Access shared folder VB2005

Hi Experts,
My application is written using VB2005 and SQLExpress. When the application is installed on the server, a folder is created in the application's directory. For eg, if the application is installed in "C:\XYZ", then a folder "C:\XYZ\123" will be created. The purpose of this folder is to hold some text files that can be viewed on client machines. The folder also contains the db file used by the application.

1) How do I make "C:\XYZ\123" a shared folder using VB2005.
2) If the application is installed on a client machine, how do I access the shared folder via VB2005? How do I determine the path to this shared folder? Is there a way to determine the path from the application config file (connection strings)

Thanks