winforms - How to write files in C:WindowsSystem32 with full permissions

Question

Iam working on POS software using winforms. Iam trying to programmatically writing XML file (which contain some encrypted information about software serial number) to C:WindowsSystem32 directory. But when i write i get an error Access denied.

Can anyone please explain how can i write this file with full permissions in this directory in windows 7 as well as in windows XP???

Any other suggestion or better way to do this will also be welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You'll need to be an administrator on the machine to write to the Windows directory. In addition, on Vista and later, your process will need to be "elevated" (otherwise known as Run As Administrator). You can configure this on your application's property sheet, as discussed here, or with a bit more work, do it programmatically.

It's bad practice to write to that directory, though, notwithstanding all the (misguided) software that does that. Save your files somewhere else. %appdata% or %localappdata% (directories specifically meant for application data) are good choices.