Can PowerShell trap errors in GetChildItem and continue looping?

powershell try-catch acl
ewall picture ewall · Aug 4, 2011 · Viewed 16.9k times · Source

I have a PowerShell script that is recursing down thru the file system using GetChildItem in a for-loop. As it travels, it is fixing ACL issues it finds (mostly where someone has blocked the BUILTIN\Administrators account)... but there are some it can't handle on it's own, like when I get [System.UnauthorizedAccessException] if there is an explicit "Deny" ACE.

The line of code looks like this:

foreach($file in Get-ChildItem $dirRoot -Recurse -ErrorAction Continue) {
    ...
}

When it stumbles on a path it can't read, it gives this exception:

Get-ChildItem : Access to the path 'C:\TEMP\denied' is denied. At Fix-ACLs.ps1:52 char:31 + foreach($file in Get-ChildItem <<<< $dirRoot -Recurse -ErrorAction Continue) { + CategoryInfo : PermissionDenied: (C:\TEMP\denied:String) [Get-ChildItem], Unauthorized AccessException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DirUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand

I would like to try/catch or trap the error so that I can repair the ACL (that is, remove the "Deny") in-place, and--most importantly--continue the loop without losing my place. Any suggestions for me?

Answer

Matt picture Matt · Aug 4, 2011

have you used silentlycontinue?

foreach($file in Get-ChildItem $dirRoot -Recurse -ErrorAction silentlycontinue) {
    ...
}

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