I have a strange problem: my .NET 4.0 WPF application is saving data to the ApplicationData folder.
Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData) + "\\myProgram\\";
99.9% of the cases are working great, but on some computers it returns the wrong folder - instead of returning the user folder it returns another folder:
C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\myProgram\ --correct
C:\Users\s\AppData\Roaming\myProgram\ --wrong
The wrong folder has no write/read permission so my program doesn't work.
It seems the program is running under a different user, but if I check the Task Manager the user is the logged one.
The problem seems to be occurring with domain users with few permissions.
Do you also create a text file to write?
If so save a file such as:
String path = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData);
var filePath = Path.Combine(path, "filetowrite.log"); // Handles whether there is a `\` or not.
if (File.Exists(filePath))
{
......................
}
Note also before doing any file operations, one should check if directory exists.
Related
I have this code that creates, check the existence, deletes, etc a file:
string _myFilePath = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData), "MyFile.txt");
Debug.Print(_myFilePath);// C:\Users\leode\AppData\Local\MyFile.txt
Debug.Print(File.Exists(_myFilePath).ToString());// False
File.Create(_myFilePath).Close();
Debug.Print(File.Exists(_myFilePath).ToString());// True
File.Delete(_myFilePath);
Debug.Print(File.Exists(_myFilePath).ToString());// False
When I run it, the file is not created in LocalApplicationData directory (in my case "C:\Users\userName\AppData\Local\"), but in a different subdirectory that I found doing a search with the windows file explorer (in my case this subfolder was "C:\Users\userName\AppData\Local\Packages\F0C6F5FC-4B4B-478D-958D-BAD69252637E_9zz4h110yvjzm\LocalCache\Local").
The program runs correctly, but How can I get this real directory where File.Create(), File.Exists() and File.Delete() are interacting with "MyFile.txt"?
Here is the answer, in a Microsoft Learn course.
You can access the sandbox using the AppDataDirectory static property of the FileSystem class:
string path = FileSystem.AppDataDirectory;
Example. FileSystem.AppDataDirectory returns
"C:\Users\{UserName}\AppData\Local\Packages\8BD0CA74-EE25-4D2F-8CF1-FCA28BBCD548_9zz4h110yvjzm\LocalState"
This is the right place to store local data in a device.
My directory is at C:\Testing\Event Log 123
The 123 portion is a timestamp. My code runs and generates a timestamped directory in C:\Testing upon completion. I have this piece of code that checks if that directory exists:
string dirToCopy = #"C:\Testing\Event Log " + timestamp;
if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(dirToCopy))
{
APILog.AddMessage("Event System log directory found.");
}
else
{
APILog.AddMessage("Event System log directory not found.");
}
The directory does exist at that location, but the else statement's log message is what gets displayed. I don't think there's an issue with permissions, as I'd be getting a security exception if that was the case...so why can't my code see the directory that I can see with my own eyeballs right now? I tried outputting dirToCopy to make sure that it matches the directory's actual name. They match, so I'm surprised that my code doesn't see it.
Edit for more info: My code runs on a client PC. It generates the directory and pastes it into the main PC's C:\Testing directory. The main PC's C:\Testing directory is a sort of shared directory that the client can also access. Does this matter, though? C:\Testing is on the main PC, and I'm running the code on the main PC.
So the directory You're looking for is "C:\Testing\Event Log2016.01.26"
or maybe "C:\Testing\Event Log\2016.01.26"
the point being - the slash at the end ? isn't it missing ?
you could also consider using Path.Combine() for building the path string
This is what MSDN says
If you do not have at a minimum read-only permission to the directory, the Exists method will return false.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.directory.exists.aspx
So it does not throws security exception....so do check once if you have read permission on that directory
Update
If it is shared directory then your path should look like this
string dirToCopy = #"\\MainPC\Testing\Event Log 123" (Assuming testing folder is shared)
If it is UNC path then your path should like this
string dirToCopy = #"\\MainPC\C$\Testing\Event Log 123"
I'm working on a program in C#, a part of which is to create a directory in the Application.StartupPath folder and then write a text file inside it using System.IO.File.WriteAllText(). My issue is that my program crashes, throwing an UnauthorizedAccessException and telling me that "Access to the path is denied", which is, well, odd, considering that it crashes regardless of the directory from which I am running the program, whether it be running from my cloud folders, Desktop, My Documents, etc, and even despite running it as Administrator in any of those directories.
