asked on

Can I install into C:\<MyProgramName>\ ?

Currently we install our program into:

C:\Program Files\<Company Name>\<Program Name\

and the program's data files we write to are placed in:

AppData\Roaming\<OurProgram>\

Management is asking why we should have our program files spread all over the computer, instead of having them all in one place. They wish to know if we could just install our program into:

C:\<Company Name>\<Program Name>\

Is there a good reason not to do this?

(Both the program files and the data files we write to would be under this single directory.)

(Of course we actually install into the more abstract versions of C:\Program Files\: i.e.
[ProgramFilesFolder][Manufacturer]\[ProductName]
[AppDataFolder][Manufacturer]\[ProductName]

(P.S. I've also noticed a recent trend to install all program files into AppData\Local, e.g. Google Chrome, Amazon Kindle Previewer.)

SOLUTION

Dave Baldwin

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deleyd

ASKER

I wonder if Windows 8 places any restrictions on installing programs in to C:\...

I've seen a few programs the probably originated on Linux which get installed to C:\... such as Python, Strawberry Perl, Qt, xampp, code_red RedSuite.

If installing to C:\... is OK then why don't more companies install it there?

Does Microsoft have anything useful to say on this subject?

SOLUTION

Dave Baldwin

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ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Vadim Rapp

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Can I install into C:\&lt;MyProgramName&gt;\ ?

Can I install into C:\<MyProgramName>\ ?