VS2010 setup project define default installation directory to appfolder

Question

I am trying the whole morning to change the setup project. I have a Office extension project and made a setup for this. So far it used the users roaming profile and every user has to install the plugin for himself.

For IT software deployment I want to make a computer based setup, installation for everyone. So I created applicationfolder setup, moved all files in there. Changed project property installallusers to true. I compile the project and run it.

Everything works except: The default installation folder is still \myapplication_folder.

I can't find a way how to corect this to \myapplication_folder. There is only one defined Folder Applicationfolder with [AppDataFolder][Manufacturer]\[ProductName] and DefaultLocation defined. But it still uses the roaming profile path as suggested default location.

Answer 1

AppDataFolder is the current user's roaming folder, and it won't install your files to every user's roaming folder. InstallAllUsers doesn't change the fact that it's a single user's folder.

Having said that, I believe that what you're doing might be normal. I think Office expects add-ins and so on to be personal per-user choices.

1. If there is any kind of shortcut in your app that other users can see, if they click it they should get an install on demand for the files that were installed to a user-profile location like AppDataFolder. That might be more convenient than each user installing it, but you will need to keep the MSI file available for this to happen. The point about this is that it happens for users that don't even exist when your MSI is installed.

2. In spite of my suspicion that Office prefers per-user additions, is there a way to install the add-in to a common file location and register it for all users on the system? Just install it to a single location and register it for all users.