c# WebView2 user directory "Access Denied"

Question

I am having issues with the .NET WebView2 control. I thought I had it fixed but it is not working. I have read numerous posts to no avail.

I have a WPF C# application that runs on a server. Various people log into the server via a web browser and run the app.

Within this app, I open up a WebView2 browser, setting the user data directory to a unique directory for each person.

When I set the user data directory and call EnsureCoreWebView2Async(), I get an error in the exception code "Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED)).

Below is the code:

public static async void InitializeWebView(WebView2 browser, string path)
{
   Directory.CreateDirectory(path);

   browser.CreationProperties = new CoreWebView2CreationProperties()
   {
      UserDataFolder = path
   };

   try
   {
      await browser.EnsureCoreWebView2Async();
   }
   catch( Exception ex)
   {
      Log.LogString("Ensure error: " + ex.Message);
   }
}

I have tried various things without success. What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I'm not all that familiar with CoreWebView2CreationProperties, but according to the documentation.

Its main purpose is to be set to CreationProperties in order to customize the environment used by a WebView2 during implicit initialization...If you need complete control over the environment used by a WebView2 control then you'll need to initialize the control explicitly by creating your own environment with CreateAsync(String, String, CoreWebView2EnvironmentOptions) and passing it to EnsureCoreWebView2Async(CoreWebView2Environment) before you set the Source property to anything.

As mentioned in the documentation referenced above, implicit initialization occurs when the Source property is set and CoreWebView2 hasn't been explicitly initialized.

To explicitly initialize CoreWebView2, try the following:

public async Task InitializeCoreWebView2Async(WebView2 wv, string userDataFolder = null)
{
    //initialize CoreWebView2 

    CoreWebView2EnvironmentOptions options = null;
    CoreWebView2Environment cwv2Environment = null;

    //it's recommended to create the userDataFolder in the same location
    //that your other application data is stored (ie: in a folder in %APPDATA%)
    //if not specified, we'll create a folder in %TEMP%
    if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(userDataFolder))
        userDataFolder = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name);

    //create WebView2 Environment using the installed or specified WebView2 Runtime version.
    //cwv2Environment = await CoreWebView2Environment.CreateAsync(@"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge Dev\Application\1.0.1054.31", userDataFolder, options);
    cwv2Environment = await CoreWebView2Environment.CreateAsync(null, userDataFolder, options);

    //initialize
    await wv.EnsureCoreWebView2Async(cwv2Environment);

    System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("UserDataFolder: " + userDataFolder);
}

Note: If one desires to explicitly initialize CoreWebView2, it must be done prior to setting the Source property for the WebView2 control.

Usage:

await InitializeCoreWebView2Async(webView21, Path.Combine(@"C:\Temp", System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name));

Resources:

• CoreWebView2 Class
• CoreWebView2CreationProperties
• CoreWebView2Environment Class
• CoreWebView2Environment.CreateAsync
• WebView2.EnsureCoreWebView2Async(CoreWebView2Environment) Method