C# Access to the path 'C:\Documents and Settings\' is denied

Question

I'm using a simple DirectoryInfo to grab all directories on the root on the C drive. However, I'm running under administrator and i'm getting the error of path access denied, below is the code that I am running. How do I resolve the issue of path access?

DirectoryInfo Dinfo = new DirectoryInfo(@"C:\");
DirectoryInfo[] directories = Dinfo.GetDirectories("*.*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);

You are running as _administrator_, but is your process _elevated_? — K-ballo, Jun 09 '12 at 19:26
possible duplicate of [Why am I getting an access denied error for the Documents and Settings folder?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8529806/why-am-i-getting-an-access-denied-error-for-the-documents-and-settings-folder) — Damith, Jun 09 '12 at 19:38
@Damith Having no answer or a way around is not reasonable, I should be able to as an administrator be able to see all documents and folders under a users path — , Jun 09 '12 at 19:47
Do what you do in the explorer when you are denied access to a folder. Take recursive ownership of all folders and then try — Sandeep Singh Rawat, Jun 09 '12 at 20:48

Anders Abel · Answer 1 · 2012-06-09T19:45:30.790

4

On newer versions of Windows C:\Document and Settings is a junction point, kind of a file system shortcut. It is not a normal directory, which means that it doesn't really work as a normal directory.

If you type in C:\Document and Settings in the start->run box you will also get an access denied error, so it is nothing specific to your program.

I'm a bit confused by how this works however. I thought that the junction point would be a transparent link to the new location which is c:\users but obviously not.

Edit

After looking at the duplicate question I'm less confused. The junction point really links to the new location which is c:\users. However, there is an explicit deny acl for reading on the junction point to prevent anyone from using it to read things:

C:>cacls "Documents and Settings" C:\Documents and Settings Everyone:(DENY)(special access:)

                               FILE_READ_DATA

                      Everyone:R
                      NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:F
                      BUILTIN\Administrators:F

C:>

edited Jun 09 '12 at 19:45

answered Jun 09 '12 at 19:27

Anders Abel

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As I do understand you're point, should I not be able to see all the user folders underneath of Docs and settings? – Jun 09 '12 at 19:28
See my update, and the duplicate question. There is an explicit deny acl on the junction point which prevents reading. – Anders Abel Jun 09 '12 at 19:46
So how do I know what all users and user folders programmatically? – Jun 09 '12 at 19:50
1

Anders - C:\users\All Users\Application Data\ access denied – Jun 09 '12 at 20:03
1

`c:\users\all users\application data` is also a junction point, pointing to `c:\programdata`, with a deny access just like what I showed above. To check yourself, use `dir /al` and `cacls`. – Anders Abel Jun 09 '12 at 21:05

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 09 '12 at 19:29

1

If you are running as Administrator you might still run into

UAC being active. Fix by using "run as..."
Folders that you can only access when you explicitly take ownership.

answered Jun 09 '12 at 19:29

Emond

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Raab · Answer 3 · 2012-06-12T11:21:06.190

1

C:\Document and Settings is a junction point and additionnally You cannot access the System Volume Information directory.which is placed on C:\ root you have to trap any security exceptions and skip it to work your code.

edited Jun 12 '12 at 11:21

answered Jun 09 '12 at 19:31

Raab

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how do you do a try catch on the above code WITHOUT breaking its iteration? – Jun 09 '12 at 19:33
How does the `System Volume Information` directory relate to this? The question is about `Documents and Settings` being inaccessible. – Anders Abel Jun 09 '12 at 19:44

score -1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 24 '15 at 06:55

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Security;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Solution
{
    public class Program
    {
 static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            DirSearch(@"YOUR PATH");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }

        static void DirSearch(string dir)
        {
            try
            {
                foreach (string f in Directory.GetFiles(dir))
                    Console.WriteLine(f);
                foreach (string d in Directory.GetDirectories(dir))
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(d);
                    DirSearch(d);
                }

            }
            catch (System.Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
            }
        }
    }
}

this is a generic answer for reading files, directories, does not relate to the specific question of Access Denied; even with this answer, the access will still be denied ! — joedotnot, Mar 13 '21 at 13:11

C# Access to the path 'C:\Documents and Settings\' is denied

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