[vbox-dev] Location of VirtualBox configuration file

[Klaus Espenlaub]

Malcolm,

there was a lengthy reply to the mailing list 10 days ago sent by me, 
explaining what's going on.

Your assumption is wrong. VirtualBox on all Windows versions worth 
talking about will NOT fall through, it'll use the profile directory 
returned by SHGetFolderPath.

Klaus

On 20.11.2016 19:55, Malcolm Clarke wrote:
>
> Dear Max
>
> Still no response.
>
> Looking at path-win.cpp, the following code is unclear
>
>
> RTDECL(int) RTPathUserHome(char *pszPath, size_t cchPath)
> {
>     /*
>      * Validate input
>      */
>     AssertPtrReturn(pszPath, VERR_INVALID_POINTER);
>     AssertReturn(cchPath, VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER);
>
>     RTUTF16 wszPath[RTPATH_MAX];
>     bool    fValidFolderPath = false;
>
>     /*
>      * Try with Windows XP+ functionality first.
>      */
>     RTLDRMOD hShell32;
>     int rc = RTLdrLoadSystem("Shell32.dll", true /*fNoUnload*/, 
> &hShell32);
>     if (RT_SUCCESS(rc))
>     {
>         PFNSHGETFOLDERPATHW pfnSHGetFolderPathW;
>         rc = RTLdrGetSymbol(hShell32, "SHGetFolderPathW", 
> (void**)&pfnSHGetFolderPathW);
>         if (RT_SUCCESS(rc))
>         {
>             HRESULT hrc = pfnSHGetFolderPathW(0, CSIDL_PROFILE, NULL, 
> SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, wszPath);
>             fValidFolderPath = (hrc == S_OK);
>         }
>         RTLdrClose(hShell32);
>     }
>
>     DWORD   dwAttr;
>     if (    !fValidFolderPath
>         ||  (dwAttr = GetFileAttributesW(&wszPath[0])) == 
> INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES
>         ||  !(dwAttr & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY))
>     {
>         /*
>          * Fall back to Windows specific environment variables. HOME 
> is not used.
>          */
>         if (    !GetEnvironmentVariableW(L"USERPROFILE", &wszPath[0], 
> RTPATH_MAX)
>             ||  (dwAttr = GetFileAttributesW(&wszPath[0])) == 
> INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES
>             ||  !(dwAttr & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY))
>         {
>             /* %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% */
>             if (!GetEnvironmentVariableW(L"HOMEDRIVE", &wszPath[0], 
> RTPATH_MAX))
>                 return VERR_PATH_NOT_FOUND;
>             size_t const cwc = RTUtf16Len(&wszPath[0]);
>             if (    !GetEnvironmentVariableW(L"HOMEPATH", 
> &wszPath[cwc], RTPATH_MAX - (DWORD)cwc)
>                 ||  (dwAttr = GetFileAttributesW(&wszPath[0])) == 
> INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES
>                 ||  !(dwAttr & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY))
>                 return VERR_PATH_NOT_FOUND;
>         }
>     }
>
> Assuming this falls through to get the environment variable, then 
> USERPROFILE is used over %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%, however in most other 
> places %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% alone is used. This appears to result in 
> inconsistent behaviour if USERPROFILE is not equal to 
> %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%.
>
> This needs to be remedied for people using roaming profiles when these 
> environmental variables can be set differently.
>
> 1. %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% is used for location of configuration files 
> (create and check location for existence)
> 2. USERPROFILE  may be used for temporary files
>
> Regards
>
> Malcolm
>
>
>
>
> On 09/11/2016 14:36, Maxime Dor wrote:
>> Hi Malcolm,
>>
>> While I have extensive knowledge of VBox, I'm not a dev so I can't 
>> really answer that question, only the devs can.
>> They should answer anytime soon now! If they don't be tomorrow, just 
>> let me know and I'll drop them a note.
>>
>> Max
>
> -- 
>
> *Malcolm Clarke *BSc (Hons), PhD
>
> Reader in Telemedicine and Data Communication Systems
>
> T+44 (0) 1895 265053
>
> *Brunel University London*
>
> College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences
>
> Department of Computer Science
>
> HNZW010, Heinz Wolff Building, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH
>
> *www.brunel.ac.uk <http://www.brunel.ac.uk/>*
>
> Connect with the university on*Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook*
>
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