I am running an Italian version of Windows 7.
Some folders, such as C:\Users, appear as C:\Users
when I run cmd and do an ls from the C: directory.
However, when I use Windows Explorer, this Users
folder shows up as Utenti. Also, when an
install script installs to C:\Users and I
go to Windows Explorer, I can click on
C:\Utenti and still view the stuff.
Can anyone explain where this
translation is configured and how
it works at a deeper level, as this
happens with most folders on the
system which seemingly end up
having two names in the Italian version of Window 7?
Thank you for any pointers or
more in-depth information
concerning the peculiarities
of such mechanism.
The localized folders are actually symbolic links to their english counter parts. The original english folders are hidden system files. This way the user only sees the folders in their language but they are still accessible under their english names. This is a big plus of Windows Vista/7 because before if a script accessed C:\Program Files it was not usable under non-english versions of Windows.
You can show the hidden original english folders if you go to tools -> folder options -> show system files (or something similiar, out of my head).
As Felix Dombek mentioned in his comment, this is due to the desktop.ini, which can be found in your Users folder (and other folders as well).
This file is used by the File Explorer and the Shell to customize the appearance of folders.
The LocalizedResourceName entry is responsible for the displayed foldername, which is used to determine the correct DLL and the stringID, the foldername should be loaded from.
Related
So I have been trying to build an installer for my game with NSIS. For the most part it works fine but just noticed that it seems to be skipping certain files for no reason. Or no reason I can figure out.
At first I was using this line to gather up all the files in the source folder:
File /r "${NSISDIR}\game\source\*.*"
However, I noticed that this didn't get everything. Granted it found all sub-folders and kept the hierarchy correct. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what it skipped. Then I tried listing all files and directories separately and found out why. Example:
File "${NSISDIR}\OWTD-DE\source\pygame.math.pyd"
This produces the following error:
File: "C:\Program Files (x86)\NSIS\game\source\pygame.math.pyd" -> no files found.
But that file exists, I can see it in the source folder. This was the case for all missing files. At first I thought it may be the two periods in the name, but various files have that naming convention and they are added fine. I cannot figure out how to get it to recognize these files. Any ideas?
${NSISDIR} is a define used to access the UI resources in the Contrib subfolder, you are not supposed to put your files there. Your source files should not be in Program Files, only installed files should be located there. Also, on 64-bit systems there are two Program Files folders and there are some compatibility hacks in Windows related to %ProgramFiles% so putting your source files there is not optimal. Just because you see that file there does not mean it is actually in Program Files, it could be UAC Virtualization/VirtualStore tricking you...
Normally you would keep your .nsi somewhere in the same directory tree as the rest of your files so you can use relative paths but you can also use a define if you really want to:
!define MYSOURCE "c:\foo\bar"
...
Section
File /r "${MYSOURCE}\*.*"
SectionEnd
If it still misses some files I would suggest trying Process Monitor so you can see the low-level details...
Weirdly enough, this process did not work very well on Windows Home 64-Bit but did on Windows Professional 64-Bit. I'm not sure if this an issue with NSIS itself or what, but nothing was different between the two except the OS. And there really isn't much difference between those two operating systems. However, perhaps some configuration differences between the two was the real issue.
While marked solved, I'm not really sure what the actual issue and solution could be.
I was going through the source code of a rainmeter skin and i could not understand :
TextShortcut1=Computer
TextShortcut2=Libraries
TextShortcut3=Internet
TextShortcut4=Media Player
TextShortcut5=Control Panel
TextShortcut6=Trash
TextShortcut7=ShutDown
TextPath1=::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
TextPath2=shell:Libraries
TextPath3=http://google.com
TextPath4=shell:MusicLibrary
TextPath5=::{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002b30309d}
TextPath6=::{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
TextPath7=rundll32.exe user32.dll LockWorkStation
Can anyone tell me what
::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
::{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002b30309d}
::{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
these are
and also how can we get one of these for a specific location from our computer.
Those are CLSID (Windows Class Identifiers). Certain special folders within the operating system are identified by unique strings.
20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D is My Computer
21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002b30309d is Control Panel
645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E is Recycle Bin
Source:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/110919-clsid-key-list-windows-7-a.html
In response to the comment:
can i have Class Identifiers for any folder on Computer or is it just
the bunch of those.
