Why is access to the path denied?

Question

I am having a problem where I am trying to delete my file but I get an exception.

if (result == "Success")
{
     if (FileUpload.HasFile)
     {
         try
         {
              File.Delete(Request.PhysicalApplicationPath + app_settings.login_images + txtUploadStatus.Text);
              string filename = Path.GetFileName(btnFileUpload.FileName);
              btnFileUpload.SaveAs(Request.PhysicalApplicationPath + app_settings.login_images + filename);
         }
         catch (Exception ex)
         {
               Message(ex.ToString());
         }
      }
}

Also I should note that the folder I am trying to delete from has full control to network services.

The full exception message is:

System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path 'C:\Users\gowdyn\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\hybrid\hybrid\temp_loginimages\enviromental.jpg' is denied. at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath) at System.IO.File.Delete(String path) at hybrid.User_Controls.Imgloader_Add_Edit_Tbl.btnUpdate_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\Users\gowdyn\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\hybrid\hybrid\User_Controls\Imgloader_Add_Edit_Tbl.ascx.cs:line 242

Any ideas?

Solution 1

According to File.Delete Method...

An UnauthorizedAccessException means one of 4 things:

• The caller does not have the required permission.
• The file is an executable file that is in use.
• Path is a directory.
• Path specified a read-only file.

Solution 2

I also had the problem, hence me stumbling on this post. I added the following line of code before and after a Copy / Delete.

Delete

File.SetAttributes(file, FileAttributes.Normal);
File.Delete(file);

Copy

File.Copy(file, dest, true);
File.SetAttributes(dest, FileAttributes.Normal);

Solution 3

This is an old issue, but I ran into it while searching. Turns out that I was missing the actual filename component in the save path for SaveAs...

string uploadPath = Server.MapPath("~/uploads");
file.SaveAs(uploadPath); // BAD
file.SaveAs(Path.Combine(uploadPath, file.FileName)); // GOOD

Solution 4

When a user tries to connect to your Web site, IIS assigns the connection to the IUSER_ComputerName account, where ComputerName is the name of the server on which IIS is running. By default, the IUSER_ComputerName account is a member of the Guests group. This group has security restrictions. Try to grand access to IUSER_ComputerName to that folder

Here is very good described answer about IIS security

Hope this helps

Solution 5

I got the error because I didn't realize that the destination should be a file. I had a folder as the second parameter (which works in cmd). and I got Unhandled Exception: System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path is denied. because C# File.Move wants a file there, not just for the first parameter, but for the second too, and so if you put a directory as second parameter, it's trying to write a file like c:\crp when you have a directory called c:\crp.

this would be incorrect File.Move(args[0],"c:\\crp");

So, this would be correct File.Move(args[0],"c:\\crp\\a.a");

The same goes for File.Copy

View more solutions

Comments

[Oded]

What isn't clear about the exception? The account that the application is running under does not have access privileges to the file/folder.

[nick gowdy]

I understand what the exception is saying. The problem is this functionality is used by a some users who need to modify images using the system. Part of that is replacing images by deleting the old image and saving a new image.

[gasroot]

Check your access permissions to the folder. give the proper permissions to the folder using security tab from properties window

[ATL_DEV]

The exception is not informative at all. It doesn't tell you: A. What principal is trying to access the resource B. What permission does it need. To find out, it requires installing Windows SysInternals and monitoring the path access.

[MethodMan]

you are assuming that he is admin of his machine.. if this is a work machine and he's just a user .. they probably set the permissions up that way for a reason.. since we are only left to assume

[nick gowdy]

It is a work machine and I am a power user. I don't log in as administrator. The properties of the image folder have been modified so network services has full access. But that didn't make any difference.

[Steve]

I gave 'Everyone' full permissions to the folder without success. Somehow these file attributes worked though. Thanks. I wish MS would finally settle on a proper security model. Trying to figure out why Copy/Delete explodes every few years is frustrating to say the least.

[Tom Hunter]

SetAttributes Normal was the trick for me - I was trying to File.Copy and overwrite a read-only file..

[MBoros]

Access to the path is denied doesn't suggest that the file is simply readonly (since you do actually have access to the path!) In my opinion the error message should be changed. Thanks for the hint anyways!

[Santiago Villafuerte]

I ran the program as Administrator and the issue was gone.

[Robert Kerr]

This was the solution for my File.Move issue on a Windows 8.1 Enterprise machine on which I was local administrator, and nothing else had a handle on the files.

