What are the issues with legacy applications which may be writing data into
their install folders, either something like C:\KEYS or C:\Program
Files\Keys?

My understanding is that the application is supposed to write into
Application Data folders either in Local Settings or in the roaming part of
the user's profile.

I am having trouble with an old app that we have been able to get working on
XP by giving the user administrative rights over a machine. In Vista this is
not sufficient any more.

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Vista uses Junction folders- Appdata does not really exist in Vista and
cannot be written to. Run the program in compatability Mode.

say an XP compatible program starts installing in Vista and wants to
write it's configuration files into the hidden "Application Data" folder
that's in XP. This is rather common really and many programs do exactly
that, mainly to keep certain things hidden from users. Basically these
are files that if messed with could make the program un-useable and some
that they just don't want you to see or play with. Either way, it's a
common occurrence in XP.

Well, there *ISN'T* an "Application Data" folder in Vista anymore,
hidden or otherwise, so any XP program that "Could" be compatible with
Vista, would stop right there and not install. So, in a rather ingenious
way around this, MS engineers put these "Junctions" in place to
"Redirect" these program's files to their New Locations, while tricking
the program into thinking that it wrote it's files properly, and into
the correct location. Also, when the program is running and needs to
access or write into these configuration files, the Junctions redirect
it also.


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rive0108

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