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Get the current directory from a c# application

Overview

Sometimes i have to read/write files from the root directory of my application. Usually i did this with Environment.CurrentDirectory. Unfortunately, this only works if the application is a standalone application(.exe). In case the application is a windows service or a asp.net website, the path from Environment.CurrentDirectory is wrong.

There are several ways to get the root directory of an application, but so far i found only one which works in all scenarios. The only one which always works is:

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//works...
System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(new System.Uri(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase).LocalPath)

Here is a (incomplete) list of ways to get the root path of a c# application:

Windows service

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Environment.CurrentDirectory:
//C:\Windows\system32
System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(new System.Uri(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase).LocalPath)
 //D:\project\WindowsServiceTest\WindowsServiceTest\bin\Debug
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory:
//D:\project\WindowsServiceTest\WindowsServiceTest\bin\Debug\
Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName.Substring(0, Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName.LastIndexOf("\")):
//D:\project\WindowsServiceTest\WindowsServiceTest\bin\Debug`

Console application

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Environment.CurrentDirectory:
//D:\project\ConsoleApplication3\ConsoleApplication3\bin\Debug
System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(new System.Uri(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase).LocalPath):
//D:\project\ConsoleApplication3\ConsoleApplication3\bin\Debug
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory:
//D:\project\ConsoleApplication3\ConsoleApplication3\bin\Debug\
Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName.Substring(0, Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName.LastIndexOf("\")):
//D:\project\ConsoleApplication3\ConsoleApplication3\bin\Debug

asp.net mvc3 website vs2010 integrated webserver (Debug mode)

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Environment.CurrentDirectory:
//C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DevServer\10.0
System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(new System.Uri(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase).LocalPath):
//D:\project\MvcApplication1\MvcApplication1\bin
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory:
//D:\project\MvcApplication1\MvcApplication1\
Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName.Substring(0, Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName.LastIndexOf("\")):
//C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DevServer\10.0

asp.net mvc3 website IIS (Release mode)

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Environment.CurrentDirectory: 
//c:\windows\system32\inetsrv 
System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(new System.Uri(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase).LocalPath): 
//d:\project\MvcApplication1\MvcApplication1\bin 
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory: 
//d:\project\MvcApplication1\MvcApplication1\ 
Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName.Substring(0, Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName.LastIndexOf("\")): 
//c:\windows\system32\inetsrv