There isn't much reason for you to add more clsids, since you can just go to other locations by typing the normal path. This is a set list that is in the registry somewhere for special folders that don't really have "paths" like C:\windows does.
what is "shell:Something" is it a cmd command or location
shell: is similar to above. It is a convenient way of accessing special folders. Here is a good site for a list: http://smallvoid.com/article/winnt-shell-keyword.html . It is more of a shortcut for Windows Explorer to access a specific location than it is a command. You cant use them in batch files as far as I know (no command line stuff).
what is %something% like %temp%
Those are environment variables. You can usually count on certain ones existing, but the user can change these. Here is a list of some more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_variables#Microsoft_Windows
how do they all differ?
Well, basically, they are just different ways of accessing the same thing. Some things are more backwards compatible than others, so you have to make that choice when the time comes. If you know your app is going to be on Windows 7 and above, you can make use of some of the more convenient shell:something ones. But if it needs to run on Windows 2000, you might have to rely more on older stuff like environment variables. Environment variables can also be customized by the user.
I have an old program that saves its files to Program Files. We are updating it to run properly on Windows 7. The problem is that we now can't find our saved files. Windows 7 allowed our program to save to program files, but obviously put the files somewhere else. We can't find that 'somewhere else'. Does anybody know where Windows 7 places its files when we save in Program Files?
Update:
We've looked in program files, in program files (x86), we've used Windows Explorer search function to try and find the directory name. Nothing works, but when we check to see if the directory we are making already exists in our application, we find it and put up our error dialog box.
Look in C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\[APPNAME]
Possibly program files (86) if your application is a 32 bit app. The place they should be saved is in the users directory though (or even better, give the user the choice of where to save).
What is the importance of the ProgramData folder in Windows?
I have noticed that many installed programs store files in a subdirectory of the ProgramData folder. Is there a specific reason for that?
I have to create an installer for my application. Should I store user-level files under ProgramData or under Users?
The documentation describes the expected use of this folder like this (emphasis mine):
The file system directory that contains application data for all users. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data. This folder is used for application data that is not user specific. For example, an application can store a spell-check dictionary, a database of clip art, or a log file in the CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA folder. This information will not roam and is available to anyone using the computer.
Note that this documentation refers to the typical path as per older versions of Windows. In modern versions of Windows it is located in %SystemDrive%\ProgramData.
Rather disappointgly, the above quote is from the now legacy CSIDL documentation. But the documentation for the replacement KNOWNFOLDERID omits the useful descriptions of what you are intended to do with these special folders. So, in order to get to the bottom of questions like this you need to refer to both topics, so far as I can tell.
The default installation location of our applications is c:\Program Files folder. Due to virtulization, this is not a good location to install our applications in 'Program Files' folder in Windows 7. What is the preferred default installation location in Windows 7..
Does microsoft say specify anything on this?
Where can I get more information on this?
Our application can create projects which are kept in c:\Program Files\PolyCd\Projects folder. User can copy these files to other machines to use the project files. We also don't want to run the application as administrator to avoid prompting whenever the application starts. This enables virtualizations. And hence the user won't be able to see the project files he created in c:\Program Files\PolyCd\Projects folder
I have one more question. What is the preferred location of keeping the application specific data such as the project information I mentioned earlier
Ah, thanks for the clarification. Your problem is where you are storing the data. Generally, settings and the likes should be stored in the folder specified by the environment variable AppData. Project data, documents, etc however should generally be stored in the user's "Documents" folder.
'Program Files' or 'Program Files (x86)' for 32-bit software on 64-bit Windows. But you would usually use a variable like $PROGRAMFILES so Windows finds the folder itself.
Since you asked specifically "does Microsoft say anything on this?" let me show you the Windows logo requirements from Microsoft. After you download that document, you can read guidance that includes what folder to install to (Program Files) and where to keep the user's data and settings (ProgramData or AppData). If you follow these guidelines, not only will your application behave as users expect, you will find it easy to get the Windows Logo for your application, which is a shortcut into the partner program. Many of my clients save tends of thousands of dollars on software by being in the partner program, so don't dismiss the value of the logo. But the immediate value to you is clear direction about where to put your app and where to put the user's data.