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I’ve been given the task of changing all our legacy software installation packages to conform to Win 7 and 8. Previously our software would run on XP and Win Server 2003 and would simply be installed into the “program files” folder and run without any worry. Nowadays, or since the introduction of UAC, installing into the program files opens up some issues regarding privileges when it comes to file creation, changing and deletion. Furthermore the whole wow64 redirection thing, where our legacy applications would be run from a different folder than the actual installation folder (Program files x86).

Cut to the chase: Our legacy software is running on dedicated computers, only used for running our SW. I’ve previously bypassed the whole problem with UAC and WOW64 redirection (as a hot-fix-hack) by simply installing the software outside the program files folders. Now we are looking for a permanent solution, and I was actually thinking of making my previous hot-fix the solution. So simply install our software on for example: c:\software\ and by doing so bypass the whole issue with UAC and WOW64.

Question: What are (if any) the pitfalls when installing legacy x86 software outside the program files folder?

DTH
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    In my experience (IT department responsible for auto deploying software so I can only talk from a users perspective) there is next to none. It will clutter the root drive (possible issue if there are more than 250 programs ...) but I have seen companies do that. For a newly developed software I'd say don't be lazy do it right but as a fix for some legacy stuff it might just not be worth the time doing a more complex thing. If your only problem is writing to the directory where the exe is, it is an ok solution for legacy imo. – Syberdoor Oct 12 '15 at 14:31
  • @Syberdoor it is ONLY for legacy software and the computers in question are used only to run our software and no other programs .. So ATM i've changed the installer to install outside program files folder, and there seems to be no issues at all compared to when it was installed on program folder on f.ex win xp OS. What i was wondering about is, if there are other mechanismns in win 7 and following OS's that I must be aware of when installing outside program files folder. – DTH Oct 13 '15 at 07:35
  • As I'm not a developer I am a bit hesitant to say this but from the point of someone who has to make legacy software run on lots of computers I don't know of any really. – Syberdoor Oct 13 '15 at 07:40

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