Registry settings and files installed by BricsCAD

Symptoms

Where does BricsCAD install files?

What and where does BricsCAD write in the registry upon installation?

This article is probably useful for Citrix administrators.

After a new installation

Note 1: in VX.Y.Z, X.Y.Z are major, minor and revision version number, e.g. 24.1.06.

Note 2: [x] is x64 for a 64 bit version and an empty string for a 32 bit version.

Note 3: en_US is to be replaced by the corresponding notation for another language, e.g. de_DE, ja_JP, ...

REGISTRY

Nothing is written in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

Following info is written in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Bricsys\Bricscad\VX[x]:

CURVER="en_US"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Bricsys\Bricscad\VX[x]\en_US:

FullVersion="X.Y.Z"

InstallDir="%Installdir%"

%Installdir% is the folder chosen by the user during installation.

FILES
Files are installed in %Installdir% only.

The first time BricsCAD runs

REGISTRY
All BricsCAD's configuration settings are initialized with default values, and when BricsCAD closes, they are written to the registry in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Here are the most important values, related to files and paths:
LocalRootFolder and RoamableRootFolder

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bricsys\Bricscad\VX[x]\en_US\Settings

On Windows XP:

LocalRootFolder=C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Bricsys\Bricscad\V1X\en_US

RoamableRootFolder=C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Bricsys\Bricscad\VX\en_US

On other Windows versions:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bricsys\Bricscad\VX[x]\en_US\Settings

LocalRootFolder=C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Bricsys\Bricscad\VX[x]\en_US\

RoamableRootFolder=C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Bricsys\Bricscad\VX[x]\en_US\

The prefixes for these folders (i.e. the path before \Bricsys), are looked up in the registry, in the key :

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

values:

Local AppData for LocalRootFolder, AppData for RoamableRootFolder.

e.g. On Windows XP:

Local AppData=C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data

AppData=C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data

e.g. On other Windows versions :

Local AppData=C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local

AppData=C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming

Search paths

The above folders are now used as default values for following search paths: (note that in the following text %RoamableRootFolder%, %LocalRootFolder% and %Installdir% are used, but BricsCAD does not store these indirections: the expansion to the full path is stored.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bricsys\Bricscad\VX[x]\en_US\Profiles\Default\Config

PlotCfgPath=%RoamableRootFolder%\plotconfig\

PlotStylePath=%RoamableRootFolder%\plotStyles\

SRCHPATH=%RoamableRootFolder%\support\;%Installdir%\support\;%Installdir%\fonts\;%Installdir%\help\en_US\

TemplatePath=%LocalRootFolder%\templates\

Note: BricsCAD searches for default.cui and default.pgp using SRCHPATH.
FILES

When BricsCAD starts up for the first time, files are copied:

(Plotter Configuration shortcut) from:

%InstallDir%\UserDataCache\PlotConfig

to :

%RoamableRootFolder%\plotconfig\

(ctb and stb files) from:

%InstallDir%\UserDataCache\PlotStyles

to :

%RoamableRootFolder%\plotStyles\

(cui, pgp, fmp, lin, pat, unt files) from:

%InstallDir%\UserDataCache\Support\en_US

to :

%RoamableRootFolder%\support\

(dwt files) from:

%InstallDir%\UserDataCache\Templates\en_US

to:

%LocalRootFolder%\templates\

When BricsCAD is updated to a new version

REGISTRY
The following information in the registry is used by BricsCAD to determine if your version can be updated, and where it was installed. The update will be installed in the same folder. At the end of the installation, the FullVersion field is updated. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Bricsys\Bricscad\VX[x]\en_US:
FullVersion="X.Y.Z"
InstallDir="%Installdir%"
FILES
More information in Local support files article.