to get the path of the All Users Desktop folder. My program should be able to run on a variety of Windows OS ranging from Windows Server 2003 to Windows 7. As far as I know, the location of All Users Desktop in Vista or above is as follows:

"C:\\Users\\Public\\Desktop\\"

And the location in XP or below is as follows:

"C:\\Documents and Settings\\All Users\\Desktop\\"

Of course I can hard code my program, but I'm looking for a way to acquire the path using some C# method or something similar so as to eliminate obvious possible errors of those paths being changed by users. What can I do?

Edited by sachintha81 because: n/a
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  • Latest Post Latest Post by finito
Member Avatar for sachintha81

Thank you finito. However, my problem is not actually how to create a Desktop shortcut - that I can do. What I need is a way to retriew the path of the All Users Desktop programmatically without having to hard code it. I also need my program to be able to run on a variety of Windows OS from Windows Server 2003 to Windows 7.

Member Avatar for finito

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