getting the home directory

Hi, a quick question.. what's the fastest way to retrieve the home dir under windows?

thanx

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>

int main ( void )
{
  FILE *cl = _popen ( "echo %USERPROFILE%", "r" );
  char buff[1024];

  fgets ( buff, sizeof buff, cl );
  printf ( "%s", buff );

  _pclose ( cl );

  return 0;
}

---

;)

thanx