How to get the current user's home directory in Windows

Question

How can I get the path to the current User\'s home directory?

Ex: In Windows, if the current user is \"guest\" I need \"C:\\Users\\guest\"

My application wil

Answer 1

Just use the environment variables, in this particular case you want %HOMEPATH% and combine that with %SystemDrive%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_variable#Default_Values_on_Microsoft_Windows

Answer 2

Approach 1:

#include <Shlobj.h>

std::string desktop_directory(bool path_w)
{
    if (path_w == true)
    {
        WCHAR path[MAX_PATH + 1];
        if (SHGetSpecialFolderPathW(HWND_DESKTOP, path, CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY, FALSE))
        {
            std::wstring ws(path);
            std::string str(ws.begin(), ws.end());
            return str;
        }
        else return NULL;
    }
}

Approach 2:

#include <Shlobj.h>

LPSTR desktop_directory()
{
    static char path[MAX_PATH + 1];
    if (SHGetSpecialFolderPathA(HWND_DESKTOP, path, CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY, FALSE)) return path;
    else return NULL;
}

Answer 3

Use the function SHGetFolderPath. This function is preferred over querying environment variables since the latter can be modified to point to a wrong location. The documentation contains an example, which I repeat here (slightly adjusted):

#include <Shlobj.h>  // need to include definitions of constants

// .....

WCHAR path[MAX_PATH];
if (SUCCEEDED(SHGetFolderPathW(NULL, CSIDL_PROFILE, NULL, 0, path))) {
  ...
}

Answer 4

I have used %USERPROFILE% to get path the current User's home directory.