Retrieves the full path of a known folder identified by the folder's KNOWNFOLDERID.
Syntax
HRESULT SHGetKnownFolderPath( REFKNOWNFOLDERID rfid, DWORD dwFlags, HANDLE hToken, PWSTR *ppszPath );
Parameters
rfid [in] A reference to the KNOWNFOLDERID that identifies the folder.dwFlags [in] The KF_FLAG flags that specify special retrieval options. This value can be 0; otherwise, one or more of the KF_FLAG values.hToken [in] An access token that represents a particular user. If this parameter is NULL, which is the most common usage, the function requests the known folder for the current user. Request a specific user's folder by passing the hToken of that user. This is typically done in the context of a service that has sufficient privileges to retrieve the token of a given user. That token must be opened with TOKEN_QUERY and TOKEN_IMPERSONATE rights. In addition to passing the user's hToken, the registry hive of that specific user must be mounted. See Access Control for further discussion of access control issues.Assigning the hToken parameter a value of -1 indicates the Default User. This allows clients of SHGetKnownFolderPath to find folder locations (such as the Desktop folder) for the Default User. The Default User user profile is duplicated when any new user account is created, and includes special folders such as Documents and Desktop. Any items added to the Default User folder also appear in any new user account. Note that access to the Default User folders requires administrator privileges.ppszPath [out] When this method returns, contains the address of a pointer to a null-terminated Unicode string that specifies the path of the known folder. The calling process is responsible for freeing this resource once it is no longer needed by calling CoTaskMemFree.
Request a specific user's folder by passing the hToken of that user. This is typically done in the context of a service that has sufficient privileges to retrieve the token of a given user. That token must be opened with TOKEN_QUERY and TOKEN_IMPERSONATE rights. In addition to passing the user's hToken, the registry hive of that specific user must be mounted. See Access Control for further discussion of access control issues.
Assigning the hToken parameter a value of -1 indicates the Default User. This allows clients of SHGetKnownFolderPath to find folder locations (such as the Desktop folder) for the Default User. The Default User user profile is duplicated when any new user account is created, and includes special folders such as Documents and Desktop. Any items added to the Default User folder also appear in any new user account. Note that access to the Default User folders requires administrator privileges.
Return Value
Returns S_OK if successful, or an error value otherwise, including the following:E_INVALIDARGAmong other things, this value can indicate that the rfid parameter references a KNOWNFOLDERID that is not present on the system. Not all KNOWNFOLDERID values are present on all systems. Use IKnownFolderManager::GetFolderIds to retrieve the set of KNOWNFOLDERID values for the current system.
Returns S_OK if successful, or an error value otherwise, including the following:
Remarks
This function replaces SHGetFolderPath. That older function is now simply a wrapper for SHGetKnownFolderPath.
Function Information
Minimum DLL Versionshell32.dll version 6.0.6000 or laterCustom ImplementationNoHeadershlobj.hImport libraryNoneMinimum operating systems Windows Vista
See Also
SHGetKnownFolderIDList, SHSetKnownFolderPath, IKnownFolder::GetPath