CODEWITHSUNDEEP
visual-studioclickonce
Bronzato
Bronzato

Reputation: 9332

Installation path of ClickOnce apps

I have an application developed with Visual Studio 2008 and distributed throught ClickOnce.

My question: if I log on the client computer as John (for example) and I launch the setup.exe (provided through ClickOnce) to install the application, I noticed the path of the executable is something like: C:\Users\John\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0....\mysoftware.exe

Now, if I log on as Mike, the path of the executable is something like: C:\Users\Mike\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0....\mysoftware.exe

It seems that there is a different copy of each executable installation for each user. Does it make sence? Before I developed Visual Basic 6 application where executables are located in C:\Program Files\MySoftware\MySoftware.exe. Every user was running the same executable.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 23975

Answers (2)

codeConcussion
codeConcussion

Reputation: 12938

Yes, ClickOnce always installs apps to an obfuscated folder in the user's profile. It's for security reasons. Users with limited privileges can't write to the "Program Files" folder but they can write to their profile.

This is something that everyone is turned off by initially because it's different. However, the only real cause for concern is if your app is massive and your users have very slow connections. If you still hate the idea of each user installing it, you'll have to use something else; there's no way make ClickOnce behave differently.

Upvotes: 10

MyTester
MyTester

Reputation: 1

I agree with 'withwhatknott' on click-once, privilege issue and security concern.

I would say, go with 'Visual Studio installer' inbuilt installer.

Create a new 'Visual Studio installer' project from the solution. This one is more flexible than click-once.

Check this: Visual Studio 2010 setup project: How to set company name used in default install location?

Hope it helps.

Upvotes: 0

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