How does the settings included in the .NET Framework.
There is two types of settings:
User
The user settings can be edited when the application is running.
Those settings are stored in the app.config but if the user edits them they are 'surprisingly' not stored in the app.config again but they under the current user in a user.config file witch only contains the User settings from the app.config.
Location of the user.config file:
During runtime, each individual user (of your computer) will maintain his/her own copy of the app.config file, which will be named user.config. This file can be found within the following directory:
C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Local Settings\Application Data\<Project Name>
In my case, it is:
C:\Documents and Settings\MY USER\Local Settings\Application Data\AppSettingsInCS
Within this folder, you will find another folder, named something like:
AppSettingsInCS.vshost.ex_Url_dcjtbf3vhoeael5lvzjkefwbzccd3hbz
And within this folder, you will find a folder based on the version number of the application (in my case it is 1.0.0.0).
Application
Settings of this type are shared between all users and can't be edited when the application is running.
For more info look at the msdn or this page
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Visual Studio .NET 2005