Vista (User) Shell Folders - Registry (part 1)

Yesterday I showed you the structure of windows vista profiles folders. As you know, a lot of changes ensued in new OS. The folder names was simplified, some places doesn’t exist anymore, and an old names referring to a new objects. Today we will compare a registry values, which contains a paths to suitable profile folders.

User Shell Folders - This subkey contains the path to Windows Explorer folders for current users and for all users. The entries that appear in user User Shell Folders take precedence over those in Shell Folders.

Shell Folders - The subkey remains in the registry to support programs designed for Windows NT 4.0 or earlier.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\…\Shell Folders

- Windows XP -

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Shell Folders
Common AppData	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data
Common Programs	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs
Common Documents	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents
Common Desktop	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop
Common Start Menu	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu
CommonPictures	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Pictures
CommonMusic	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Music
CommonVideo	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Videos
Common Favorites	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Favorites
Common Startup	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Common Templates	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Templates
Common Administrative Tools	C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools
Personal	C:\Documents and Settings\AN\My Documents

- Windows Vista -

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Shell Folders
Common AppData	C:\ProgramData\
Common Programs	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
Common Documents	C:\Users\Public\Documents
Common Desktop	C:\Users\Public\Desktop
Common Start Menu	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
CommonPictures	C:\Users\Public\Pictures
CommonMusic	C:\Users\Public\Music
CommonVideo	C:\Users\Public\Videos
Common Favorites	none
Common Startup	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Common Templates	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
Common Administrative Tools	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools
Personal	none

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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\…\User Shell Folders

%ALLUSERSPROFILE% - the environment variable - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users

- Windows XP -

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\User Shell Folders
Common Desktop	%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Desktop
Common Start Menu	%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu
Common Programs	%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs
Common Startup	%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Common AppData	%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data
Common Templates	%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Templates
Common Favorites	%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Favorites
Common Documents	%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Documents
Common Music	none
Common Pictures	none
Common Video	none

%PUBLIC% - the environment variable - C:\Users\Public

%ProgramData% - the environment variable - C:\ProgramData

- Windows Vista -

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\User Shell Folders
Common Desktop	%PUBLIC%\Desktop
Common Start Menu	%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
Common Programs	%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
Common Startup	%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Common AppData	%ProgramData%
Common Templates	%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
Common Favorites	none
Common Documents	%PUBLIC%\Documents
Common Music	%PUBLIC%\Music
Common Pictures	%PUBLIC%\Pictures
Common Video	%PUBLIC%\Videos

Analyzing those four tables we can see the difference between profiles folders. Windows Xp have only one folder to store
the all users profile files - C:\Documents And Folders\All Users , however Vista have two folders - C:\Users\Public and C:\ProgramData\Microsoft (the rest of folders in C:\ProgramData are links (JUNCTIONS) to C:\Users\Public and C:\ProgramData\Microsoft).

End of Part 1

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