[Paul Zahra]

Think it would be better if you checked if the folder existed before moving it rather than sleeping for half a second... if the OS is busy the previous move might take longer than half a second, and your back to the same issue.

[Hossein Shahdoost]

This piece of code is very dangerous. It repeats the RenameFile method no matter what exception is thrown! It could cause the app to crash if the cause of exception is an actual permission problem

[Admin]

Was running as admin and admin had full control over the directory and it still wouldn't save. This issue appeared to just crop up. That is, I was able to save and then all of a sudden it stopped working. Your answer worked though. I hope it's safe for TFS source control....

[Admin]

^ FileAttributes.Archive makes it match the behavior of TFS for me

[MarceloBarbosa]

I just added "Everyone" with full access to the folder, and "voilá"

[Per G]

Path is a directory. Embarrassing for me :/

[Broken_Window]

Happened to me yesterday facepalm. I hate this ambigous exception messages :(

[Austin Salgat]

Thank you! This indirectly solved an issue where an API was expecting a destination which I gave as the directory, not realizing it had to include the filename (since the object itself has an associated filename).

[Vibhore Tanwer]

How does setting an attribute after a copy operation helps? Won't the program crash already on copy statement? Should it be before copy operation just like delete operation?

[User M]

I was struggling for over 6 Hrs and after looking at your response saw that the path was directory ... thanks a ton @CrazyTim ..

[devowiec]

Path is a directory. thanks for this tip :) It helped me.

[SeriousM]

Oh my... Path is a directory. Thank you Microsoft. That's VERY unauthorized access.

[Outside the Box Developer]

I checked the file and rights, everything seemed fine. I checked the user. I could delete the file manually via Explorer. It turns out that it was a read only file. I am not sure why that should matter on the delete, as it was not in use. Anyway, all I did was add some code: if (myFile.Attributes.HasFlag(FileAttributes.ReadOnly)) { myFile.Attributes-= FileAttributes.ReadOnly; } myFile.Delete();

[Outside the Box Developer]

or simply: myFile.Attributes = myFile.Attributes & ~FileAttributes.ReadOnly;

[Riaan]

@VibhoreTanwer, the copy of the file creates a new file as it doesn't use the first file. Setting the attributes makes sure you can work with the file afterwards as it might be read-only or hidden. In order to delete the file it needs to be Normal attribute and if you want to do something with the copied file it has to be normal as well. By process of elimination we figured it out as it makes logical sense.

[netcat]

Old post, but thanks. I had the same trouble deleting temporary files that I copied to a folder where the user had full permissions. Setting each file's attributes to normal before deleting it stopped the UnauthorizedAccess exception from occurring.

[alev]

In your answer don't post a new question, but try to answer the question of the original poster with helpful information. For your own question please search stackoverflow first for the same or similar questions. If you don't find any, post a new question following this guide: How to ask a good question

[Tom]

Thanks this helped.. Permission for IIS_IUSRS user.

[baker.nole]

Echoing Outside the Box Developer, I found that my own instance was a combination of the file being a read-only file, and use of the @ symbol with a path that already had the necessary escape characters.

[Andreas]

Had this using System.IO.FileStream.Init and the file was read-only. Then why don't just read it? Removed read-only flag from the file and the exception was gone. Brilliant!

[sameerkn]

Got Access Denied error when FileStream(path, FileMode.Create) was used and if file already existed and the file was hidden.

[Tris]

How does one run the program as Administrator?

[Tris]

What does "Path is a directory" mean?

[Lukas]

@Tris, it means that the path leads to a directory, not a file.

[thesystem]

I cancelled the read-only, applied it, and it worked. As you say, the folder still shows as read-only afterwards for me too, but it solved it for me without need for further action.

[Valentino Miori]

This is misleading, the exceptions should at least specify the reason either in the message, or better through a member.

[azpc]

For me it was over zealous Norton AV blocking the write

[Craig Brown]

Thanks for pointing me in this direction - this was the issue for me too! Specifically, the AVG Ransomware Protection was the culprit.

[N. Raj]

I was doing this mistake. Thanks for reminding us. It's always something silly!

[MCC]

Solved my issue, thought I was going mad as I could save the file to the DIR but I couldn't overwrite it after restarting the program. Do you know if there is an alternative solution to adding an exception?

[Pollitzer]

@MCC: Sorry, no, I stopped working on the issue.