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

c# directoryinfo
user222427 picture user222427 · Jun 9, 2012 · Viewed 8k times · Source

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);

Answer

Anders Abel picture Anders Abel · Jun 9, 2012

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:>

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