[Qt-interest] Windows 7 and VirtualStore woes

[Chris W]

Noah wrote:
> Don't write to the Program Files directory. Use the %APPDATA% directory 
> instead.

Unfortunately, the common app data directory (CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA) is
also not writable to a standard user and therefore gets the virtual
store treatment.  The user's app data directory (CSIDL_APPDATA or
CSIDL_LOCAL_APPDATA) is writable.  However, the UAC elevated updater
program does not necessarily see the user's app data directory or
virtual store when elevated (similar problems are encountered  when
creating a user-specific shortcut from an elevated installer).

> The VirtualStore was created as a compatibility layer for software
> that (incorrectly) writes to the program files directory. In an
> ideal world it wouldn't exist and all the software that was designed
> to write user data to the program files directory would be thrown out.

Perhaps, but these "incorrect" programs would have been fixed a lot
sooner if they had failed, or if Windows popped up a big warning banner
the first time a freshly started exe did something that was virtualised.

> Microsoft has a
> long history of preferring backwards compatibility over idealism.

After my past two days of wasted effort, I wish they'd applied some of
this to the CreateProcess() and ShellExecute() ;)


My suggestions for the OPs problem are:
Have the updater extract the version number directly from the executable
resources, or
Have the updater also write the VERSION file when it replaces the
executable.