ok here's my 2 cents:

When you call the report files in your code, use App.Path to find the files, and not fixed paths coz some people may change their install locations, which will mess up a lot of things.


If you use Package & Deployment Wizard (or Visual Studio Installer) to make your installer, you won't need to worry much about the Crystal Reports drivers coz it will automatically be added to the installer package. However the same is not true for the report files themselves.

Both installer packagers allow you to add additional files to your installer, and intruct them where to place the extra files during actual installation. Use relative paths for this (like "(AppPath)\reports\") if you have your reports in a sub-folder where your exe file is placed.

I have no idea if centralizing the files to a server has any advantages outside of easy updates for just the report files, though...