The path from which I'm debugging it is C:\Users\Jeff\Google Drive\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\Palobo\Palobo\bin\Debug. It is using System.IO;, and the code I'm using includes:
Directory.CreateDirectory(Application.StartupPath);
File.WriteAllText(Application.StartupPath, "Password=" + x);
where x is some String data entered by the user.
The error I get is:
Access to the path 'C:\Users\Jeff\Google Drive\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\Palobo\mzdon29 is denied.
(mzdon29 being an encrypted result of jwalk96).
Does anyone have any ideas as to why I'm encountering this problem? Thanks!
Application.StartupPath is a folder (where your application is started from). Try to specify an exact filename inside that folder:
File.WriteAllText(Application.StartupPath + "\\MyFile.txt", "Password=" + x);
Let's look at this code:
Directory.CreateDirectory(Application.StartupPath);
File.WriteAllText(Application.StartupPath, "Password=" + x);
You're trying to create a directory that already exists, and then you're trying use the directory as a file name! You need to add something to end of the path, so that you're working with a new folder and file.
Also, using the StartupPath for this is poor practice in the first place. You can create a shortcut that sets the startup path to anywhere. But specifically, it's common for the default StartupPath to be somewhere under the Program Files folder. Items under this folder are read only to standard users by default. Instead, you should look at using the Application Data folder, like so:
Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData)
Finally, this sure looks like it's saving a password in plain-text. Do I really need to go over how bad that is? You shouldn't even save passwords encrypted (hashing is different than encryption), and this is one of those things that's so important you shouldn't even do it for testing/learning/proof of concept code.
I have created a .msi by using VS2008 setup project. My application frequently writes some value in a .txt file in the application directory (C:\Program Files\MyApp\MyFile.txt). After insalling it in Win7, it raises an exception "Access to the path .... is denied."
But whenever I run it as administrator, no such exception occurs. Here is my sscce
string FilePath=Application.StartupPath + #"\AppSettings\CurrentUserName.inf";
using (StreamWriter writer=new StreamWriter(FilePath,false))
{
writer.Write(txtLoginName.Text.Trim());
}
MainForm.ProcessLogIn();
this.DialogResult = DialogResult.OK;
I don't know how to solve this problem. Any suggestion?
Move your file out of Program Files directory. In Win7 is readonly for normal users.
You could move the file in the ProgramData directory.
Your installer should create a directory for your application there.
Then inside your code you could retrieve the correct full pathname using these lines of code
string dataPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData));
string appFile = Path.Combine(dataPath, "MyAppDir", "MyFile.txt");
usually (on Win7) this result in a path like this
c:\programdata\MyAppDir\MyFile.txt
but using the SpecialFolder enum you are guaranteed to use a folder available in readwrite to your application not depending on the current operating system.
The only way to solve this problem is to not write to that folder. You are not allowed to write to that folder by convention, unfortunately, older versions of Windows did not hold you to this.
Instead, you can use Environment.SpecialFolder to help you find where you need to go:
// your application data for just that User running the app
var perUserAppData = Environment.GetFolderPath(
Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData);
// your application data for ALL users running the app
var allUsersAppData = Environment.GetFolderPath(
Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData);
// better!
var path = Path.Combine(perUserAppData, #"MyApp\MyFile.txt");
Basically, Windows 7 is telling you that you're going to have to stop driving on the sidewalks and use the street as was intended.
As a short-term fix, you can use ICACLS to grant write access to the file. Note: NOT the whole directory.
As a longer term fix, you should NOT write to the program directory if you are running as unprivileged users, but instead somewhere like %LOCALAPPDATA% or %APPDATA%.
I am trying to save session data to the users local ApplicationData folder, but it Windows just seems to create a new ApplicationData folder with the files inside it wherever it wants. Sometimes it ends up on my desktop, and sometimes it's elsewhere. (like the bin folder, for example).
It doesn't make any sense.
I know that it redirects due to insufficient permissions etc but this is just horrible.
Can somebody please tell me if this is the right way to save some text file info to my applications AppData folder?
File.WriteAllText(
Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData +
"\\MyApplicationNameFolder\\" +
filename + ".txt");
Environment.SpecialFolder is an enumeration representing the constants you need to use when requesting the path. It doesn't give you the path.
Use GetFolderPath with that enumeration value to get the path.