ASP.NET Access to the temp directory is denied

Question

I'm experiencing this problem today on many different servers.

System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the temp directory is denied.

The servers were not touched recently. The only thing that comes in my mind is a windows update breaking something.. Any idea?

This happens when trying to access a webservice from an asp.net page

System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the temp directory is denied.  Identity 'NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE' under which XmlSerializer is running does not have sufficient permission to access the temp directory.  CodeDom will use the user account the process is using to do the compilation, so if the user doesnt have access to system temp directory, you will not be able to compile.  Use Path.GetTempPath() API to find out the temp directory location.
       at System.Xml.Serialization.Compiler.Compile(Assembly parent, String ns, XmlSerializerCompilerParameters xmlParameters, Evidence evidence)
       at System.Xml.Serialization.TempAssembly.GenerateAssembly(XmlMapping[] xmlMappings, Type[] types, String defaultNamespace, Evidence evidence, XmlSerializerCompilerParameters parameters, Assembly assembly, Hashtable assemblies)
       at System.Xml.Serialization.TempAssembly..ctor(XmlMapping[] xmlMappings, Type[] types, String defaultNamespace, String location, Evidence evidence)
       at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.FromMappings(XmlMapping[] mappings, Evidence evidence)
       at System.Web.Services.Protocols.XmlReturn.GetInitializers(LogicalMethodInfo[] methodInfos)
       at System.Web.Services.Protocols.HttpServerType..ctor(Type type)
       at System.Web.Services.Protocols.HttpServerProtocol.Initialize()
       at System.Web.Services.Protocols.ServerProtocol.SetContext(Type type, HttpContext context, HttpRequest request, HttpResponse response)
       at System.Web.Services.Protocols.ServerProtocolFactory.Create(Type type, HttpContext context, HttpRequest request, HttpResponse response, Boolean& abortProcessing)

Answer 1

Have you checked the permissions on the temp folder? In these cases, the easiest and quickest solution is usually to re-run the aspnet_regiis -i command to re-install the asp.net framework which also resets the permissions on the required folders. Failing that, try using Process Monitor to check what's going on and modify the permissions accordingly.