Retrieving special folder locations the right way (and some history)

Raymond Chen has a great one page piece in this month's TechNet magazine about why you should use the Shell API to retrieve special folder location information (such as the Fonts folder), why the Shell Folder registry key should not be used and how that key came to be in the first place:

The Sad Story of the Shell Folders Key

Comments

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2005
  Being a .net developer does the .net way work this way?
  System.Environment.GetFolderPath(SpecialFolder.Personal);

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2005
  Interestingly, Windows Vista is introducing a new way of retrieving special folder information (and, it appears, creating special folders for your own apps). Looks like cool stuff!
  
  http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/ShellCC/platform/shell/reference/functions/shgetfolderpathex.asp
  http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/ShellCC/platform/shell/reference/ifaces/iknownfoldermanager/iknownfoldermanager.asp

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  November 04, 2005
  Hi,Tom:
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• Anonymous
  February 11, 2006
  hi,
  
  I am one of those developers who have been using the registry method :-). Well, I'd change the code now.
  
  However, there is one catch. We can only retrieve the special folders' location. Is there a similar way (non-registry) to change the default location of the special folder? I know it sounds unusual, but sometimes (at least in my case) it is required.
  
  
  Best Regards.

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  Raymond Chen has a great one page piece in this month's TechNet magazine about why you should use the Shell API to retrieve special folder location information (such as the Fonts folder), why the Shell Folder registry key should not be used and how tha

• Anonymous
  May 23, 2008
  Raymond Chen has a great one page piece in this month's TechNet magazine about why you should use the Shell API to retrieve special folder location information (such as the Fonts folder), why the Shell Folder registry key should not be used and how tha